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"The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor One World - Merger and More"
Posted by VerucaSalt on 03-29-12 at 08:22 PM
Seems 100 and a merge is appropriate

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID2/7828.shtml

The merger episode is one of the most important episodes. Far be it from me to usurp the writings of those who probably covered it but those who seemed to have legs were reinforced by their merge episode.

I have found myself in a place that fewer words seem best in my case so I would only suggest that the merge episode very nicely reflected Troyzan and Kim who have been faring extremely well as both part/parcel to their alliance and spearheading their own groups. Both are central figures but like many other end gamers are not necessarily the "big" story but rather, are surrounded by distraction. I would certainly not count out others with hints of longevity and one can always make an argument for a contestant to be used as that lovely goat, longevity certainly but winner definitely not!

The end game is actually not quite so far away and the editing seems very helpful this season.

My dissection of the episodes have been very illuminating in seeing how this story is shaping and the roles I like seeing fulfilled are being done quite nicely. Hopefully everyone is "watching" as intently as I am

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"The Merge - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by michel on 03-31-12 at 03:10 AM
Hi Veruca, I know I speak for everyone when I say we would enjoy your dissections!
As is, here are my thoughts:

Previously on Survivor, an unexpected switch turned an even battle between men and women into a lobsided affair…
Salani drew all the strength leaving Manono as the clear underdogs.
<Colton told us his tribe was full of people that suck>

The new Salani was 7 strong and they dominated every challenge.
<Troy was shown saying that they were kicking ass>

At Manono, losing was taking a toll on the tribe but, for Colton, it was business as usual.
<Note that business as usual was bullying Christina, not setting up a big blindside.>
Then, a sudden illness put a stop to Colton’s plans but even a medical evacuation couldn’t stop Colton from influencing the game.
<Alicia told us that Colton was keeping the HII>

Colton’s departure sent both tribes to Tribal Council where they reunited in an unexpected merge.
The game has come full circle and we are even again, 6 men and 6 woman living together on one beach.

This recap stood out for one reason: It never mentioned that Jonas wanted to take Colton’s spot. It completely ignored the sushi chef and we found out why at the end of the episode. Jeff didn’t mention anyone, insisting more on the even numbers of men and women. This tells me that we should be careful with the conclusions reached during the first act. The second act is about to start and we have

A Clean Slate


Troy: “This really feels like Survivor to me now. It’s the merge; it’s me against 11 people. That’s what I wanted, that’s what I have been waiting for so bring it on.”

Troy had the opening confessional of Act II and, if this is a new start, it was a strong indication that he is the one to watch. Especially as this was followed by Michael fumbling with a champagne bottle, obviously not in the same frame of mind.

Alicia: “I knew a merge was coming, I just didn’t know it was going to be tonight. I think that, at this point, Christina might think she is still actually in the game. It’s crazy right now: It should have been Christina going home instead of Colton. By Colton leaving, he screwed me over, especially the fact that he didn’t give me his immunity idol so I have to start all over again. Maybe I’ll go back to my home girls and continue the girl power run and really wipe the guys out. The backstabbing is going to begin.”

Chelsea, Sabrina and Kat were shown as being Alicia’s “home girls” not Kim. Maybe it’s nothing, maybe it was done to distance Kim from Alicia.

Day 18

Troy proposed the name Tikiano for the new tribe. Everyone agreed.
Jonas was cooking coconuts. Everyone approved.

Jonas: “Today for breakfast we are going to have…coconut…”
Kim was excited to have Jonas doing the cooking.

Jay prepared the coffee but, when Tarzan asked for a cup, Jay said it wasn’t for everyone, only those that won coffee.

Jay: “Nobody expected a 12 man merge. It’s like here we are again, one big “happy” family all together. First thing I am thinking about is “I have to live with Tarzan again. All these people you don’t want to live with anymore and now they are back in the tribe. Even if it’s a one man game now, I think the Salani people are viewing this as an opportunity to vote everyone else out on the old Manono tribe because we have the numbers.”

With that, Jay’s sympathetic southern man edit went down the drain. In addition to Tarzan, Leif was seen a few times, suggesting he’d be a target sooner or later.

Tarzan: “I was hoping that the guys would be solid against the girls. This morning, I fret it ain’t so.”

We then saw Tarzan recruiting Michael for the men’s team, saying they had one girl, Alicia, ready to defect.

Michael: “The Manono tribe, they are outnumbered by 2. Tarzan is trying to get the guys to stick together. He feels that, if the guys stick together and use Alicia, that the guys will be there at the end. I don’t trust any of those guys, I don’t like any of those guys. I told Tarzan that I am in but I’m not in with Tarzan.”

The Challenge

Jeff didn’t even bother asking them for the new tribe name. Like us, he probably doesn’t care anymore after so many dumb names.
He was however, quick to tell everyone that they would be teamed up again for this challenge. The winners would get a secret note that was made possible by Colton’s evacuation. That makes me wonder if this whole merge was done only because Colton left.

Jeff’s comments weren’t kind to Leif but they were for Kat and Michael.
We heard Tarzan saying: “You got it, you got it” when Kim made it through the small hole that Leif had made. Good omen? Maybe but then seeing her fall on her back probably wasn’t! Despite costing her team the huge lead that Jay had provided, Sabrina was mostly spared by Jeff’s play-by-play. He simply said that the red tribe lost their lead in that final round instead of pointing the finger directly at Sabrina.

When the Orange tribe won reward, we heard Troyzan celebrate by saying: “This is my island” connecting him back to his early confessional. Back then, it could have been inserted for irony but now it sounds much more like a valid claim.

The Reward

Sabrina: “The challenge we had to do today was a doozy! It was a nail biter but, at the end, we won. I know good pizza…Anything but the dry rice…is great.”

It’s rare that the person that performed the worse in a challenge is the one given the confessional about it.

Once more, we heard Jay, at the end of the reward, let out a loud burp.
Alicia read the note and Chelsea said they should keep secret the presence of a new idol.

Chelsea: “It makes me nervous that an idol is still out there. My biggest concern is for someone on the Manono tribe finds the idol going into the next vote and messing up our numbers because we can’t have a Salani go home.”

Hearing Chelsea say that the idol should remain secret makes us wonder if she will tell Kim about it. But what is even more notable is that the only Manono members, at least New Manono members, that know about the clue are Alicia and Christina, not any of the New Manono men. Why would Chelsea be worried that these Manono members find it?! Unless she meant the original Manono! Troyzan could really mess up their numbers if he so desires. And we know that, for him, it isn’t Survivor unless you are lying.

Tikiano

Jonas and Michael decided to talk about their plans. Michael mentioned Tarzan’s idea which surprised Jonas.
Michael made a beautiful comment: “He should have filled you in on the plan.”

Jonas: “Apparently, the bright Tarzan, he goes and has this secret meeting with Mike and he tells him this plan which I am not even aware of. The guy makes zero sense. He’s a loose canon.”

It seemed that Jonas was more upset about not being the originator of the plan than about the plan itself because, if you look at it, it was perfect for him. Why didn’t he simply tell Mike that it was indeed The plan? He could have changed it later but he needed Mike to think he was on his side.

Jonas then confronted Tarzan about talking to the least reliable guy. It upset Tarzan who walked away after the two exchanged a few insults. Tarzan wanted them to continue without him. Michael was laughing silently at the scene.

Tarzan: “I do not like Jonas…When I say something, I mean it from my heart and I don’t go back on it. I can’t look at that face anymore.”

While he said that last sentence, the editors forced us to look at Tarzan’s butt which is far from a better option! We can obviously say that the men of Manono are still crazy. Nothing has changed since they gave up immunity and they will self-destruct unless someone takes over. Only one person could do that.

Troyzan: “Every body sleeps in while I am up at 4 every morning so I am going to start looking for the idol. I got to find that immunity idol and I got to find it now. These knuckleheads aren’t going to be awake for another hour.” <Looking for idols isn’t without risks as we saw when Troyzan put his hand where an ugly critter was hiding!> “The early bird gets the idol and gets the power! I always had my eye on these two big trees near the beach and I hit the jackpot! To find the hidden immunity idol; that’s like winning the gold medal! I want to wear it: Troyzan is safe! This could be a million dollars! This is crazy to think about it.”

