LAST EDITED ON 04-10-11 AT 02:58 AM (EST)

Whether you like this season or find it a snorefest, you have to admit that everything was set up well for a wild merge. I don't know if you can call what we got wild, but you can definitely call it unique. Who goes home? From which tribe? Neither. Our permanent resident of RI gets a return trip.

1. B-Rob - His power in the game seems to grow every week. He took what I would consider a somewhat unwarranted risk in going after Matt when a simple vote from Andrea could have turned the entire thing against him. However, it shows how firm he believes his hold is when he can face Andrea and tell her to vote for Matt and trust she will do it. I don't know what he told Andrea, but it was the unseen key of the episode. Regardless of everything else, his getting 11 people to name their tribe after a stuffed animal owned by his wife is another B-Rob classic and HILARIOUS!

2. Mike - Gets his #2 spot back after a long sojourn near the bottom of the list. (There has to be more movement on my list this season than in any other. I blame it on the schizophrenic editing.) After merge, he immediately took point for Zapatera, and basically, other than playing robot in the IC for another 30 seconds, there wasn't much more he could have done. He offered Matt as good a deal as he could and even read from the Book of Matthew to gain favor. Well played, sir. I loved his quote about wanting to go toe-to-toe with B-Rob.

3. Andrea - As much as I wish she would have turned the tables on Ometepe, just as payback, and as much as I think sending Matt right back to RI was about as cold-hearted as anything we've seen, I still have to admit that it was the RIGHT move for her. Turning on Ometepe now would be unlikely to get her any further in the game and would cost her votes if she were to make the end.

4. Natalie - Also regains her spot near the top after being shown as B-Rob's #1 girl, and after somehow winning the IC. Her little booty shake after JP slipped the necklace on her shoulders was along with Murlonio the clear highlight of the show.

5. Ashley - Didn't have much to say, but the camera found her a lot. She stayed close to Matt after the merge, which might have been another unseen key in all this.

6. Grant - No mistakes, yet. In firm in Rob's alliance and so stays right here.

7. Steve - Kept his semi-narrator role for the Zap5, and was targeted. That is good enough for here.

8. David - Probably did himself no favors by whining about the shelter at TC, but at least he has a backbone.

9. Julie - Not sure Ometepe even knows who she is.

10. Ralph - Made the error in giving up his HII. However, sort of understandable, and it can be found again.

11. Phillip - Showed that no wisdom is going to come with merge. The Zap5 were not amused by his TC gibberish. They will all be on the jury.

RI

Matt - I was fine with his moral decision to remain true to Ometepe, but he erred in cataclysmic fashion by thinking B-Rob would be impressed with his honesty. Staying under Andrea's wing and acting like the good little soldier is what he needed to do. He then idiotically turned Andrea against him by including her in his confession to B-Rob. Ironically, his boot made a prophet out of Mike who stated a couple episodes ago that any wildcard at merge would be the first to go.

Crispy Buffs -

Francesca - In Phillip you never trust
Russell - little man, big cry baby
Kristina- Rob jobbed
Krista - quiet girl, little bikini
Stephanie - loud girl, little game
Sarita - Considering the challenge, I'm not sure that my entire rant against the Zap5 last week wasn't totally meaningless. After all, Sarita was as well equipped to face Matt in that challenge as anyone Zapatera could have sent, and she was still loyal to the end. Matt somehow pulled it out against her.

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• RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,garyc, 06:49 AM, 04-10-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,michel, 04:35 PM, 04-10-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,iltarion, 00:31 AM, 04-12-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,dabo, 11:09 AM, 04-12-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,michel, 05:44 PM, 04-12-11
    • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,dabo, 07:38 PM, 04-12-11
    • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,iltarion, 07:41 PM, 04-12-11
      • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,michel, 08:13 PM, 04-12-11
        • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,garyc, 06:49 AM, 04-13-11
          • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,michel, 07:17 AM, 04-13-11
            • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,garyc, 07:34 PM, 04-13-11
              • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,iltarion, 08:49 PM, 04-13-11
                • RE: Survivor 22 Episode #8 Lvoe List,michel, 10:29 PM, 04-13-11

I think Andrea gave up on Matt after he implicated her in his confession to Rob. Probably decided his unwillingness to play the game strategically made him more trouble than he was worth as an ally.

Schizophrenic edit? We've been told all along that Crapatera is dumb and that the Ometepids are united. That was again in full display when Craptera congratulated each other for blindsiding Sarita, then cheering her on even if they wanted to get Matt to join them. Then they saw what a real blindside is like. The only schizophrenia was editing Stephanie as a player when she really had nothing to work with.

1- Rob: "Genius, that's what that was." He also told us that Zapatera is dumb when he told us he had never seen a merge like this. Someone from the minority should have approached him but apparently no one did. Crapatera found cohesiveness at the time when it will kill them all!

2- Natalie: She sure can handle those balls.

She seems to have Grant's vote!
Thanks to Salarakas at Sucks

3- Ashley: She was shown bonding with Mike so maybe she knows that she'll need votes.

4- Phillip: "...it leaves a stench so great that it is probably carrying something parasitic and therefore you don’t want to approach it." The line of the evening told us that Phillip will remain loyal to Rob. But Phillip; what happened to your planned alliance with Matt? We know he's all talk and no play. The camera used the same trick that they had used with Cao Boi: Show fast moving clouds to show he is long-winded.

5- Grant: He stoically took the 5 votes against him but how will he react if he fids out that Rob could have protected him but kept the idol in pocket?

