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"Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by Aruba on 11-09-17 at 08:12 PM
Anther merged tribe; another boring unoriginal name. Gee, let’s take two letters from our three tribes and form a merged name: SoLeWa...Ho-Hum...
Otherwise, I thought this was the best episode thus far.

CHRISSY – This episode’s boot was all Chrissy and need not be shared with any alliance partner. Rekindling her initial Hero alliance with Ben was huge and smart. Her desire to show off her intelligence in front of others at TC to put an unnecessary target on her was silly and dumb, but her “#1 man” proved to be the difference maker in the vote. Knowing she was getting votes, I give her credit for assuring Ben he’s her #1 and orchestrating the blindside by deflecting votes to an unlikely target.

DESI – Yeah, I know...probably have her ranked too high; but she’s looking better with every starvation/dehydration filled episode. Getting to watch her for the duration of her 30+ minutes (1800+ seconds using Chrissy’s calculation) TC victory was a treat...and a solid well-earned win it was. With a fair share of impressive challenge threats still in the game, I doubt she will be able to run the table, so at some point she will need to make a big move (or two) to secure a spot at FTC.

BEN – Had a decision to make and he chose wisely. When a player says you’re their “#1” partner in the game on the day of the merge, that’s pretty much the same as a F2 deal in Survivor language. Now does Chrissy intend to keep that promise...or will it prove to be another example of Ali’s “Liar of all Liars” label? Granted, not a whole lot to go on by only watching a quick clip in the preview, but could be interesting when Chrissy was the damsel in distress during her struggle with Cole, and it was JP she yelled to help her, not her #1 man former Marine Ben.

MIKE – Big time beneficiary by the Jessica blindside assuming she did not share Mike’s HII possession with anyone. What may be overlooked this past episode was how Mike called out Joe at TC to let everyone know Sluggo’s bullying tactic Mike had to deal with on day one. Not that a self-centered egotistic slug like Joe would even consider using the idol on anyone else, but holding nothing to chance Mike calling him out as him did served as the convincer that Sluggo would burn his idol on himself.

ASHLEY – Her effort in the IC should be commended as well. She could be sneaky dominant in the challenges, and coupled with her cool-under-pressure temperament, it would not be out of the question to make her a dark horse candidate to win it all.

RYAN – The most pitiful effort I recall at an IC. And it was insult to injury when that pathetic display resulted in putting a target on his alliance partner when she felt the need to “smarty pants” Jeff’s question/remarks. Although I do give him the same kudos for how he reunited with Devon as I gave Chrissy with Ben.
Along with his IC performance, I dropped him for mentioning “Playoffs” before we even hit the midway point of the season. When Ryan said “Playoffs” it brought me back to the classic Jim Mora post-game press conference every NFL fan should remember: “PLAYOFFS? Don’t talk about PLAYOFFS. You kidding me…PLAYOFFS.”

LAUREN – I give her props for trying to play the game, but it seems to me, whatever options she has at her disposal will result in the same outcome—bottom of the totem pole. Even if she continues that approach, the best I see for her is advancing to the endgame with zero chance of winning.

DEVON – I’m losing interest with him. Other than almost dropping from starvation and reuniting with Ryan, a rather uneventful episode for Devon. Although uneventful may not be all that bad at this stage of the game, it won’t rank him high on my list.

COLE – Survivor paranoia was his salvation this episode. While we saw him wrestling with Chrissy in the preview for the idol, I hope he had time to give her a big sloppy kiss for redirecting the vote away from him...even though it should have been blatantly obvious Cole did not have an idol for two reasons: 1) if Cole did have an idol, blabbermouth would have told ¾’s of the civilized world faster than you could say “Tribal Council,” and 2) no way Cole would have bellycrawled over to Ben and begged for his mercy if he had the idol.