Yes, that could indeed be the million dollar quote!

The Immunity Challenge

This time, Jeff asked about the tribe’s name. When Troyzan explained, Jeff didn’t look impressed.
For the record, Kim, Christina, Leif and Kat were shown when Jeff mentioned individual immunity.
Tarzan was the first out of the challenge. Christina was the second one and Michael quickly followed. Chelsea was the next to drop her balls and, as Jeff noted, Kim was right behind her.
If one of the girls falls, should we expect the other one to fall right behind?
At the start of the third round, Jeff said the words that could have been the title for the episode: You have a Clean Slate.
Alicia was quickly out and Jeff mentioned that it wouldn’t be an easy win.
Could this comment apply to Kim’s road to victory?
Jay, Jonas, Sabrina and Leif were the next to fall out.
The last two standing were Kat and Troyzan, once again fighting it out but this time the stakes were higher.
Was their little montage during the early reward challenge done with this confrontation in mind? Will there be others? Those two seem to have stories that intersect.
Kat looked to be as solid as a rock but Troyzan won it.

Back in camp, everybody congratulated Troy and we heard Jay saying that he thought Jonas would pull it out because of his chef’s skills.
How ironic that, after last week’s showing and his outdoors skills confessional, many thought that Jonas would indeed pull IT out!

Troyzan: “This is like Survivor to the ultimate. I won immunity today, I have an immunity idol. It’s like I have a group that I feel solid, you know” <Kim shown right here, drinking from the coconut that Troy had just handed her. Obviously, she represents Troy’s solid group.> “My old Salani who, basically, have been straightforward with me. Whatever they decide what to do, that’s basically what I am going to do.”

Out on a walk with Jay, Chelsea was quick to decide what to do: She wanted to stick with Salani since they were up 7 to 5
Jay proposed either Jonas or Leif, with Jonas being his first choice.

Chelsea: “It’s guys versus girls but, the way I see it, we keep it Salani versus Manono. We should take out Manono’s strongest people first. I think Jonas is their strongest player right now which I hate because he’s a great cook, great positive attitude, fun to be around but I’m thinking Jonas will be the next to go.”

Sabrina and Kim agreed with Jay’s suggestion.
Resting in the canoe, Kim was greeted by Alicia and she told her that everyone was thinking about voting out Jonas.

Kim: “For tonight’s vote, we want to vote Jonas out because he is the biggest threat and we want to keep Christina and Alicia around in case we end up needing a girls’ alliance. So, get a guy out and particularly one of the New Manono tribe members. It leaves the girls in the majority, it leaves my old Salani tribe in the majority and it gives me two really great options moving forward.”

Troy asked Kim who she was thinking about and she told him Jonas because he was smart.

Troyzan: “A lot of people have talked about Jonas because they think he is a big threat. He’s the smartest of the guys. Are you kidding me? You are going to let this guy go? He’s feeding us, he’s providing for us. Why now?”


Troyzan was quick to warn Jonas about the plot against him.

Jonas: “When you hear your name come up, you immediately think: Oh Crap! I’m going home. It makes no sense to me strategically to vote me out. I’m like the least threatening guy here. There’s Mike who is the most dominant person as far as immunity challenges so, they want to keep him around over me. So, immediately, I go into Survival mode.”

I know what he reaqlly meant but it cracked me up when Jonas said it didn’t make sense to him to vote himself out. What a fun Lapalissade! But beyond that, he does put the boot decision in question. Many viewers will agree with him that Mike would have made more sense. However, being so close to Colton, so close to the decision to give up immunity, Jonas automatically became a huge threat. By his association with Colton, Jonas was the most distrusted person out there. As for Mike, it makes me think that he could indeed become a huge challenge threat, win quite a few challenges and be the one that puts doubt on everyone else’s chances.

As a first step, Jonas went to apologized to Tarzan who was moved to tears by the gesture.
Maybe that was something Jonas should have done just before TC because it seemed that Tarzan forgot about it!

Tarzan: “Jonas and I are, admittedly, a bad marriage but strangely, we respect each other.”
With Leif, Jonas and Troyzan present, Tarzan decided to put the target on Kat.
Troyzan agreed that she didn’t do much.

Jonas: “So, we are voting for Kat as sort of a last mkinute scramble. I’d rather vote Mike out instead but we figured that Kat doesn’t pull her own weight a lot, she’s kind of annoying for a lot of people so that’s my only hope at this point is I’m voting Kat.”

We then had a scene about Tarzan’s dirty underwear.

Chelsea: “After we had talked about who we wanted to send home next, all I wanted to do was get a good batch of laundry done. I was going to have some clean clothes.”
When Tarzan mixed his gross underwear with Chelsea’s delicates, she was offended and felt the urge to puke.

The interaction between Chelsea and Tarzan reminded me of Ashley and Phillip. I certainly hope this story doesn’t go the same way…Like Kat, I was shaking my head at what the editors did to put this vote in doubt!

Chelsea: “If it was up to me, Tarzan would go home cause I am all about who deserves to be here, who has a positive attitude, who brings everyone up when everyone’s down, who’s just a good person to be around. Tarzan doesn’t fill any of those empty lines.”

Some viewers would certainly think that Chelsea doesn’t fill all those lines and see this as being a hypocrite. She certainly didn’t always have a positive attitude and she was the one that needed to be cheered up rather that the one helping others.

Chelsea told (apparently) Jay, Kim, Kat and Mike that Jonas should be sparred a few days and that they should take Tarzan out.
As Kim laid there, Jay said: “I understand your thought: You want to take out deadweight. I hate seeing deadweight, Alicia, Christina, Tarzan, Leif, I hate them sitting around camp.” <another glimpse of Kim laying back> “But, if you set a plan in place and it gets broken, all hell can break loose and come back to bite you in the butt.”

Tribal Council

Asked about the changes in camp, Sabrina said it was very chaotic.
Jonas said that positioning at the end was critical but that “you can be thinking way too far ahead…Do you want to go into immunity challenges against this (Mike) guy?”
Mike defended himself by saying he didn’t do well in the last challenge.
Jonas went on to say that he was voting for Mike.
Maybe Jay’s comment about changing a plan realy applied to Jonas
Tarzan couldn’t believe it. He told Jeff he disrespected what Jonas had done. He then said that Jonas may have thrown himself under the bus.
Jonas turned around and said that they didn’t have the votes to follow Tarzan’s plan and eliminate Kat who was very surprised at the news.
She wanted to know what she did wrong but Tarzan said Jonas was lying. Tarzan added they should vote Jonas out.
Chelsea came to Jonas’ defense, saying that people had more issues with Tarzan.
Sabrina agreed.
Asked about someone likable like Jonas and someone that is socially awkward like Tarzan, Kim said: “That’t the beauty of the merge. All of a sudden, people like Jonas become a threat and people like Tarzan become an asset.”
Jeff said it depends on how you look at it.
Kim agreed.
Chelsea said she wanted to keep the positive people instead of deadweight.
Tarzan asked if she meant him and she answered “maybe” with a smile.
Tarzan said the whole thing was going mercurial (no one told Kat what that word meant!)

With only Leif voting alongside him, Jonas was eliminated.
He went over to Tarzan saying he held no hard feelings but Tarzan said he still had hard feelings.
Jokingly, Jonas wished them good luck with the food situation as he left.
Troyzan waved to him, either a hint that he’d get his vote in the end or that both would meet again in the jury house.

Jeff sent them back to camp saying that the vote showed that no one was safe.
<Unfortunately, the camera went to Tarzan when he said those words, not hinting at any of the big targets.>

The Story

As we had been expecting, Salani is the tribe that took over the merge and Manono continued to self-destruct. But it’s the new Salani that was featured or, more accurately, the 4 person alliance of Kim, Troyzan, Jay and Chelsea. The season will be determined by how this alliance moves forward. We have seen warning signs that it will break down, splinter into two factions so the question is reduced to two possible paths: Kim or Troyzan. Which one will it be?

