Welcome to the fifth installment of this season’s Love/Loathe List where we rank castaways and assess Ep. 6—the episode where The Joker and The Riddler tried to impersonate Batman & Robin. From here on in the rest of the game will be ridiculously predictable. As much as this kills me to do so, I must give a shout-out to Production. Kudos for incorporating part of the natural habitat with the reward as opposed to constructing some goofy Outback restaurant or Ice Cream Shoppe on the set.

1) JENN – When all is said and done Jenn should rank as the best game narrator in Survivor history. Way to step up in the RC bailing out Hali. Comparing her chances of winning to the survival rate of a local turtle was a great confessional. With the pre-swap No Collar Four advancing to the merge and a HII in hand, her chances are much better than the 13 to 1 she stated.

2) MIKE – Could make a strong case for the top position but still don’t like throwing challenges. Because there will be no more tribal challenges this season, he’ll get away with it. Another thing he’ll get away with is the complete idiocy of those playing the game. Could he have been any more obvious tanking the challenge??? Apparently not to these morons which in itself makes Mike an odds-on-favorite to win the game.

3) JOE – He did nothing over-the-top outstanding this episode, but living up to the title of the show he has found a way to survive despite an unfavorable tribal shuffle. His No Collar Four combining forces with the Blue Collar Four (minus Rodney) puts Joe in prime position once again.

4) TYLER – Like Joe, the swap did not help him out. Actually the tribe he was initially casted on didn’t help him either. The White Tribe started out unofficially dead and is now officially dead. He took advantage of two chances he had to be proactive (Carolyn-Ep. 1 and Joaquin shortly thereafter,) but the opportunities have been far and few thanks to the crazies and dingbats he was stuck with. A different format; another season, who knows...but as it is he’s guaranteed post-merge boot material.

5) KELLY – Would like her to be higher but her dismal performance in the IC was inexcusable. NOW I understand why she waits until after the altercation to move in. If she intervenes any sooner her lack of memory would prevent her from accurately completing a police report! LOL Fortunately Mike could bring her to the end.

6) SHIRIN – It’s hard for your heart to not go out to even a wackadoodle like Shirin when sharing her challenging childhood trying to fit in. It’s not coincidental we hear that confessional around the same time she has a one-on-one with Hali because girls who look like Hali generally make girls who look like Shirin’s High School years a teenage nightmare. She comes back from TC ready to adapt and that could advance her deeper in the game than one would anticipate, but as a White Collar she has zero chance to win. Observing monkey sex and turtle procreation in the same fortnight, her Survivor Animal Sex education is now complete.

7) WILL – Only reason he’s not lower is because his silly dance celebration was funny. I know I’m aging myself but does anyone remember Rerun from “What’s Happening?” Instead of a celebratory dance how about thanking Mike for giving your tribe a gift.

8) SIERRA – The episode following her Dumb A$$ Luck award went right on cue. Wearing that crown kept her safe this episode, but she’s toast going forward. The kicker is she flat out said she would be low on the food chain with Mike & Co., yet she STILL throws them her support. GEEZ LOUISE!

9) CAROLYN – Her post TC exchange with Shirin was unnecessary and poor game strategy. If Shirin comes crawling your way to kiss your butt, let her pucker up. Kicking her when she’s down does no good especially now that you’ll probably need her after the merge. The only question with Carolyn is will her HII be a game-changer or a non-entity?

10) DAN – Watching a beached walrus bathe in the ocean I can now join my pal Michel and laugh. If he doesn’t shot himself in the foot he should be able to punch his golden ticket to the F4. I don’t think it’s possible for Dan to shoot himself in the foot—his belly would get in the way.

11) HALI – Among her first words this episode was telling Shirin “everyone” else thinks you’re annoying; pretty much sums up Hali’s game thus far. Translation: “Everyone” else is carrying her through the game. Latest example: Being rescued by Jenn in the RC was par for the course. But the real reason I have her ranked low is for her post RC smack talk about putting the slingshots in our hands to slay the giants. “OUR?” Really?? How many targets did you hit??? Yet another example of her benefitting from the bandwagon she’s riding.