JOE – His obnoxiousness put targets on his back that he was able to dodge with the idols. So, did he learn his lesson by turning over a new leaf at Merge? Of course not. And why does he proceed to be the same ‘ole Jackass? Because according to a Wise Man, “You are...who you are...who you are.”
And for all his boasting about finding a third idol...what the heck is he waiting for??? Another clue to tell him this one is now just four AND A HALF feet from the well!! Jackass!

JP – With Chrissy proclaiming Ben her #1 and Ryan her #2, Looks like JP may have dropped to #3 on her list...and #11 on mine. He was a non-factor in what I regarded as an eventful Merge episode.

BOOTED

JESSICA – I sure hope the back of Cole’s van is worth it. Had paranoia not run so deep and conventional wisdom dictated that Cole did not have an idol and no way on God’s Green Earth Sluggo would use an idol on anyone other than himself, the object of her infatuation would be flying home instead. And maybe...just maybe...we might have seen some game from Jessica.

Table of contents
Messages in this discussion
"My List"
Posted by michel2 on 11-10-17 at 01:22 AM
1- Chrissy: Reuniting with Ben was an absolute no-brainer so I’m not giving her any points for it. Nor do I dock her any points for being able to multiply 30 by 30. It’s incredible that she got labeled as smart for what is nothing more than 3rd grade math. The ability to keep her tight alliance with Ben a secret from Ryan while keeping her alliance with Ryan a secret to everyone else now that’s genius. Also, the way she presented her plan to the group could have been perceived the same way Michaela’s play with rocks had been with the other Millenials. The difference is that Chrissy exposed her plan but let someone else bring up Jessica’s name. That made it a collegiate decision instead of one person’s plan but don’t let that fool you: There is one person in charge and one person alone.

2 - Ashley: While she probably wanted that necklace, it was better to stay under the radar. She was still the big winner of the evening going from a 2-2 deadlock into the core alliance with the other 3 Heroes over the 3 Hustlers. If she can sell Chrissy on the idea of getting rid of the guys who could win the jury vote like Ben and Devon, then Ashley could really benefit by winning some of the last few immunities.

3 - Mike: He was the biggest loser of the evening but it was largely his fault. He knew Ben was the swing vote, the key to the Council so he should have asked him for his choice of victim. Even if Ben had remained adamant on Cole then Mike should have told Ben: “We will vote with you against Cole.” Even without Cole, the remaining Healers could still have gained the numbers over the Heroes and Hustlers if they had kept Ben and Lauren. It would have been hard to keep Jessica in line after sending her boyfriend to Loser Lodge but since Chrissy and the others were voting against her, what choice would she have had? If Mike had played it smartly, we would have had 5 votes on Cole, (Ben, Lauren, Mike, Joe and Desi) 5 on Jessica (Chrissy, Ryan, Devon, JP, Ashley) and two votes on Chrissy by Jessica and Cole! I’m sure the ones who had voted against Jessica would have gladly flipped their votes to Cole once hidden idols were out of the way. Now, it will be hard to get Ben and Lauren back with Cole still there.

4 - Joe: With an army of five going up against seven, Joe played it as well as he could. He tried to get the votes on himself so he had to play his idol for himself to have a chance. Now, he probably figures he can get the next idol but it won’t be at the well since all three well-idols have been found.

5 - Ben: The Marine played it well but I’m surprised that Aruba didn’t notice the huge lie he served Cole. I clearly heard him telling Cole that they were good but that was a big lie and he told us so. That’s the game of Survivor and even Marines can play dirty. Maybe it would have been better to let Chrissy go because she’s much more dangerous than Dr. Mike whom Ben totally betrayed. I think Mike should aim his idol at the Marine and see how he likes being a collateral casualty.

6 - Desi: The way Jeff had been praising Desi during challenges, I figured it was foreshadowing something good for her and when I saw the merge challenge involved balance, I voted for Desi to win it so I was happy to see her win. Can she use the tentative Levu connection she had with Ashley to build a new alliance? It will be hard because the lines have been drawn.