Three themes emerged from this episode:
- “The Merge Gave Everyone a Clean Slate”
- “You want to Take Out Deadweight.”
- “The Beauty of a Merge.”

The first two were clearly to Troyzan’s advantage while the third favored Kim…depending how you look at it!

The Characters

The Failed Ones:

Leif: He could be pooping sand for the next few days that it wouldn’t matter because no one wants to be with him. He still has no personal story and, instead of being the buff little dude or even the friendly guy, we are now being told he is deadweight. His exit should happen soon. Could his boot help us decide which side will prevail? Possibly but it could come after all the fireworks in this mercurial tribe.

Christina : The merge was a reprieve for her yet we didn’t hear a single word from her. Thankfully, she could point to her performance during the IC or else all the family members that watched the episode with her wouldn’t know she was there.

Michael: Compared to the others, there’s an interesting yet subtle story around Michael: He is a quiet trouble-maker, causing conflicts around him. Not as openly as Russell, more in the Varner or Scout way. Hearing Jonas mention him as a challenge threat was probably only to explain the two votes he received but it could be forewarning us that he will go on a run and, since he isn’t well liked by most viewers, he will create havoc in people’s brackets…ooops! Sorry, March Madness crept in there! I mean he will cast doubts on everyone’s favorites, maybe contributing to someone’s elimination.

Alicia: We only heard her repeating that Colton was selfish about the idol. She could be the next one voted out and the editors could present it as the women losing power. Actually, it could really mean that the women have lost power!

Sabrina: We only heard her talk about that reward. She still has no end game connections.

Jay: This episode ended the “nice southern gentleman” role that Jay had enjoyed. Maybe some will like the fact that he got so involved in strategy but I saw him as a spiteful person, hating everyone. He even received the blame for being the one that targeted the likable and useful Jonas. His chances died in this episode.

Chelsea: If Jay got blame for targeting Jonas, maybe we should credit Chelsea for trying to save him but we heard that changing a plan at the last minute could blow up in one’s face and we sort of had an example of that with Jonas switching from Kat to Michael. Chelsea either gets voted out because she will hesitate again down the road or she gets blamed during FTC for being too wishy-washy.


The Goats

Tarzan: Mister poopy pants is deadweight and an awkward social player which pretty much the same story as a Federal Agent we all remember too well. Will Tarzan get to the final three, insuring someone else’s victory? Well, unless he was acting, he seems to prefer to fall on his own sword than to stay in a game like this one. One can hope because if we have two goats at the end, it won’t be an exciting FTC.

Kat: She has been our early season prediction for goat and this episode didn’t change that. She didn’t receive a confessional even if she became a potential boot option. That plot line only served to show her surprised reaction during the Council, another occasion to laugh at her. Troyzan mentioned her as someone that didn’t pull her weight so I expect her to be sitting there in the end, receiving too few votes to make it interesting.

The Contenders

Troyzan: What a great episode for Troyzan. I believe he could indeed make this his island. With the merge giving everyone a clean slate, we were told that his early episodes didn’t matter, that even if he appeared like a poor sport in episode 1, he could still be our winner. He’s ready for the individual fight and we saw that he was a big fan of the show when he talked about Probst as he handed him the necklace. A fight between the New Salani is brewing and we know that Troy is ready to lie. That’s a dangerous weapon, especially if the women are too loyal, too naive. Seeing Troyzan warn Jonas and then wave at him after the vote told us that Troyzan already has a vote sitting on the jury. On the negative side, we didn’t hear from him during TC so we still have some questions. The beauty of this merge is that we have two great contenders, each casting doubts on the other’s chances.

Kim: We could have made a mistake in calling her victory so early. We heard talk about eliminating deadweight and, at that times, Kim was presented lying back in the canoe, the very picture of deadweight. The way she agreed to take out Jonas, adding that it gave her options for later on, showed us that she is cold-hearted. Then again, depending on how we look at it, she seized the perfect opportunity that the merge presented. Her road to victory still looks too easy and we heard Jeff say it won’t be easy. It was a quote during the immunity challenge but it stood out.

With Troyzan laying claim to the island, we do know Kim has an obstacle on her road to victory. I still slightly favor her chances but I wouldn’t be surprised to see her fall, maybe right after Chelsea gets voted out!! The strangest thing is that Kim needs to eliminate Alicia in order to look like a deserving winner because that would separate her from the Villain. With Alicia talking about girl power and her home girls, we can’t have a her in the end. However, eliminating Alicia could also be Kim’s downfall! Seeing Alicia voted out next would be just the perfect set-up, leaving us with more questions than answer.

Kim or Troyzan? I don’t know and, honestly, I don’t care at this time. We will know soon enough so why not enjoy the uncertainty for a while?!


"Hey Veruca!"
Posted by Flowerpower on 03-31-12 at 08:35 AM
Yes Veruca, I know I wish I was privy to your thoughts....

Michel....excellent assessments as always. A few things that I thought. First of all Troyzan started with the first confessional about how excited he was, this is Survivor, me against 11...basically telling us, game on. Sets him up nicely to win the IC later and to even find the HII. He's on top of the world. Yet, with his very loud outburst at the RC..."This is MY Island!" I couldn't help feel that Tarzan is becoming arrogant. He tells us it's him against 11, he tells us that he's secure with his "old Salani" and that he'll do what they tell him to do, then he finds the HII, and now it's HIS ISLAND, and instead of containing those feelings for himself, he shouts it to everyone. I don't know, that sheds light for me on a possible BIG FALL from grace.

Another point regarding Chelsea. She stated that she was worried about Manono finding the HII and messing up the numbers because we can't have a Salani go home....wow, that could be some serious foreshadowing. I couldn't help but to wonder if Troy will play his HII and cause her unexpected demise...hmmmm....sooner rather than later.

Also, when you mentioned Tarzan and Kat as the goats. The scene with Chelsea being disgusted by Tarzan, and then Kat finding it so funny. The three of them in that scene....I couldn't help but to think, what if Chelsea is the one at the end and she's there with Kat and Tarzan? But, she was disgusted and had to go puke, so who would like to be there with them? KIm, Troyzan?

"RE: Hey Veruca!"
Posted by michel on 03-31-12 at 12:36 PM
Hi FP,
So many questions, so few sure answers (Isn't it great?!)

The thing about Troyzan's claim is that it ties in with the confessional he had during the recap of episode 2. A strange editing choice where, instead of showing that possible winning quote in the opening of the premiere, they inserted it in the subsequent recap. No one is seeing Troyzan as a threat, not Jonas, not Jay and not the women. Remember that little montage where Kat confronted him and needed 7 rounds before she beat him. It started with this:

Kat was confident she could beat him. Now that we see Kat as a possible goat, that scene could have a whole new meaning. Troyzan also told us he wanted to be the greatest player ever so that leaves the editors two options: Give him that spectacular fall you mentioned or show him as a great player. If he is to win it all, then showing him making that claim is a step in that direction.

The F3 I have been seeing all along is Kat, Chelsea and either Kim or Troyzan taking the winner's seat between them. Tarzan could force Chelsea out of there much like Phillip took Ashley's spot in the RI F3.

"RE: Hey Veruca!"
Posted by Flowerpower on 03-31-12 at 12:57 PM
All great points, michel! Keep up the great work!
"Episode 8 - The Characters and their Stories:"
Posted by michel on 04-06-12 at 04:39 PM
Previously on Survivor, the game began like any other: Men versus women living together on one beach.
<Jay: “It’s their tribe versus our tribe.”>
Then, a random switch changed everything.
<Sabrina: “4 Girls from the 5 girl alliance on the new tribe? Priceless!”>

The new Salani stood strong in challenges and united as a tribe while the Misfits of Manono were at the mercy of Colton.
When Colton was removed because of a medical emergency, the game changed once again, leaving 12 Survivors, 6 men and 6 women to merge.
<Kim: “There are a couple of ways that I think I can find majority: One is with my old tribe, Salani the other would be a potential women’s alliance.”>

While the women were keeping their options open <shot of Kim on the canoe> the men were at each other’s throats.
Tarzan also found himself in hot waters with the rest of the tribe.
<Chelsea, after the underwear incident: “If it were up to me, Tarzan would go home.”>

At Tribal Council, it was Jonas that was sent home leaving the men at a 6-5 numbers disadvantage.