12) RODNEY – Where do I start; where do I end? His facial expression at TC after the vote should be bronzed and enshrined in the Survivor Hall of Fame. Let’s see...he’s gone from Tom Brady to Batman to Rocky Balboa. It should be noted that the very next bout after Rocky’s “arm in the air” statue was unveiled he got his a$$ kicked by Clubber Lang. That’s what needs to happen here.

BOOTED) JOAQUIN – I liked Joaquin and generally thought he was a nice guy. I just hope the decisions he makes in his white collar profession are better than the decisions he made aligning with playing partners this season. So he can leave the game with a smile on his face. Good for him! That’s more than we’ll be able to say for his bromance significant another.

• RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,kingfish, 01:40 PM, 03-27-15
  • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,Aruba, 08:17 PM, 03-27-15
• RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,michel2, 02:08 PM, 03-29-15
  • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,Aruba, 08:00 PM, 03-29-15
    • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,michel2, 09:29 PM, 03-29-15
      • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,Aruba, 07:22 AM, 03-30-15
        • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,michel2, 08:44 PM, 03-30-15
• RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,kingfish, 09:01 PM, 03-29-15
  • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,michel2, 09:36 PM, 03-29-15
  • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,Aruba, 07:28 AM, 03-30-15
    • RE: Love/Loathe List S30 Worlds Apart Ep. 6,kingfish, 08:35 AM, 03-30-15

Again I'm in general agreement, with only a few exceptions.

- Hali. The reason you ranked Hali so low was her comments about "putting the slingshots in 'our' hands"? Being a member of a team and claiming credit for that team's hits isn't out of line. She was on a team, and that team hit targets. So hers was a reasonable statement.

Every one else on the team also allowed that team to carry them, none of them won the challenge by themself. I didn't keep track, but it's possible that there were others on her team who didn't hit a target and were carried on the bandwagon by their teammates, yet no one else is singled out for that reason, not to mention having that as the 'real reason' they were ranked where they are.

So I'd put Hali much higher based on her social agility as demonstrated by her convo. with Shirin.

- Sierra. With Mike, Dan, Kelly, with the possible inclusion of Jenn, Joe, and Hali, how is it dumb luck to join the alliance with the numbers? She lives to fight another day with that choice, and of that group, she isn't necessarily the low person on the totem pole. Both Mike and especially Dan are in trouble there, Joe, Jenn, Hali and sierra would rule that sub group.

- Dan. I agree with his ranking. But as great a F2-F3-F4 goat as he would be, he is in danger each week of eviction with the always dangerous "anybody but me" needle pointing at him. I feel he's any thing but a lock for F4. No one there is that smart, IMO, and even if they are, Shirin makes a much better goat.

- Speaking of Shirin, I'd have her farther down on the list. She may find herself courted as a swing vote in some TCs, but she also inevitably (so far) alienates her teammates to the point of irrationality, so she may get trimmed at any time.

Hey Kingfish

With Hali this is a pet peeve of mine going back to my playing days in college. Every now and then we would face a team who was much better than us and really gave us a whoppin'. When the game was out of hand the second and third stringers would go in which I had no problem with because why not give them some playing time when the contest was essentially over.

But on occasion you would get some smack-talking loud mouth who came into the game to mop up and would talk trash about "being #1" or "we kicked your butts," etc. Were they on the roster...YES. Did they contributed to their victory...NO.

I guess my point is if anyone should make a commentary on winning that challenge the last person I'd want to hear from is the ONLY one who did not contribute to the victory. And yes...for the record there were six players and six targets. Everyone else hit a target and Jenn hit two (to make up for Hali's ineptness.)

If this was a TRUE LEGITIMATE "team" challenge, everyone should have been required to hit an individual target. I'm fine with Hali bailing out on her turn when she did, but after the first five targets were hit, she should have had to come back and continue until she hit her target for the TEAM win. Just my opinion.