7 - Ryan: This was actually the second worse performance in a challenge: The worst still belongs to Crystal in Gabon who didn’t even last 1 second trying to balance a pole. Ryan’s ineptitude will serve him well in the coming weeks but I doubt he’d earn more than Devon’s vote in the end. Like I wrote for Chrissy, reuniting with Devon was a no-brainer. What would have been smart was grabbing Ashley and maybe even JP to have the numbers within his own alliance. Chrissy is one step ahead of him there.

8 - Devon: Devon and Cole served as Steak House spokes model and that’s about it. He smiled when Cole fell off the balance beam but where was Devon at that point? He was already sitting on the loser’s bench so he can thank Desi and Ashley for depriving Cole of the necklace.

9 - JP: He should continue sandbagging the challenges, especially the reward ones but he still doesn’t have the tactics to turn the game to his advantage.

10 - Cole: He did what he could to repair his relationship with Ben but it was too little too late. It’s strange considering the Yawa tribe never missed food and Cole was not faking it. It was as if Ben wanted a reason to vote against the Healers and picked one just to look good.

11 - Lauren: Lauren had one good option: Stick with Dr. Mike. It could have resulted in a 6-6 tie but the Healers’ alliance would have had a 5 out of 8 chance of not picking a rock, probably good enough odds to get either a Hero or a Hustler to fold and switch their vote. If so, then Lauren would have been #2 in that alliance right next to Mike while now, she’s #7 in the Hero-Hustler alliance. Dumb...

Booted - Jessica: This season should be known as “Let’s Get Rid of the Pretty Ones”. At least, we still have a few left but why couldn’t it have been Cole? It would have been interesting to watch Jessica on her own but with idols in play, a Plan B becomes inevitable.

"RE: My List"
Posted by Aruba on 11-13-17 at 09:26 PM
Reuniting with a tribemate you started the season with and even created a bond with early on is NOT a given right after the merge. Tony’s bond with Sarah was a “Blue Blood” pact made on their honor as police officers. Tony allowed Sarah to be the first boot post-merge. In Skankivor:Micronesia, Perv-ati had a bond with partner James and a solid four-person alliance involving Ozzy. Before the second TC right after the merge she went back on that alliance, blindsided Ozzy, and fractured her partnership with James. It didn’t exactly end up all that poorly for either!

Even after reading your response, I still do not remember Chrystal lasting only one second...so that’s why I stated Ryan’s was the most pitiful performance I RECALL. Although if you remember it, I’m sure it’s true. And easy to believe since Chrystal pretty much sucked in the challenges.

Holy Smoly...those hypothetical scenarios you are spinning with Mike and Lauren. If I had time to really try to play out if this happens…and that happens...then this happens...and so on...and so on... I guess any or all of those scenarios are possible. But I’m not all that keen on any option at this stage of the game where the initial vote ends in a deadlock. Even if you can spin a revote to support your end result...I really can’t be critical of your average castaway wanting to avoid a TC vote with 12 players resulting in a tie.

What I’m not surprised is that Michel does not understand Aruba’s analysis when accurately differentiating between being forced to REACT in an untruthful manner vs. INIATING a deliberate lie.
Had Ben PURPOSELY went over to Cole and INITIATED a complete falsehood with the sole intent to deceive and discredit, then I would have been just as critical. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Ben would have been content not to even be in the same area code as Cole. It was Cole who approached him and started begging for forgiveness and trying to get information from Ben about the vote. Why the heck would or should Ben want to share information with a total idiot and a disgusting food hog. Only YOU would spin that into a “huge lie.”

So, JP was “sandbagging” because he was unable to emulate a female gymnast on the balance beam. HYSTERICAL!