In what was a season’s recap of events up to now we noticed that Troyzan’s name never came up which is pretty damning for his fans. Jay and Chelsea were mentioned but neither in a positive way: Jay reverted to his men versus women attitude. It was as if the editors wanted to remind us that he started it, not Kim!
For Chelsea, we heard that she isn’t running things, the vote wasn’t up to her.
Sabrina had a short clip in which, like a good commentator, she explained the key moment of the season: The women’s alliance got to stay together.
Kim had the main focus and a confessional that went at the heart of her game so far.

I would have titled this episode:

Don’t You Dare!

Tikiano – Day 21

Walking over to tree mail with Jay, Troyzan explained that Jonas had simply been unlucky at the switch, that Michael would have been the one voted out if he had picked an egg with orange paint.

Troyzan: “We started out men versus women but when we did the ol’ tribe switch, me, Jay and Mike made this pact to stick with the Salani group which was Chelsea, Kim, Kat and Sabrina. I just hope we didn’t make a mistake.”

The two agreed the next one to go had to be a girl.

Jay: “I am really scared at this point about the girls being together because they could easily hook up and they could do damage. Honestly, I don’t want to be overpowered by these girls.”

With his talk about Michael, we had an indication that Troyzan wouldn’t be too upset to see him leave. It also set the stage for Kim’s move: The viewers couldn’t be too upset to see Mike leave if he only stayed this long because he picked a blue egg.

Jay and Troyzan returned to camp in what became a 7up commercial

Sabrina: “I wouldn’t even breathe if I had a 7up. I would down it in one big gulp…”

The Challenge

The most interesting part of the challenge wasn’t shown: Who picked whom?
We did hear Tarzan cheering for Troyzan and Jay so we know he had been given the opportunity to pick the winning team and join them on reward. Are the editors trying to create sympathy for Tarzan?! I doubt it.

Jay, Troyzan, Kat, Alicia and Chelsea were on the green team.
Mike, Kim, Sabrina, Christina and Leif were yellow.

While both tribes were bringing their last crate, we saw Christina run to the puzzle board, not helping the others carrying the crate. We heard Leif asking: “What is she doing?”
Jeff had us note that Troyzan was leading the way for his tribe while he said everyone was talking on the other side, looking disorganized.
With his team working together really well, Jeff said Troyzan had a plan.
Christina toom the lead position for the yellow tribe but Jeff barely mentioned her. During the celebration, it even seemed as if Michael was bowing to her but the scene quickly cut away.

Christina isn’t someone that the editors want to be seen getting accolades.
Leif was so happy with his first reward that he couldn’t stop screaming. That irritated the losers, Chelsea in particular.

The Reward

Leif: “When we first got to this beautiful 7up oasis, it was shocking…a resort.”

Christina: “…It was amazing.”

Sabrina led the team in a prayer, noting that they now know what it means to be hungry.

Kim: “The food is huge. I never thought I’d feel so weak so just to be able to think about my options, sit up and have my mind work, it was awesome.”

While Mike and Leif gorged themselves, Kim asked Sabrina to come over and talk about their options.
Sabrina asked Kim how far ahead she was thinking.
Kim simply answered: “Far”
Both agreed they wanted to be in the F3 with Chelsea and would be pissed if Mike made it there. “It has to be all girls” said Kim.
She then exposed her plan of telling Troyzan that Michael was gunning for him.
Kim then said that, when they get down to 6 girls and 4 boys, they could annihilate them after.

Kim: “I was thinking through my options and what made sense was to take out Mike. The girls are already in the majority so, if we can get a united front and come together, we can start sending these guys home. I have to be careful but, if all 6 girls vote together and just go for it, we can change the whole game.”

We know that, despite getting rid of Mike, the girls didn’t vote as a united front: Christina and Alicia voted against Tarzan. We didn’t hear how that happened: Was it planned that way to keep the women’s alliance somewhat secret? Are the women not as united as Kim needs them to be? It seems that is the doubt she now faces.

Tikiano – Day 21

Troyzan told everyone that the steak would have been hard to digest (probably not as hard as the piece of wood Tarzan was trying to eat!)
Chelsea proposed talking about the next elimination.
Troyzan proposed Christina and Jay agreed.
Kat said Michael was the biggest threat.
Jay held out 6 fingers for Troyzan to see, indicating the 6 women were voting together.

Jay: “I don’t trust these girls. They want to send Mike home but I am going to put that on the back-burner for now. There are just too many girls that could hook up and start knocking out these guys. They are already up…”

Just then, the rest of the group came back from reward with a crate full of 7up.

Troyzan: “I was nervous before the 6 came back from reward. I was wondering what they were talking about…Do they have a new plan? Now that we are back together, I have to keep an eye on those girls. Kat made a suggestion that Mike needs to go so I have to make sure that Sabrina, Kim and Chelsea want to stick with the Salani group to the very end.”

They do, Troy, they do. It’s just not your Salani!

Tikiano – Day 22

Michael: “This is miserable. Last night, it was rainy and windy and the wall got blown off our shelter...”

Tarzan got involved in a new fight: He used some bamboo as firewood instead of leaving it as part of the wall.
Chelsea told Troy that the most educated people lack common sense.
Chelsea: “The wind has never been this strong and Tarzan took off part of our bamboo to cut for firewood…”

Tarzan: “When you are around somebody, you sense if you are an irritant to them. Chelsea has been subliminally harassing me…”
Chelsea: “Tarzan took me aside and asked me if I didn’t like him because I had a bad experience with my plastic surgeon. Is this guy for real?”
From another confessional, we heard Chelsea say: “To me it’s get Tarzan off as fast as possible but it’s just a game and you have to think with your head. As much as I hate Tarzan, it’s about taking people out that could be a threat and Tarzan isn’t a threat at all. I hate to say it but he needs to stick around a little longer.”

Showing she was thinking with her head, Kim took a walk with Troy and used to opportunity to say: “Mike is subtly planting the seed in lots of people’s mind that you’re going to win.” She added that they needed to get him out because he could pull in Leif, Tarzan, Christina and Alicia.

Kim: “Troyzan and I went this morning to get tree mail and I told him the story that “hey yesterday, Mike was kind of throwing your name out there.” Would you take out Mike first and then we can take out the girls?”

Troyzan: “This morning I (bleep) hear that Mike wants to take me out of this (bleep) game and that pisses me off. He just does jack squat. He’s just an idiot. That guy irks me, man! I’m sick of him. Mike, I’ve been worried about him since day 1 and if Mike wants to vote me out, he’s got another thing coming. That guy should have been gone on day 1.”

The Challenge

The notable quotes:
- Troyzan told Jeff as he was handing back the necklace that it’s “Not for Long.” Jeff repeated it with a laugh heard in the background.
- Jay getting closer to the finish.
- Alicia moves on to the finals.
- Kat: “This is too hard for me.”
- Jay is dead last at this point, really taking his time, very methodical.
- Jay: “I hate puzzles.”
- Could Jay pull this huge come from behind victory out? It’s Kim and Jay. Kim? No! Out of nowhere; Jay wins immunity.
- Jay: “Slow and steady wins the race.”


Jay: “Tonight…I feel safe and I definitely think that, since we knocked Jonas off last time, I think it’s a safe vote to knock out a girl so, we send Christina home, that keeps the old Salani tribe going strong and sends an old Manono member home as well as it evens out the guys versus the girls.”

Meanwhile, Kim was clinging to Troy like the bats on the trees. She wanted to know if they were still on the same page.
Troy said he was.

