LAST EDITED ON 12-04-08 AT 01:02 PM (EST)

Welcome, folks, to another State of The Spoiling (SOTS) at RealityTVWorld. We’re here to figure out what’s going to happen in this week’s Survivor episode and stay ahead of EPMB and his crew. Ideas? Thoughts? Analysis? Who’s getting the boot? You’ve come to the right place!
First, we’re going to be getting a bunch of new faces around here at this time of the season. Please do give them a friendly welcome as they offer their ideas and contributions, and if you, as a new face, are reading this SOTS, it’s a good idea to check out the RTW Guidelines - they keep this site running smoothly and make it a great place to hang out. Read, read some more, and if it hasn’t been said yet, fire away with your thoughts.

Okay, where were we with the show? It’s been two weeks since we had an actual show, so the noise of Randy is probably still buzzing in your head. What happened to Randy? You can read up on it in the East Coast Spoiler Thread or by reading Spanky’s episode summary.

We did have a recrap show last week, so there were a few people who deigned to battle through tryptophan in order to give us their thoughts on the recrap: East Coast Spoiler Thread – Recrap Edition. Of note was the ratcheting up in negative editing for Corrine and seemingly clarified the season’s theme of “good vs. evil” with the previews of this week’s show indicating that Sugar is being stuck between good (Matty shown on screen at the time) and evil (Corrine).

Flowerpower also brought us a Recrap Discussion thread. Lots of good speculation in there, including a little Survivor history lesson from Professor Brownroach who brought back memories of Krautboy by going back to the last time we had a recap before a F6 (close enough to this F7) – Jake and Clay were heavily featured in the recrap episode for S5 Thailand then Jake got the boot while the ‘villian’ ended up in the F2. Is Corrine the next boot, a la Jake, or the F2 villain, a la Clay?

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Now let’s go to this week’s episode. Here’s the final 7:

Crystal – Kenny – Susie – Corrine – Bob – Matty – Sugar

We’ve got vidcaps as usual, brought to us by Flowerpower

Of particular note are these ones of Bob and Corrine:

It appears that Bob is either coaching Corrine what to say as they are teaming up to oust someone else, or Bob is covering his ass for the Randy boot by claiming he didn't know it was fake then trying to sell Corrine on another fake.

The title has been brought to us by citywitch: The Good Things in Life Aren't Easy with the accompanying soundbite from CBS:
AS THE CASTAWAYS COMPETE FOR LOVE, A DEVIOUS AND INGENIOUS PLAN IS HATCHED THAT THREATENS TO UPSET THE ENTIRE GAME, ON "SURVIVOR GABON – EARTH'S LAST EDEN," THURSDAY, DEC. 4
"The Good Things In Life Aren't Easy" - After fallout from Randy's departure pits two allies against one another, one castaway makes a lifetime commitment in a surprisingly intimate gesture, on SURVIVOR: GABON - EARTH'S LAST EDEN, Thursday, Dec. 4 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Let’s take it one part at a time.

“As the castaways compete for love”
This is obviously the loved ones competition for reward. Based on this Youtube preview video with Jiffy, I’d say that Bob wins reward as his wife is seen besides him before he turns around and whistles to bring in the other loved ones.

“A devious and ingenious plan is hatched that threatens to upset the entire game”
Well, that’s got to be either a surprise visit from Devious Weasel to the Survivor set or the series of vidcaps I just referenced to above... Bob and Corrine plotting to fool someone else with the fake idol that Marcus threw away – or is Bob trying to fool Corrine?

“One castaway makes a lifetime commitment in a surprisingly intimate gesture.”
I’d say this could be Crystal getting a marriage proposal here:

Or who knows, maybe she’s still jumping in joy over Randy’s boot the previous episode. We see a late shot in the Jiffy preview video of Matty getting real 1 on 1 with his girlfriend (put away the mouse, they’re not going past first base in the video) so is this where the proposal comes into play?

Okay, so it seems that Bob wins reward. Who’s going to Exile? Remember the F7 picture I referenced to earlier in this SOTS?

Look who’s got a bag at her feet? It’s hard to sort out what’s in front of each person but it appears that Kenny is the only other person with a bag of sorts in front of their feet – did Sugar just come back from yet another trip to the Sugar Shack?

Next up: This season's apparent theme = Good vs. Evil

esquire brings us a discussion on the Good vs. Evil theme. Most contrived theme idea ever? Or is it finally going to be played out? We also have new post-recrap vidcaps here for viewing as this is where we have a voiceover combining with visual images to suggest that Matty is "Good" and Corrine is "Evil" with Sugar caught in the middle. Is this our Final 3?

In the vidcap thread, OFG pointed out why it seems possible that Kenny goes this week as there are terrific new vidcaps from VolcanicGlass to show how things may unfold - check out these vidcaps here.

There's much confusion about whether the blindfolded challenge seen in the preview vidcaps is for this week or if it's actually for next week since Kenny seems to be hidden from view.

Also in the vidcaps thread is speculation about a fire raging through the Nobag camp. Did Randy live up to his promise to literally burn down the camp? Probably much ado about nothing or they would have literally screamed it from the rooftops about a sensational blaze in all of the previews.

And before we move on, can't ever forget VerucaSalt's The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor Gabon thread. Always fun to read!

Coming up, some future speculation.

Did Randy reveal the F2? AccidentialParent seems to think so. (FWIW, since I can't hear, I have no idea what Randy specifically said to suggest that, so will leave that up to the rest of you to hash out the interpretation of his words)

We've got an End Game Boot Discussion Thread to try and figure out how the F7 will go in order. Thanks to Scarlett for bringing this to us!