"RE: My List"
Posted by michel2 on 11-13-17 at 11:10 PM
LAST EDITED ON 11-14-17 AT 00:24 AM (EST)

The fact is that all those people still attempted a reunion. It's the natural course of action. Some players found better options but it doesn't change the fact that a reunion is a no-brainer. In fact, I'd say Parvati USED that reunion and the men's gullibility to her advantage. Sarah didn't reunite with Tony because she understood Tony wasn't trustworthy.

Here's to refresh your memory, this was the challenge:

http://funny115.com/v2/28.htm

And as Mario, the author of the Funny 115, wrote: "Not only does Crystal fail at holding a pole in the air, she also fails at lasting more than one second."

(If you read the whole piece you'll get a laugh at remembering that "Six foot tall Crystal Cox missed a dunk on a five foot hoop!)

You seem confused about my scenarios but it's just counting votes, something that is also 3rd grade level. Oh! wait... I know why you're confused...


Ben didn't have to tell Cole that they were good. That's the lie. A lie is a lie. You refuse to blame him because Ben is your type of guy, simple as that.

"RE: My List"
Posted by Aruba on 11-14-17 at 08:04 PM
Well Duh, of course players are not going to completely ignore their former tribemates. Naturally they will attempt a reunion. LOL. And I’ll further admit Tony and the Skank both made correct decisions to cut ties with a former alliance partner they started the season with after the initial attempts were made post-merge. What I said is it’s NOT a given. Ryan and Chrissy decided to keep their bonds with Devon and Ben...and those were the correct choices. So, kudos to everyone I just mentioned for making the correct choices.

Talk about a mental block...even with the pic and the link I STILL do not recall that challenge. HaHa. What I do remember is her wearing her Gold Medal at the reunion to prove she was an Olympic champion. A rather strong endorsement for PEDs.

“A lie is a lie” only to individuals who are wholly fixated on the end result and refuse to acknowledge and comprehend there’s a MEANS to an end result. If you refuse to differentiate being forced to react to a situation you did NOT initiate by being less than truthful vs. deliberately starting a situation by telling a premeditated lie to discredit and deceive, then it’s a lost cause. Ben wanted Cole to scram...other than infatuated Jessica, who the heck wouldn’t. Ben didn’t WANT to tell Cole they were good. He did it to tell the disgusting food hog idiot what he wanted to hear and be done with it.

"RE: My List"
Posted by michel2 on 11-14-17 at 09:19 PM
You mentioned 4 people but there will be only ONE winner so three of them DIDN'T make the right choice. Since Devon and Ben are much bigger jury threats, I bet Ryan and Chrissy vote them out before the end so both will regret rejoining their original alliance mates.

The lost cause is arguing with you about your idols.

"RE: My List"
Posted by Aruba on 11-14-17 at 09:25 PM
The four players I gave props to are Tony, the Skank, Ryan and Chrissy. Two won their seasons. We'll have to wait on Ryan and Chrissy.

Tony and the Skank are not even remotely close to ever being my idols.

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by kingfish on 11-11-17 at 10:00 PM
For the middle packers the rankings are pretty arbitrary, but I'll give it a go anyway.

Chrissy: The consensus no. 1. Or should be. Great edit, probably the winners edit so far, and even though she was targeted last week, she's in a majority alliance and has time and intelligence to figure out her survival when that alliance has to start eating themselves. She'll probably direct those events.

Ashley: Competent athlete, plays nice with others, low key disposition and doesn't seem to have foot in the mouth tendencies at camp or TC. Seems to be headed for final TC.

Ben: Ben keeps making great confessionals, has some of the PTSD sympathy vote, and although large, isn't physical specimen that impresses as a real athletic threat. Is allied with Chrissy, great social game, no votes so far.

Desi: Impressive female athlete, does some scheming, but she's in the minority alliance. Socially adept, so she could be one of the healers that last.

Lauren: Deceptively strong, has stamina, and doesn't step on anyone's toes. Her strategizing is somewhat confused, but she's in the majority alliance, has no enemies, can defend herself ably, and seems pretty perceptive to the currents going thru the camp. With other more polarizing characters around her, she shouldn't draw targeting attention for a while, and may make it to Final TC. She has a good personal story to tell then, and if she can somehow get a move or two to add to her resume, she could win.