Kim: “Right now, I’m straggling two alliances. I have an all-women alliance and I have my Salani alliance with Troy, Jay and Mike. But now, I think it’s time for the girls to take over this game. I know Chelsea and the girls will be on board with that and Troy is blinded by his dislike of Mike so I am using Troy to send Mike home tonight.” At that moment we heard Troy telling Kim that he hadn’t talked to Jay and she said she hadn’t talked to anyone but felt he would be fine with it. Kim’s confessional continued: “My concern is that Jay finds out what is really going on because, if Jay gets suspicious and gets to Troy and Troy gets nervous, that could be trouble because I still have to keep my options open and, who knows, I may need those guys for another vote or two.”

With Kat, Christina and Alicia in attendance, Chelsea asked Jay if he wanted to get rid of Michael.
Jay answered he was scared of all the girls. He asked if he would be next.
Chelsea said it wouldn’t be necessarily true
That didn’t reassure Jay.

Jay: “I was sitting in the shelter and Chelsea looked at me and asked if I wanted to send Mike home. It just really shocked me that she would say that in front of Alicia and Christina because they are Manono tribe members. You are supposed to be part of my alliance and you talk in front of these two other people? I don’t like that plan but I need to be careful with these girls because, if I don’t go along with them and vote out Mike, they might very well come after me.”

Interesting that the same attitude that led Jay to agree to give up immunity shows up again in his decision to eliminate Mike. The repeated pattern shows us the flaw of his game.

Kim: “Chelsea sat there in the shelter in front of the two girls that are not supposed to be in our alliance and asked Jay to vote out Mike. That’s asinine. We need Troy and Jay thinking that it’s Salani to the end. Now, it’s become a huge mess so I’m not exactly sure how this is about to go down.”

Now this parallels Tarzan telling Mike about a plan that Jonas didn’t like but it shows how Kim handled the situation differently. She wasn’t pleased with Chelsea but we saw her working to fix it instead of making it worse.

While was saw Chelsea’s repentant expression...

...we heard Kim say: “We cannot send a girl home tonight.”
But then, Kat told her that Mike and Jay had just gone off for a walk.
A determined Kim set out after them and caught up with them as they were about to start a discussion.
Just as Jay mentioned sitting back in the shelter, Kim interrupted by saying: “Let’s do Christina...That’s four more rounds that we can all go.”
All Jay could say to this was that he had a bad vibe.

Mike: “Jay, he’s really nervous but my alliance is sticking together and if you are not in the alliance, it’s your time to go. Kim wants Christina out and wants a blindside which would be kinda fun. There’s no scrambling. Everybody can just relax and go to Tribal. As long as it doesn’t happen to you then you are ok but I can say that now and have my tribe blindside me but I just don’t see that happening.”

I find it hilarious that we heard Mike being more confident in his alliance than Jay. It showed the brilliance of Kim’s move and leaves doubt about how Jay will respond next time.

To Kat and Sabrina, Kim said: “I walked up and he was literally about to tell Mike and I looked at him like “Don’t you dare.”

Up to now, Kim hadn’t done anything that say, Danni hadn’t done when she turned Stephenie against Judd: A little lie about an allie’s true intentions and let paranoia take over. But going to Jay and daring him not to reveal the plan was much more impressive. Kim didn’t leave it up to chance.

Kim: “I’m torn over what to do because it’s a huge move to take out the guys in our alliance and, unfortunately Jay freaked out so; are we going to cause a major uproar and go with the women’s alliance and vote out Mike or do we vote out Christina and keep Salani together? We are going to have to make a choice and go with it. Whatever happens, it’s going to change the whole game.”

Tribal Council

Jeff asked them who was worried about going home.
No one raised their hand, shocking our host. It told him there were many alliances that felt solid.
He turned to Tarzan for his reaction.
Tarzan: “It means someone has been very good at deceiving.”
<For those not keeping score at home, the camera showed us a close-up of Kim>

Troy told Jeff he didn’t bring his bags. (I’m curious about his idol!)
Kim, Chelsea, Christina and Mike (!) all told Jeff they would be blown away if it was them.
Kim explained: “I think there are people that think they are part of an alliance that they are not actually part of.” She went on to talk about new relationships.
Jeff asked Chelsea to comment Kim’s carefully crafted answer.
Chelsea was less careful: “You want to be aligned with more than two groups, maybe you want to be aligned with three. See which one has more trust and go with the majority.”
Alicia told Jeff she didn’t know who was on whose side and that it would take a few tribal councils to figure it out.
Christina was asked about men versus women and she said there could be talk of that but there was also the new tribes to consider.
Tarzan told Jeff they were playing him because the game was afoot.
Is this the first time since Borneo where an inexperience Jeff was played by Pagong and where Tagi hid their alliance from him that we hear contestants worrying about Jeff’s influence on the vote? Penner may have been so direct but I can’t really recall it happeneing at TC
Kat told Jeff that he had been Tarzaned. She explained that it meant not knowing how to react to his “rantics”.
(I guess she mixed rambling and antics into a new word!)
Mike told Jeff there were two alliances and that he doesn’t talk much but when he does, he is being truthful. He added: “I think my alliance is strong.”

When Jeff gave the players an opportunity to play an idol, we saw Kim confidently doing her nails!
With 5 votes read against him, Mike was eliminated and the camera showed another close-up of Kim followed by our juror, Jonas, being wowed!

Troy looked happy as he nodded to those around him.

Jeff: “You came in tonight completely confident it wasn’t you and yet three of you received votes. If that doesn’t shake the confidence of this group, nothing will.”

The Story

I found it fascinating that the guy that stole the women’s stuff and the one that congratulated him at the start of the season were the first two to be sent to the jury.

It gives me great confidence that we were right in determining that a major theme of the season would be: “The single biggest mistake in this game is making decisions early on that nobody will forgive you in the end”. Troyzan and Chelsea are the two remaining players that made decisions early on that could be seen as mistakes by the others so we hold a good argument against their chances to win.

As for the remaining story I feel it will come down to the two unexplained votes against Tarzan. If Alicia and Christina were left out of the loop then the men have a fighting chance; Rory’s mythical little crack in the alliance. If the women were being cautious and decided to split the votes then they are leaving an opening for the men. If Kim told Alicia and Christina to vote against Tarzan to keep up the New Salani charade then it’s time to turn out the lights, the party is over for the guys. Seeing Kim working all the angles, preventing Jay from talking to Mike, I believe she didn’t leave any loose ends.

The Characters

Leif: There is a little (!) mystery surrounding Leif’s vote. Was he in on the plan to eliminate Mike? I read someone suggesting that, since his previous vote against Mike didn’t come back to bite him in the butt then he decided to repeat it. It’s possible that the animosity goes back to being thrown under Colton’s bus by Mike which would be another example of early decisions that weren’t fogiven.

Tarzan: Running out of options, the editors used Phillip to create doubt around Rob’s chances and some viewers bought into it! Here, we are seeing that the same could be done with Tarzan. The challenge sit-out without an opportunity to go on reward (as it was presented) could create sympathy and many viewers could feel he is being much maligned by the others. Could it be that Chelsea will regret not seeing him as a threat? I don’t think that’s the way his story is headed but the possibility remains as long as he isn’t voted out.

Christina: Like Leif said, she is leaving the viewers wondering what she’s doing. It’s terrible that the editors decided to present her action at the RC as a selfish move when she was actually trying to size up the puzzle. She was the one that won it for the yellow team but Jeff’s play-by-play mostly ignored her contribution. Christina doesn’t matter to the story tellers.

Alicia: Will Alicia move up to the finals in the game like she did in the challenge? She’d be a good goat to ride and there isn’t much else in her game to suggests where else she may end up.

Kat: It was funny to hear Kat say the puzzle was too hard for her but it makes me think once more that she just might win a key challenge somewhere down the line. The F4 IC? That would be funny. The girl that got Tarzaned more than anyone else could wind up having the biggest decision to make.

Sabrina: Hearing her talk about a final 3 with Chelsea and Kim makes me think she’ll be the one out of luck in the end. Her role is to comment on the situation, not to star in it.

Chelsea: She’s the one being shown having poor social skills, arguing with Tarzan and making a mess of things. Chelsea’s asinine decision to tell Jay about Mike just after we had heard Kim saying how they needed to keep Jay calm showed us a poor player, not an eventual winner.