Sierra's "Dumb A$$ Luck" award had nothing to do with Ep. 6 and was a carry over from Ep. 5's tribal switch. The dumb a$$ luck I was referencing was how she luckily fell into that swing vote position after the random draw tribal swap. As a result of that gifted position she was pretty much safe for the TC this past episode. With the upcoming merge I see two equal sub groups: The Red Collar Four-Joe, Jenn, Hali & Will and the Blue Collar Four-Mike, Kelly, Dan & Sierra. And within the Blue Collar I see Sierra as last. Once again, just my opinion.

I admit I ranked Shirin higher than I should have because I did feel a little sorry for her. So call it a pity ranking. LOL

As for FTC I would much rather have Dan next to me than Shirin. As wacky as Shirin is I think she would be able to handle herself better in the Q&A format of FTC. With Dan's mouth the only question would be how many knots would he tie in his noose?

It's nice to see that Mike is out of your doghouse and that you've finally come to realize that he is a player to watch this season instead of the "dumb guy" you thought you saw early on because of the way the blue tribe was presented.

It's weird to see our agreement at the top of the list but at least we have room to argue after that.

1- Jenn: There have been some great narrators in this show's history and my personal favorite is still Cirie but Jenn ranks right up there with Courtney Yates, Penner, Brandon B. and others with her fun comments. She also has a good game to play if she starts taking it seriously. The tribe's celebration after her winning shot was as fun as Mara'amu's joy after winning their first immunity challenge.

2- Mike: The guy is emerging as a great strategist. I knew that he had to have a certain safety in numbers to giver orders to the lazy members of his tribe but now I'm wondering if it was all planned? Could it have been his idea to act just enough like a jerk to avoid being seen as a jury threat too soon? The merge will be full of traps for him but saving Joe gives him at least a conduit to the Red Collars. They have a basis of trust and that's always the best way to open strategy talks.

3- Hali: While Carolyn kicked Shirin away, Hali was smart to befriend her. With the merge coming that vote could be very useful and, since the jury will soon be forming, it could become a very rewarding connection. There's so much more than challenges to this game and Hali is playing well where it matters.

4- Sierra: First, I want to copy what I wrote about her last week: The swap has put her in a very delicate position. Yes, she could flip on her tribe mates but that would be putting an end to her chances of winning the game because they will be there on the jury to make her pay and she won't have any true allies, just players using her vote. She could go back to her fellow Eczema tribe but she will need some reassurances that she wouldn't be the next to go. She should realize that Mike wanted Rodney gone before her.

The swap wasn't a lucky break for her at all because it put her in a very tricky situation. She handled it marvelously. Joaquin was a dumbass to impose Rodney on her and force her to vote against Joe. As soon as she told him that she couldn't stand Rodney then Joaquin should have put his bromance on ice, and asked Sierra what she wanted to do, suggesting they could vote Dan first, Rodney next. Once dan was gone then Joaquin could have resumed his bromance but Sierra didn't give him a chance. She just took a serious option on one of the three coveted FTC tree stumps.

5- Kelly: In her line of work, a big part of her partner's job is to protect her but it seems that none were truly trustworthy. In this game, it is everyone's job to deceive the others and NOW she finds someone that she can trust? Weird. Like Reed said: Giving her immunity wasn't a selfless act.

6- Joe: He was so laid back that he let others decide his game. Now that's what I call a coat tail rider but since he is male I'm sure my colleague Aruba will disagree. Still, Joe must have said something to Sierra to help convince her to save him.

7- Dan: He gives excellent confessionals which shows his humro and his knowledge fo the game. Too bad we have to hunt the internet to find most of them since they are often confined to the secret scenes. He finally told Sierra what she needed to hear: "I screwed up" he said and he'll probably screw up again when he answers the jury's final questions.

8- Shirin: She finally understood that this was a social game, not an adventure in the wild, so she stopped watching monkey sex long enough to connect with someone that wasn't Max. His departure could be the best thing that happened to her. Now that Max "won" his way to Ponderosa will she "win" her way to the end?