6- Andrea: She knew the situation, she knew that Matt would be soillicited. It was her duty to tell him what to do, not let him bury both of them. She tied herself to Rob and made enemies of Crapatera. Not a good way to go.

7- Mike: He knows he's on the chopping block but put his whole future in Matt's hands. He should be going to RI soon and that may be his lucky break.

8- Steve: His radar is poor: That's twice now that he is a secondary target but didn't even suspect a thing.

9- Ralph: He could have changed the whole game if he had played the idol for Matt instead of Mike. Matt told them he felt ostracized but I guess it wasn't enough.

10- Julie: Apparently, the food was good.

11- David: It was evident that this bozo was still loyal to Crapatera and then he has the stupidity to reveal his deviousness at throwing a challenge. That was like saying: Guys, don't trust me."

12- Matt: The guy had 16 days to figure out his best course of actions, he received prime information from both sides and he still couldn't make up his mind. That is dumb.

Ils sont fous, ces Romains!
Thanks Tribe!

Props, michel, in posting the most viewed faves list of all time. Best visual of the season, easy. Good to see MB hasn't forgotten why I watch.

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LAST EDITED ON 04-12-11 AT 11:10 AM (EST)

01. Rob. Threaded the needle and maintained control through the merge, clicking on all cylanders.

02. Andrea. Wisely assessed that Matt was dragging her down the chute, cut him loose and now in a position to make some moves.

03. Mike. Finally stepped up and formed Zapatera into a solid team, taking risks but making Rob work for it.

04. Steve. Could have taken cover and been safer for the moment, but a solid team player.

05. Grant. In a good position to get deep in the game but will he start making some moves of his own or just be happy as Rob's wingman.

06. Natalie. Cute victory dance.

07. Ralph. Getting some flak for playing his HII, but he willingly gave immunity to a member of the team he thought at risk, and ridding himself of the HII takes some of the heat off the old rooster.

08. Julie.

09. Ashley.

10. David. Not as smart as he thinks he is but took a backseat and may be getting into position to shake things up when the time comes.

11. Phillip. Shifted into senility mode, still has no game but in position to be the goat.

RI

Matt. If you want to make a big move in this game, fine, but once a decision is made commit to it and go all in, loser.

Good-bye

Sarita. Shame she lost, she shouldn't have, that was one challenge she was equipped for, and no doubt about it had she returned to the game things would have been very different.

"Mike. Finally stepped up and formed Zapatera into a solid team..."

The problem is that the merge is too late. It was time to find a crack in the Ometepids so he should have talked to Andrea, not only Matt. A strong guy like Mike can't skate by so he had to go all in: Either give Matt the HII or double-cross both Matt and Andrea by going to Rob first.

Actually, it was too late only when they went to TC without a plan to split their vote. It didn't matter if Ralph guessed correctly and covered Matt, Rob could have then guessed correctly (not a hard guess) and covered Grant, Steve would have been voted out with Matt's vote being the only one that counted.

Admit it, seeing Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Potatohead and Hamm all together as a team, really and finally, that was good. Too bad they wasted The Claw and don't have it going into the next round.

Mike did everything he could. The fact that Ralph played the HII for Mike showed that no one for Zap knew that Ometepe was going to vote for Matt.

We know how Rob plays. Going to Rob would have been useless for Mike. In fact, it would have made him an even bigger target. Rob is going to ride Ometepe for as long as he can. Anyone from Zapatera who approaches him will just be making it that much easier for him to keep his own tribe together.

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LAST EDITED ON 04-12-11 AT 08:18 PM (EST)

As far as we saw, Mike didn't talk to Andrea at all. That was his biggest mistake. Either he could have convinced her to flip or he could have sensed that she was totally on board with Rob. She was playing a role with Matt, talking to him only in order to keep him in line with Ometepid.

And dabo, you bring up a flaw in the idol: Rob wasn't playing his idol but he could have decided to play it if Matt was saved. That shows how stupid it is to have two idols in one council. Eventually, you could get no votes that count.

But, for this discussion, I wasn't really talking about using the idol to save Matt from the vote. Zap could have seen how Ometepid was ignoring Matt, he himself said he felt ostracized but I wasn't asking them to be that clairvoyant. What I was saying was: Give Matt the idol before TC as a way to show trust. If you convince him to vote Grant, the game is changed.

BTW, that's another thing Mike didn't do, Iltarion. Saying you could eventually give it to him means nothing compared to actually giving it to him. Matt would have felt indebted to Crapatera and maybe they could have gotten something done. You'll probably say: Remember what happened to JT when he gave his idol to Russell but I'd counter that Matt is the total opposite of the creep. Crapatera knew that.

Unless Matt told Rob Zapatera had given him their idol. Matt told Rob everything else.

What difference would it have made? If Matt was that untrustworthy then there's nothing Mike could do, but at least he would have gone all in.

LAST EDITED ON 04-13-11 AT 07:35 PM (EST)

Not so much untrustworthy as locked into his ideal of how he should behave. Nice in real life, not so much in Survivor.

It wasn't Mike's HII to give to anyone. One thing to ask Ralph to use it to save him. Another thing to ask him to just hand it over to Matt.

Not speaking with Ometepe, as pointed out in TC, was very foolish of Zapatera. Since they were the likely ones in the minority, they should have been exploring every option. Not speaking to each other worked fine for Ometepe, who had the numbers.

>

>It wasn't Mike's HII to give
>to anyone. One thing to
>ask Ralph to use it
>to save him. Another thing
>to ask him to just
>hand it over to Matt.

That is true but Ralph seemed to be completely on board with everything Mike was saying. Since Mike didn't think of asking, we'll never know.