Troyzan: This episode killed Troyzan’s story as he cannot pretend to be seen as the greatest player ever after being played like a fiddle by Kim. He started the episode wishing he hadn’t made a mistake and the whole episode was a demonstration that he had done just that. The little laugh we heard when Jeff said Troy wouldn’t be without the necklace for long told me that he won’t win another individual immunity. His TC comment that he didn’t bring his bag tells me he may be too confident and not play his idol.

Jay: The challenge quotes will serve to create the doubt around Kim’s chances. He will be seen as a possible come-from-behind victor, this season’s Chris. He is the one that is painfully aware that the women could band together and eliminate all the guys but the way he crumbled when Kim dared him told me he was simply the voice of the part of the audience that doesn’t want to see the women dominate. He will be their last, best hope but, in the end, he will only get their fan favorite vote.

Kim: We now know that Kim is thinking far ahead and she is covering most, if not all, the angles. Will the lack of food prevent her mind from working properly in the clutch? Will Jay pull a huge come-from-behind win? Is she too confident that she can annihilate the men? There are still questions surrounding her victory, it isn’t in the bag yet because the 6 women didn’t all vote together but this episode made it clear that she has her hand on the wheel. Kim will be the Sole Survivor.

"RE: Episode 8 - The Characters and their Stories:"
Posted by PepeLePew13 on 04-06-12 at 05:30 PM
LAST EDITED ON 04-06-12 AT 05:36 PM (EST)

As usual, a nice breakdown of the episode and I don't see much reason to disagree with your views for the most part.


>When Jeff gave the players an
>opportunity to play an idol,
>we saw Kim confidently doing
>her nails!

Quite reminiscent of another tall, lanky and strong female who won and made it look easy, casually filing her nails while the others (in this case, Stephenie and Rafe) struggled:

"Episode 9"
Posted by tikigirlie on 04-14-12 at 05:19 AM
LAST EDITED ON 04-14-12 AT 03:41 PM (EST)

I am by no means a spoiling or editing expert but I always look forward to this thread and seeing as this is the first season that I've contributed to in a long time, I thought I'd share my thoughts. I was hoping michel would have posted so I could see someone else's thoughts but oh well!

Just rewatched the episode and here are my thoughts:

Jay mentions his dream of being shot. He wakes up before he is "capped" again. My first thought is Kat's dream of Alicia killing her. Are dreams coming true? Why did Jay's dream realize so much faster than Kat's?

Also, he woke up after being shot once, but before being shot again. Does he realize that he was played before casting his FTC vote? If so, who does this benefit? Am I reading way to into this?

Troy said that Michael was pretty much a girl's vote (talking to Tarzan re:numbers) - any end game thoughts on that? If it's all women I guess it doesn't matter, but if it's a man sitting with two women at the end, does he still vote female?

Intro: it wasn't shown this week and I am never observant given my PVR but I did notice a few weeks ago that the sole person standing with a torch is a woman.

RC: Alicia notes her team by name, then calls the other team "all the girls, then Leif left over." I find that interesting since her team included 2 girls and yet she called the other team (Kim, Sab, Chelsea, Christina, Leif) "all the girls." to me this discounts Kat a bit as the other three (forget Christina) are what most would call major players.

Troy takes the host position, but Sab says he's no host. Does this tell us that Troy may be on the sidelines for the rest of the game? Finally Troy plays in the RC, told to take his time like Kat did, but fails.

Sabrina gets the last throw (and confessional) and doesn't want to let her team down, but she does. Jay mocks Leif's BBQ celebration!

Kat-Jay conversation shows Kat listening and Jay spilling some beans - and we only see Kat's open back ....

Post RC: Kim talking to Chelsea. Interesting that it didn't sound like Chelsea answered any of Kim's questions, but looked to her left, presumably towards camp. Then Kim talking to Kat, Chelsea and Alicia re backstabbing the guys. Sab not present. Chelsea having the moral dilemma (which she gets over since she goes with the majority). Alicia has her Please confessional and Kat fills Sab in.

I'm interested why Sab wasn't in on the conversation to begin with. Also, since the Kim/Chelsea duo has been established for the viewers, I got to wondering why Sab, a smartly edited player, wouldn't have a similar buddy. When Alicia moved to NuManono, it would make sense that Sab and Kat would gravitate towards each other. This scene is very little sister-big sister. Kat says "We'll have 3 at the finals!" In her mind, who are the 3? A lot of the spec was that Kat would win F4 immunity and Kim would have to eliminate Sab. After watching this scene, is it possible that it's Chelsea, the wild card and maybe the bottom of the K/S/K/C alliance, that wins the F4 immunity and eliminates Sab?

Jay confessional: Troy can tell a story better than anyone else, so I am sticking with Kim and Chelsea for F3. What does that say about Kim and Chelsea?

Jay talking to Kat: at the end of this scene after she questions how she would say no, we see the three strong women in her alliance. They lie to him and Chelsea hates it.

Kim and Alicia washing: as Alicia was not shown to be scrambling but was a target, I feel that Kim was even more furthered strategically in the game. Kim is showing to strongly influence (I hate the term manipulate) the vote. Troy then states the obvious about the women's majority. Jay is clueless.

Immunity Challenge:
1) OMG ahahahahahahahahaehah at Tarzan. Jeff's reaction good as well.
2) Jeff mentions Sab's safety - no reaction from her or anyone else
3) Kim and Kat must feel very safe. Seemed like a fake VoiceOver.
4) Chelsea laughs at Jeff's mention of people needing immunity. I would not believe that this was an actual reaction to his statement, so I wonder what he maybe referring to in the future? We know Jay stepped down and was voted out. Does anyone else suffer the same fate?
5) Troyzan almost falls and his alliance mate "blows" on him then both Kim and Chelsea essentially cheer when he falls.
6) Jeff says "Leif once again, in it at the end, has yet to win one." He was 3rd in the ball balancing challenge. Will he be third in Survivor? Kim laughs when Leif is nervous. I believe she laughs in happiness when Chelsea wins and the placement is out of context.
7) Troy looking MAD with the IN on Chelsea's neck while there are cheers in the background from the women. Reinforcing the men vs women, much?

Post IC:
Kim says she didn't want to put herself out there as a threat and glad Chelsea took that role. Will this continue and/or bite her in the butt at FTC? Ozzy almost beat Yul.

8 votes for Troy? Kim has control over everyone! Everyone seems to just be following her without a question.

Jay intrinsically trusted thre K/C alliance, which was obviously his downfall.

I won't comment much on the TC, but I have a few overarching questions/points:

1) Winners edits are typically variations of "how do they get to the end?" or "how will they get the votes?" At this point I see Kim as no issue to get to the end or get the votes? I hate the obvious winner (but love Kim so far) so I'm wondering if we'll see her falter soon. Or will she fall hard?
2) How can we get them to show more Jay even though he is gone?
3) WTF is Tarzan wearing?

"RE: Episode 9"
Posted by michel on 04-14-12 at 04:37 PM
Hi Tikigirl. It's nice to read other views. You've asked some interesting questions, some of which I had myself and addressed in my post below, Kat's dream for example.

I can give you my thoughts on a few of those questions:

- I saw that woman in the intro also. Don't know if it was intended as a spoiler but it sure seems to be a season for women!

- You asked why Sab wasn't in on the conversation to begin with. It could be that they don't want all of them to be away from the guys at once. It would be very smart to leave one or two in camp or following the guys at all times and then brief that person on the events. It seems to be the way they are operating, especially considering Kim's words before TC, not having enough time to talk to everyone.

- As for the doubt in Kim's chances, because of the Vanuatu precedent, we have doubt present without any need to fabricate it. More to the point, Chelsea is presented as a warm person, playing with her heart and many masterminds were derailed by bitter juries. I think Kim is well liked out there but it hasn't been really shown.

- The Ponderosa clips will show you Jay...unless you aren't from the States. Stupid rules.

- Be thankful that Tarzan is wearing anything at all!