When’s the finale? It seems to be on December 14th from tjcrew’s thread. If that is correct, then it means a final 5 finale, since we’ll be going from 7 to 6 this week then 6 to 5 on December 11th.

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In summary:

Boot = I’m leaning towards Kenny. As OFG pointed out, he’s not seen in the vidcap where the big reward was announced (and the other six are seen) and we see Corrine with a different bikini colour in the F5 challenge. I’m intrigued as well by the very first vidcap we were shown:

Remember when Kenny took off in the boat and got stuck for a while? Now we’re shown this empty boat with a sunset in the background. Endgame, Kenny? (It’s possible, though, that the boat was shown in connection with Bob explaining to Corrine about the idol that Marcus threw away – did he go get the idol with the boat?)

Combine these two along with Jiffy's blog comment where he essentially said Kenny is going to get blindsided, it seems most likely to me that ...

OMG they killed Kenny!

Or maybe not. I’m going hesitatingly with Corrine as my alternate boot pick.

So... now that you’ve read the SOTS, tell us what you think in dabo’s Vote Thread.

Peace out, enjoy the show and stay healthy, y’all.

• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),billsmith_1972, 10:35 AM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),Flowerpower, 10:36 AM, 12-04-08
  • RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),ShellyMay, 12:32 PM, 12-04-08
    • RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),suzzee, 01:34 PM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),suzzee, 01:29 PM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),Brownroach, 02:52 PM, 12-04-08
  • RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),PepeLePew13, 03:55 PM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),kingfish, 03:13 PM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),CTgirl, 05:28 PM, 12-04-08
  • RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),Brownroach, 05:49 PM, 12-04-08
• Volcanic Glass has the real time footage...,Flowerpower, 06:06 PM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),whoami, 06:37 PM, 12-04-08
• RE: Episode 11 -- State of the Spoiling (SOTS),michel, 07:50 PM, 12-04-08

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

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

"The good things in life aren't easy" Sounds like a quote from one of the loved ones...possibly Crystal's significant other after she tells him how hard it is at camp. Or possibly Corrine. It sound like something she would say after they ask her how she will pull the game out.

If it's the picture of Corrine in a different bikini I'm thinking about, that was from an video before the show began.

It looks like they all have their bags. A few have theirs behind them.

Agree that Crystal probably gets a proposal for marriage.

Why is everyone hating on Kenny? I think he's the most interesting one on the show and probably the most deserving to win it all.

Thanks Pepe! Really appreciate the SOTS and what goes into bringing it here each week, especially at a hectic time of year! Should be a fun episode. I was thinking that perhaps it is Matty that proposes to his GF, but if it is Crystal that gets the proposal, it would be a nice end to her story...if she is going to be the boot this week...That lends support to a Crystal boot, I think...hmmm?

I'm leaning toward Matty proposing because didn't he make a ring for his girlfriend back in Ep. 5 or 6?

You're right, he did make a ring but I think they stuck that little scene in there to lead us to believe it would be Matty & wazername. Crystal has a live in boyfriend (he has a son I think too) and her jumping around looking overjoyed is heading me that way. Maybe we have a double engagement, wouldn't that be something . Newlywed Survivor (The jump the shark edition).

Regardless, welcome to the boards ShellyMay, jump in anytime, the swamp is fine.

Agman camouflaged me for S17

Awesome job, I always enjoy a good SOTS, especially when I agree with everything (DH should be so lucky).

Anyway I'm with you on the Kenny boot boat.

And the Bob wins reward too.

And it's Crystal making the lifetime commitment.

The fallout of Randy's boot pitting two allies against one another is confusing but I'm saying Crystal & Kenny or Bob & Corrine. (I know throw enough darts & something will stick)

Going to Exile: Who knows, maybe Bob sends Corrine, I see some bags behind some of them too.

Agman camouflaged me for S17

Great SOTS Pepe but I must disagree on your choice of Kenny for the boot -- the editing has invested way too much in Kenny's story to banish him from the previews for his boot episode.

I don't disagree with you, BR... There's just so many editing angles to consider, but in my view, Kenny seems to have the most negatives at the moment to outweigh the positives. Of course, it could be any one of 4 or 5 people that are getting the boot tonight -- you could build a case for any of Kenny, Corrine, Susie, Bob, and Sugar, with Matty and Crystal seemingly the most safe of all (if there's such a thing as being "safe" at this point in the game).

I didn't mention above in my SOTS, but another negative against Kenny is that I'm sure the others by now recognize him as a serious threat to win ICs and some of them know he's a schemer (Sugar, for one). A student of the game would know that puzzle and concentration/endurance challenges are coming up, some of which would favour Kenny. Either get him out now or he could easily win the million.

Thanks for the SOTS Pepe. A very good job, and Kenny could very well be gone, I think EPMB has shaken up things a little this year to throw us off, and this may be the next phase of his evil plan.

I think Corrine goes, not from spoiler info but because it just seems logical, she has very few friends left, and a lot of enemies.

But good job, I think it's fair to say you stunk up the place. I offer that as the ultimate complement to a skunque.

Nice job on the SOTS Pepe. It's hard to craft a hypothesis when CBS didn't give you much to work with this week!

I did vote for Bob in the voting thread, but the lone boat vidcap has me stymied. Tonight's show should be another interesting one. I would love for the pagonging to stop with Kenny (or Crystal) getting booted!

Dash Away by Agman