Mike: Dr. Mike is in the minority alliance but with his HI, it is conceivable that he too could make Final TC. No enemies, decent low level social game, and has some strategic skill. But he and Ryan seem doomed to be two flies caught in Chrissy's spider web, food for her to consume at her leisure.

Ryan: He thinks he's in charge while dancing to Chrissy's tune. He's actually more likely to last than Mike since he's in the majority and allied with Chrissy, but since he's less nourishment for our black widow, I ranked him here.

JP: Allied with Chrissy is a good thing, being a challenge beast isn't, and challenge threats should be eliminated before F5 or so. Also being on a seven member majority alliance against a four member alliance means that his allies could vote him off without losing power.

Devon: Same as JP, but maybe not as closely allied with Chrissy. Which could be deadly since she could very well make the choice between the two when that time comes.

Joe: Joe better kick his HI finding into gear, he's probably next after Cole as things stand right now, and without the HI he's toast. Unless, and maybe Joe can do it again, he comes up with a life saving plan which would probably be some lie that would cast a fellow Minority alliance member in a bad light. He better be thinking about who he can cast beneath the wheels of the Island Transport.

Cole: Should'a been gone last week, but plan B saved him while dooming his guileless girlfriend. But with his demonstrated lack of perception of tribal currents, he probably won't notice she's gone for a week or so. Maybe someone will mention it to him. He would be the perfect goat, but I doubt that the tribe will be able to take his presence that long.

Gone Girl Jessica: Disclaimer: I read the post eviction interview on the RTVW page, and could not believe the level of inanity of the woman. I guess being paired up with Cole masked her lack of mental snap, but wow. Wow. I'll let you read it for yourself.

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by michel2 on 11-12-17 at 04:38 AM
Nice list even if Devon and Joe should be ahead of JP while Lauren should be behind all three. Speaking of the fisherman, you write: " Deceptively strong, has stamina..." yet in a challenge that was made for a woman according to Aruba and that favored upper body strenght and stamina, Lauren was out early. Of the women, she only beat Jessica. Talk about strong!
"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by kingfish on 11-12-17 at 12:51 PM
LAST EDITED ON 11-12-17 AT 12:52 PM (EST)

Thanks, yours is pretty good also, subjectively different but that's how it usually is. And that's a good line about "Let's get rid of the pretty ones".

Without an HI, Joe is definitely low on longevity, only above Cole. You do remember the eviction discussions where only Cole was mentioned more than Joe? And the fact that they went to plan B from plan A (voting Joe out) only because Chrissy suspected Joe and maybe Cole of having an HI, and voting Jess out then became the safest plan to damage the other alliance?

I was undecided about where to place Devon, he is tight with Chrissy but has a history of decided ineptness. But he definitely (for now) ranks above Joe and Cole.

Which challenge are you referring, the last one? That was a balance and concentration challenge, not so much strength or stamina. And admittedly she has a more masculine body type, so, if Aruba's theory holds true, she wouldn't have the feminine balance advantage.

Finally she wasn't out early. She outlasted Ryan, Mike, Jessica, Ben, JP, and Devon. after her ball dropped there were only 5 of the starting 12 left in the game.

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by michel2 on 11-12-17 at 03:48 PM
Now, who is calling Lauren fat?! Even with a "more masculine body type" Lauren still has the women's natural lower center of gravity which contributes to better balance. And stamina would mean lasting more than 8 or 9 minutes. The fact that Ryan, Mike, Jessica, Ben, JP and Devon ranged from laughable to plain bad doesn't make Lauren good.