"RE: Episode 9"
Posted by CTgirl on 04-14-12 at 10:03 PM
WTF? Tarzan was wearing Monica's shirt!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HOj8jmWxxY

"RE: Episode 9"
Posted by OllieKat on 04-14-12 at 11:47 PM
Kat says "We'll have 3 at the finals!" In her mind, who are the 3? A lot of the spec was that Kat would win F4 immunity and Kim would have to eliminate Sab. After watching this scene, is it possible that it's Chelsea, the wild card and maybe the bottom of the K/S/K/C alliance, that wins the F4 immunity and eliminates Sab?

I'm glad I wasn't alone in wondering about Kat and her final three comment I brought up some questions about that in the east coast thread just today. I'm still not 100% sure who I think the third is. One question I had was why weren't we shown its formation and I'm starting to lean towards thinking that we weren't shown it 'cause it ends up not happening. Thoughts?


3) WTF is Tarzan wearing?
Ah, this one I can actually answer According to the insider this week it is a top that Monica left behind. What amused me was that Greg apparently had a really hard time getting in to it. I didn't really pay any attention to the shirt but how hard can it be!

"RE: Episode 9"
Posted by PepeLePew13 on 04-15-12 at 05:43 AM
I'm still not
>100% sure who I think
>the third is. One question
>I had was why weren't
>we shown its formation and
>I'm starting to lean towards
>thinking that we weren't shown
>it 'cause it ends up
>not happening. Thoughts?

There's the old maxim that "alliances revealed do not succeed" so this could very well be the reason to build a little suspense for the audience.

"Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by michel on 04-14-12 at 03:55 PM
After the merge, the former Salani members set out on a plan.
<Troyzan was heard saying that he, Jay and Mike agreed to stay with Chelsea, Kim, Kat and Sabrina>

At the reward challenge, a school yard pick split the tribe into two teams.
Kim’s team was victorious…wining a reward away from camp while Troyzan and Jay’s team was left empty handed.

With Troyzan and Jay left behind, Kim and Sabrina saw a chance to make up a new plan.
<Kim said it has to be all girls and she explains how she will play Troy into voting against Mike>

After the reward, Kim wasted little time putting the new plan into motion…but Jay became suspicious.
At tribal council Kim’s bold move paid off and Mike Joined Jonas as the second man on the jury.
<We saw that Jonas was amazed by the move>

Can the men recover from their numbers disadvantage or will the women take over the game?

That question seems to have been answered. Of course, the way Chris recovered from a similarly desperate situation will enable Jeff to sell the possibility of a surprise outcome but the circumstances are so different. In Vanuatu, Chris had made a solid pact with Twila and she never plotted to eliminate him. In fact she fought hard at the F8 immunity challenge to keep the necklace away from Chad in order to save Chris. I don’t see Kim or Chelsea doing the same for Troyzan and I don’t see the Manono women doing the same for Tarzan or Leif. Also, from the start, we had seen Twila and Scout going after Eliza and that’s what eventually fractured Yasur’s alliance. Here, we did have an early feud between Alicia and Christina but we have heard nothing about it since the merge. It seems obvious that the men are dead.

As for the women, wasn’t it fascinating that Jeff called it Kim’s team when he talked about the yellow team? We had the details of Kim’s plan repeated, Jeff used the adjective “bold” to describe her move and Jonas’s reaction was shown to tell us that the “jury” was impressed. I don’t see any of that setting Kim up for a fall. Instead, we were told how this game should be played and we were about to witness another demonstration.

Big Girl Decisions

Tikiano: A Sunny Day-23

Jay was talking about his dream where he was shot.

Tarzan was telling Troyzan that the guys had lost the game.
Troyzan didn’t agree, saying Mike wasn’t part of them.
That made the surgeon laugh.

Troy: “Mike; I’m glad he’s gone. He was gunnung for me since day 1 and I got sick of him. So, for me to have Mike gone is fine but it is 6 girls and they could very well say: “Let’s get rid of Troy and Jay because they won the last two immunities and they are strong and they are going to get votes so, yeah, part of me is asking if they are telling me the truth.” After telling Tarzan that an immunity idol could get rid of one of the women and then they’d be up 5-4 counting Christina as their 5th, Troy’s confessional continued: “I’m a little nervous but I still have a hidden immunity idol which I am banking on if I see anything fishy going on with Kim and Chelsea. I don’t want to be blindsided so, before that, they are going to get the full-on switcheroo!”

We had another do-it-yourself challenge.

Kat: “The whole tribe went to get tree mail and we saw a big pole, we saw balls on a string. Cool! We are going to have a challenge here on the island which is great because we don’t have to go anywhere, we don’t have to walk 50 miles somewhere.

Tarzan: “…It went from 1 to 5 points. The way you achieved points was by throwing a bolo, hoping to get the highest number if it wrapped around one of the pegs.”

Alicia: “We randomly drew rocks and on my team was Troyzan, Jay, Tarzan, Kat and myself. The other team were all the girls and Leif left over.”

Troyzan appointed himself the new Probst.

Sabrina: “I love Troy like cooked food but he is nobody’s host at all…”

We were reminded that Tarzan hadn’t won a reward and he scored 4 big points.

Sabrina: “I’m the last person to go in the game and the highest you can go is 5 so I had to get a 5 in order to tie it. I didn’t want to let my team down.”

Besides our usual narrator, Sabrina, all the confessionals were from the winning tribe and it was interesting to hear from Kat when she was the one that scored the first points, all the points that her team would actually need to win. Another example of her improvement since that early loss. She was even heard giving advice to her team mates!

Troyzan: “I was like: Get away from the game, go to some island…we were excited!”

While Tarzan was salivating at the food, Kat asked Jay what was on his mind.
He answered that he didn’t like sending Mike home, that it should have been Alicia or Christina.

Jay: “Me and Kat were talking and I wanted to know if she was on the same page with me because, at this point, it’s hard to trust anybody…I’m a little suspicious that the girls are playing tricks with us. There’s definitely going to be some blindsides coming up. I just hope it’s not me.”


Day 24

Kim: “It’s definitely a win-win to have another guy gone, that the women are in the majority and Mike’s gone. My hope, all along has been that everybody will think that I am calm and soft-spoken and maybe a little bit forgettable and not calling the shots but, if I do get to the end of the game and I am sitting there with the three, I think the people on the jury will know that I was making most of these decisions.”

With this confessional, Kim just told us that she won’t lose the jury vote like Russell or Stephen did. Being soft-spoken means she won’t the brute that was Russell and having the jury know that she made most of decisions means she won’t be perceived as the wingman that Stephen was.

She exposed her plan to eliminate all the guys and, while Kat and Alicia agreed, Chelsea was reluctant, saying she didn’t want to know about it.

Chelsea: “The girl had a discussion on the boat this morning and said whoever doesn’t win immunity, either Troy or Jay, one of them has to go home which is killing me right now because I’ve looked Troy and Jay in the eyes and said: “You can trust me 100%” Looking them in the eyes…and then betraying them? That’s not me at all.”

To the women, Chelsea said that was the part of the game that sucked so bad.
Alicia told her to take her heart out of the game and put her brain back in it.

Alicia: “Chelsea got all sensitive and that really pissed me off. Nobody told you to mix with the boys anyway. We were fine without them and you go off and promise them that you are going to carry them to the top? Please!”

Kat told Sabrina about Chelsea’s hesitation, adding that she wondered what was wrong with Chelsea.

At the start of the season, it was Chelsea that had reasons to doubt Kat but the tables have turned now. Kat has learned as she promised she would!

Sabrina: “If we look back to day 1, we made this alliance and said that was what we were going to stick with. We want to go to the end. Going to the end requires some big girl decisions. You have to put on your big girl panties and make big girl decisions. You knew it was going to come to this.”

Jay was telling Troyzan that they had to stick to their plan.
Troy answered that Christina and Alicia had to go.