9- Will: It was fun to see Will break out and bust a move but he has no game and soon everyone will realize that no one hates Will. That will doom him.

10 -Tyler: He's Charlie Brown! The kicker looks a bit like the famous Peanuts' character. He was even wearing yellow. More to the point, like Charlie Brown, Tyler hoped for the best but it didn't work. In this episode, "Sierra-Lucy" pulled the ball right in front of his foot!

Tyler even told Jeff that he didn’t do anything to save himself. He thought he had it made because there was animosity in the Blue Collar group. It was funny that he could let his game rest on Joaquin’s plan. If there was animosity inside the Blue camp why did he think it was a good idea to use two of them against someone that wasn’t in that group? He should have used Sierra to vote against Dan. Joe was ready for anything and everything but Tyler didn’t even talk to him. We expected such a terrible mistake from Joaquin but figured Tyler would be smart enough to right the ship. Instead, he let it slam into the reef. The merger will give him a chance to save himself but he’ll probably miss the opportunity again.

11 -Carolyn: Like Aruba, I thought she was dumb to push Sirin away but, unlike him, I make her pay with this low rank.

12- Rodney: He did look like Tom Brady at the end of that Tribal Council. That's if you can imagine Brady's look after realizing that he was facing a full out blitz by the Seattle Seahawks with only Tyler Fredrickson as his offensive lineman!!

Booted - Joaquin: Last week we saw what can happen to someone who thinks all he needed was to be a Survivor trivia champion while this week we saw what happens to someone who ignores the first thing about the game. It goes to show how this simple game is difficult to execute.

If you go back to my preseason post and Ep. 1 ranking I acknowledged even back then that Mike had “all the ingredients of a solid Survivor player.” So it’s not something I’m just coming around to now. Any reference I made to his lack of intelligence was in direct response to you pulling yet another edit card out of your deck when you surmised Production was trying not to make Mike look “dumb.”

The only reason I purposely noted all the dumb things he did was so you could put that edit card back in your dealer’s shoe. And there were a number of them from eating the scorpion to informing the other players of his Texas Oil status. Fortunately for Mike the cast of simpletons he’s playing with is providing him a bagful of mulligans on the Survivor golf course this season.

After Carolyn’s blunder with Shirin, neither Hali nor anyone needed to befriend Shirin to win her over. Thanks to Carolyn, Shirin would be gravitating toward the No Collars regardless. I honestly believe the Shirin/Hali scene was shown more as a way to bring Shirin’s explained childhood of the beautiful popular girl vs. awkward outcast to the present day. If there’s “so much more than challenges to the game,” then I would have preferred Hali to keep her trap shut giving her post challenge smack talk on a contest in which she was a non-factor.

Had the game continued with three tribes and Blue Collar goes back to TC, Sierra would have been at risk. Because of the swap and the gifted swing vote position Sierra found herself in it all but assured her to make the merge. THAT’S what I meant by being lucky. Given those set of circumstances making the merge was not “tricky” whatsoever. Now taking advantage of this great fortune and going on to win the game will be very tricky for her indeed. If she should set herself apart to become the dominant player AFTER the merge and go on to win the game (i.e. Natalie last season) then she would deserve all the credit in the world. But thanks to the swap giving her a new lease on life, making the merge was a tribal swap gift.

In the first five episodes of the season Joe’s role on the No Collar tribe was anything but that of a coattail rider. Unfortunately the swap clipped his wings and put him alone with the Blues and Whites, so he was forced to adapt and take a more laid back role. So not labeling him as a coattail rider has absolutely NOTHING to do with being a male and it’s disheartening you continue to throw this gender nonsense my way.

You’re darn tootin’ something was said to save Joe. We all saw this past episode where Mike said to the majority voting block (Dan, Sierra, Joe, and himself) to save Joe. You assuming that "maybe" Joe said something to Sierra to save himself does not surprise me in the least. I’m pretty sure Sierra had already decided to take Mike's suggestion on what to do with her gifted swing vote long before she heard “I screwed up” from Dan.