Yes, our lists are subjective and maybe you can rate Joe lower than JP because of their positions in the game but I prefer to rate them on entertainment value and on willingness to play the game. Joe is pretty much exactly where Tony would have been if Kass hadn't flipped. The inoffensive Jefra would have been voted out for the exact same reason Jessica was voted out and Tony would have been been in a lot of trouble just like Joe is currently.

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by Aruba on 11-13-17 at 09:35 PM
> Lauren still has the
>women's natural lower center of
>gravity which contributes to better
>balance.


And men with a higher center of gravity contributes to better upper body strength. So because Ryan is a man he should perform better in a weight-lifting competition???? LMAO!

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by michel2 on 11-13-17 at 10:53 PM
Are you really arguing against anatomic facts? Women certainly do have a lower center of gravity. That's 5th grade stuff.
"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by Aruba on 11-14-17 at 07:53 PM
Well then...now even a “5th Grader” can attest to the fact that challenge was more advantageous to the female competitors.
"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by Aruba on 11-13-17 at 09:30 PM
>Which challenge are you referring, the
>last one? That was a
>balance and concentration challenge, not
>so much strength or stamina.
>And admittedly she has a
>more masculine body type, so,
>if Aruba's theory holds true,
>she wouldn't have the feminine
>balance advantage.

Thank you, Kingfish. I’m relieved someone else understands why BALANCE BEAM is an event in FEMALE gymnastics and not MALE gymnastics. Even with his PhD in Spinology, NO WAY could he convince us that was a "strength" challenge.

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by michel2 on 11-13-17 at 10:56 PM

LOL!

I believe most highwire acts are done by men.

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by Aruba on 11-14-17 at 07:50 PM
Thanks so much for the pic. Perhaps you can take note of what he is holding...it’s called a “balancing pole.” Wanna know why he’s holding it? It is held to lower the center of gravity. Let’s me repeat that...it is held to LOWER THE CENTER OF GRAVITY. Of course, repeating and putting in CAPS is probably a waste of time since it was unable to make you understand I was focusing on the QUICKNESS of Chrissy’s answers even though your mind insisted on being fixated on a factor I was not prioritizing. Using that device to purposely LOWER THE CENTER OF GRAVITY continues to reinforce why that challenge favored the female competitors. Thanks again for supporting that fact by posting the pic.

Daredevil Artistry has always been dominated by men, so the fact most men are high wire act dare devils is not an indication of which gender is more capable of achieving that feat. Actually, the use of the balancing pole makes the gender a moot issue. The heavier/larger the dare devil, the longer/heavier the pole to LOWER THE CENTER OF GRAVITY. HMMMM, I don’t recall the balance beams being calibrated based on the size of the castaways at that last challenge???

"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by michel2 on 11-14-17 at 08:36 PM
You'll try anything to wiggle out of admitting you were wrong! Look at the picture again and you'll notice the guy was standing on a chair which RAISED his center of gravity by at least 2 feet! If that isn't enough, not all men use those balancing poles which are in part for show:


And then there are these guys who never use blance poles:


"RE: Survivor S35 Ep 7 Ranking"
Posted by Aruba on 11-14-17 at 09:20 PM
I'm not saying men are incapable of balance...just women are better suited for that discipline. Stating facts that you do not want to acknowledge is in no way, shape, or form is me "wiggling" out of anything.

Your pics reinforce most men are constructrion workers and most men perform as dare devils.

If anyone is trying to "wiggle" out of anything it is YOU. YOU for doing what you do often by not providing ALL the facts or giving half-truths to try to support your case. This debate began when you stated a "VERY SIMILAR" challenge was played out in another country's Survivor that was performed better by males for the sole purpose to shoot holes in my initial statement that the challenge we saw on Wednesday was more suited for females.

It wasn't until I pressed the issue and expressed how baffled I was how the men outperformed the women in Australia on a balance beam did you finally own up that the challenge in Australia did NOT have a balance beam.

Everything that followed is your efforts to not want to admit your attempts to try to contradict my sensible and accurate statement with a rebuttal that did not initially provide all the facts.