Very cute Charlie Brown football analogy with the former NFL kicker. I agree in hindsight Tyler messed up sticking with Joaquin even though I get why he would want to stick with the only post-swap original tribe mate with whom he had just bonded after Joaquin shared the HII clue. And I’m sure the prospect of taking out a power player like Joe might have been too good an option to pass up. As stated above I believe Mike had more to do with “pulling the football away” than anyone else, but since you seem to be fixated on this gender gibberish I see where Sierra would be a more appropriate comparison to Lucy than Mike.

How did I not make Carolyn pay for her dumb blunder with Shirin? Carolyn tied for the biggest drop in my rankings from last week! If I made her pay any more you would probably accuse me of dropping her lower because she’s a female. *snort*

I don’t get the Rodney/Tom Brady comparison??? With the Seahawks only sacking him once as he went on to establish a Super Bowl record for most completions in the game I doubt any such Rodney TC expressions crossed his face on Superbowl Sunday en route to the MVP honors.

As much as I like Joaquin I have to agree with you that he screwed up royally with that ridiculous bromance and deserved his fate. I, like yourself, will copy something that I wrote from last week: Young love can be so blind.

I saw Mike doing the things that put him in your doghouse but I saw through the edit and realized it wouldn't hurt him because he had to have Kelly and Dan on his side. He didn't need any mulligans because he probably had that alliance tied down in the first week. Rodney even said it: They argued like guys in a locker room but it meant nothing.

Shirin could have gravitated towards Kelly and could have been an another vote for the Blue Collars at the merge. Hali may have saved the No Collars by showing Shirin some respect. Having an extra vote is better than winning a challenge.

I'm sorry about the Carolyn comment, I thought you had her just as low last week and I apologize for hurting you by accusing you of gender bias but you have to admit that you've been extremely hard on women who weren't challenge champions and overly appreciative of guys who couldn't do anything but win challenges. You're also harsh on women who flirt but don't say a thing about guys who do the same. Take Joaquin this season: We heard Rodney say that Joaquin was a lot like him because he was into girls and parties. I'd appreciate a little balance, that's all.

It's strange that you defend Joe's game by saying he didn't ride coat tails but refuse to accept the possibility that he said something to change Sierra's mind. Even if Mike had the right arguments, Sierra wouldn't have eliminated Joaquin, someone she trusted a lot, if she didn't trust Joe also.

As for Charlie Brown, even if Mike called the play, it was Sierra's vote that sent Joaquin packing so she pulled the ball away.

Like I wrote in my post, you had to imagine Brady's look. I wasn't talking about what happened in the SB but what Brady would have done IF all his offensive linemen had suddenly disappeared.

Once again, my intention was not to put Mike in any doghouse as much as wanting you to put your silly edit card back in the shoe. I should know by now that’ll never happen. And Mike needed a truckload of mulligans just for this past IC.

Your suggestion of Shirin gravitating toward Kelly is “fanfiction” at its greatest. Even if by remote chance she does, based on the Max boot she’d be gravitating toward a No-Collar for all intensive purposes. Furthermore we know Kelly would not initiate any contact with Shirin because she sits back, thinks, and observes which makes some posters herald her as this grand game strategist. Yet when that same poster notes a male doing the same he's scrutinized. Howabout a little balance there?!

The last two rankings I have a woman #1! Even though I did appropriately note how Jenn picked up for Hali in the RC, I thought I made it pretty clear why she was at the top of both rankings—and it was not for any challenge prowess. On the opposite end of the five rankings thus far I’ve ranked three men and two women dead last—how’s that for “balance?” You don’t think I’ve been “hard” on Will this season for his challenge ineptness??? Could we check again and see what gender Will is?

You are correct I’ve been tough on castaways who initiate promiscuous behavior in the game. Please note my emphasis on “initiate.” Haven’t I hammered Rodney this season for being the pig he is? Joaquin's coed partying talk with Rodney is as weak as it gets. Spinning his partying back at home as being promiscuous on the set of Survivor is as ridiculous as making a similar judgement on Hali for reading between the lines with her innuendo about surfing being her “third passion.” I did not insinuate it with Hali (female) so I wouldn’t do it with Joaquin (male.) My goodness—ANOTHER gender balancing act!!!

For the umpteenth time I KNOW Sierra casted the deciding vote—the tribal swap put her in that position. At the end of the day Sierra was going to stick with the Blues she started with (minus Rodney) and follow Mike’s lead. I’ve yet to read a Charles Schultz cartoon strip where someone told Lucy to pull the football away.

Her only other option was to swing to the Whites and target Rodney. Yes I agree Joaquin and Tyler missed the boat on that option but I wonder if they could have convinced Joe? It’s hard to get an accurate read on how close Mike became with Joe after the swap. If, in fact, they did become close then Tyler/Joaquin didn’t have a realistic shot.

I’m doubtful any Red or Blue wanted any part of the Whites since Day One. What has not been discussed in this Forum (and if it was I guess I missed it) was during the very first challenge of the season after No Collar won the challenge and the battle continued for immunity, we CLEARLY heard the Red tribe cheering on the Blue against the Whites. VERY telling and that's all I needed to hear to say what I did in my ranking that White Collars were “unofficially dead” from the onset.

As for the Tom Brady analogy, you did say a Seattle Seahawk full out blitz so that’s why I was thinking Superbowl. Actually if any QB’s offensive linemen disappeared on him we would definitely be talking about Joe after the tribal swap.

You've watched enough Big Brother to know that what we are presented on TV is very different from what people see on the live feeds. It's so easy to create a story or to hide it when you have so much material and only need to show 44 minutes of it. That's why I love to analyze how this show is edited. It's what I like the most actually because I don't care for any of the DAWS.

The difference between Kelly and Tyler, for me, was that we heard her state her strategy of waiting and analyzing. It's what she intends to do to win the game. In Tyler's case, we know he wants people to come to him but what does he plan to do afterwards? However, since the editors used up valuable airtime to show how slow Kelly was to figure out the last puzzle, I've revised my opinion and, if you noticed, I brought her down. Like you, now I feel she will wait too long.

The swap put Sierra on the fence and she could have easily gotten herself booted. We've seen it before. I also feel that going with Joaquin, Tyler and Joe was the wrong plan because she would have made too many enemies. She handled that tricky position perfectly.

I appreciate you putting your opinions on the line for everyone to snipe at. Michael too. It takes time and effort and a willingness to lead with your chin. Applause.

But what jumps out at me is the fun you could have on the Be the Survivor thread. You both have interesting takes on each survivor, and adding sarcasm (more sarcasm) and role playing would be fun for you, and would seem to be a logical attraction.

Aruba and I participated often in the "Be The Survivor" and it was a lot of fun. For me though, I already spend too much time writing about this show. The editing blog takes many hours to put together and the reponses to the comments I get at RHAP take a lot more time. I've dropped most games and BTS because of time limitations and I only do this because I really like exchanging with Aruba. I consider him a great fan of the show and he gives me a completely different outlook which I appreciate a lot.

Like Michel, I used to participate in the “Be the Survivor” when more posters took the role of an actual player. But lately it seems more posters would rather play the role of some Survivor prop as opposed to one of the castaways. That’s when I sort of bowed out of the thread. I think the last Be the Survivor thread I participated in was “One World” where I was Troy and Michel was Alicia. It was a lot of fun...not just with Michel but with all the posters who took on the role of a castaway that season.

Admittedly, some of the more imaginative posters do try to think outside the box and come up with unique characters just to be different, including anything other than the human inhabitants.

I think that adds another dimension to the thread, and another avenue for imagination and enjoyment.

I get the time thing though, I've had to limit my participation in threads because of that. I love those games but I just can't dependably keep up the pace.

But still, if you're commenting on characters and not limiting yourself to un-sarcastic comments, and if you're including personal biases, it only seems logical.

Whatever, keep leading with your chin, dude.