Jay: “As far as I’m concerned, Alicia has to go before Christina. Alicia is more two-sided, working with both guys and girls so, to me, she is more of a threat. She is real tight with Kat. I don’t trust that. Me and Troy are good. We are still thinking we are going to work together a really long time. He thinks I am comfortable sitting in the end with him so I am going to keep him thinking that but he is dangerous. You don’t want to be sitting in the end with him because everybody likes him, he seems to be able to tell a story better than anybody. Kim and Chelsea; those are my final two girls that I am trying to work with. You have to trust them a little bit but, at the same time, you have to keep them as close as the enemy around here.”

Jay took time to talk to Kat, telling her he was pretty sure they were going after Alicia. He wanted to know if he could count on her.
With a smile, she answered: “Am I going to say no?”

Kat: “I really, really do appreciate Jay, I do like him a lot but I can’t think with my heart and neither can Chelsea, neither can Sabrina and neither can Kim. We have to think with our minds, strategically, that’s how people win this game.”

Is this a winner’s quote by Kitty-Kat?! It shows her new found strength and it tells us that she will probably be the one to get Jay’s vote.

Kat gathered the girls to get “confirmation”.
Jay repeated his stand and wanted to know if everyone was cool with it.
Kim was the first to say yes and the others nodded.

Chelsea: “It just sucks! I’ve made some really close relationships with the guys and Jay is one of those people that is very hard to look in the eyes and lie to him. Fortunately, there was 4 girls standing there so I didn’t have to look him in the eyes and say I promise you that this is what is going to happen. I just hate to be that deceitful. I don’t know if I can do this.”

Ha but Chelsea! You will have to look him in the eyes if you want to win the million dollars. More and more, Chelsea looks like she will follow Amanda’s path to a FTC melt-down. There, we will see that she couldn’t do this.


Day 25

Kim and Alicia were washing dishes in the ocean, agreeing that they would lose against the guys.
Kim told Alicia not to freak out if she heard her name because it was going to be either Troy or Jay.

Kim: “Jay told us all that Alicia should go home tonight. We all just nodded, agreed and said yes but that is definitely not happening. I’m ready to draw the line. It’s been muddy for long enough that I feel it’s time for the guys to know where the women stand.”

Troyzan: “Kim and Alicia were on the beach, washing bowls…What’s going on? What are they talking about? If the girls are smart, they got 6 of them. It wouldn’t be really hard to knock off me or Jay.”

Jay and Troy went to get tree mail. Jay used the opportunity to say that everyone was voting against Alicia.

Jay: “Troy is concerned that the women have the numbers and that they are going to try to blindside him but we had a little pow-wow and we are going to vote Alicia out as our first choice. I trust my two girls. Right now, he just needs to calm down.”

That is quite a turn for Jay who was the one that didn’t trust the women last week. It points to Kim and Chelsea’s power of persuasion.

Troy: “Jay seems to think everything is fine, they really want Alicia and he really trusts them. So he thinks it’s ok. I don’t feel the same way. I feel like I really have to win.”

The Challenge

This Survivor classic went according to tradition: Like in Africa, All-Stars and Micronesia, a woman won. Like a few times before, it took some temptations and deals to get that result!
When Jeff mentioned food temptations, Kat and Alicia’s reaction told us they didn’t want the necklace.
Tarzan fell out just as the challenge started.
(He probably broke Crystal’s olympic record for earliest exit in an endurance challenge!)
Christina took a bucket full of water before Jeff could make an offer.
Sabrina wanted those cookies and milk!
When Alicia asked for the next item, Jay warned her: “If you take that food, I am going to vote you out.”
Alicia passed on that but Kim and Kat took the cupcakes.
Jeff found it funny that Alicia said she could last long but would step down to leave it for Chelsea.
Stepping off so quickly that she didn’t get wet, Alicia did Chelsea a “favor” and took the chocolate and candies!
Troyzan nearly fell off and Chelsea tried to push him off by blowing in his direction.
Troyzan did fall before the next item arrived.
Chelsea cheered.
Jay decided that he wanted the chicken wings.
Teasingly, Chelsea asked if it was better than the chicken she caught.
Leif and Chelsea were the last two.
Chelsea said she wanted to win because she was still embarrassed by her puzzle performance.
She told Leif that losing the challenge would make him look like less of a threat.
Chelsea refused the 3 burgers, chips and a beer.
Leif turned to Chelsea and asked if she was honest.
She said she was so he stepped down.
Leif offered some of his food to Chelsea.

Kim: “Today’s immunity challenge couldn’t have gone better for me. It was awesome! I got to eat some cupcakes and drink milk and not put myself out there as a huge threat something I was starting to feel a little nervous about. I am glad for Chelsea who took that role today.”

Here it is again: Kim stating that things are going well for her. The game being too easy for her is what the people that don’t see her as a winner note and they could be right. I will point out though that she explains why it went well. It wasn’t only the food, it was the fact that she is still not seen as a threat. This is another end-game connection for her.

Chelsea: “I wanted to go a little further with Troy and Jay but I realize now that it would be an idiot move. To turn this quick on them? I hate to be that person but I love money.”

This could have been a great confessional for Chelsea if it had ended at “I hate to be that person”. It showed her inner turmoil and that she is kind hearted but then we heard that it was only for greed, making her a venal player.

Chelsea: “Troy, right now, is our biggest threat because he wants to win this game so bad, more than anyone here. Jay, on the other hand, gave up for food. He thinks he’s safe. Troy didn’t give up for food so, I think right now, he is the smartest person to take out.”

Wanting it so bad is how athletes achieve their goals so there could still be legs to Troy’s story. However, this is the pre-council scrambling period and the editors have to build suspense. We have to know that votes will go against Troy in order to put Kim at risk by his idol.

Kim: “The split vote plan is always risky. It makes me nervous because I’d rather know that everone is voting for Troy but there is always the chance that Troy will play an immunity idol. He’s a very strategic player, he’s thinking a lot and he’s going to do absolutely everything he can to stay in the game and he still has options today. I feel people like Christina, Tarzan and Leif are just hanging on at this point, riding things out. So, Christina, Alicia and Tarzan will vote for Jay and Leif, myself, Sabrina, Chelsea and Kat will vote for Troy.”

When Jay joined his “two girls”, Kim told him that nothing crazy was going on. Reassured, he went to rest on a rock jutting out at sea.
That’s when Kim told Alicia about the split vote plan.
Next, Troy wanted reassurances so Kim told him she was still gunning for the Manono members. They joked about the possibility of a blindside.

Troy: “Kim kept going like “don’t worry, don’t worry” like too much. I think something is a little fishy. It’s like if she wanted to get me out, she’d want me to be extra sure that I am safe. It sounded like that a little bit.” We saw him digging out his idol. He went on: “It didn’t sound right like “you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe.” You only have to say it once.”

Troy told Jay that the two girls were pulling one over on them so he revealed his idol and said he would play it.
Jay didn’t think Troy needed to do that.
Troy asked him if he would vote for Kim but Jay was still gunning for Alicia.

Jay: “That’s news to me that Troy has an idol. I love the guy to death, he’s like my big brother but he’s dangerous.” Observing Troy talking to Tarzan, Jay added: “He wants me to vote for Kim, I am not voting for Kim because that is my final 3. I know it’s going to hit the fan, I didn’t know it would be tonight.”

Jay then went to Kim, asking if they were planning to blindside Troy, assuring her he wouldn’t tell him if she said yes. Jay added that Troy was planning on using the idol so that it would be best to vote Alicia, get rid of the idol and get Troy next.

Jay could have easily turned the game if he had only said he had an idol and was going to use it. To the end, he was blinded by his loyalty to the girls.

Kim: “Jay just put the fear of God in me. Troy does have an idol, he is planning to play it and he’s planning to send me home and I don’t have enough time before tribal council comes to get to everyone. So, hopefully, we have enough people on board that do enough of the right thing that the right person will go home tonight.”

Tribal Council
Asked about the first two votes going against men, Troyzan said he thought it was coincidence at first but that he sees a movement.
Tarzan told Jeff that the men lost control because they lost their will, breaking the allegiance. He added: “The girls are a lot smarter than the boys.”
Jay said he didn’t feel as safe as the last time.
Jeff asked again who felt in danger.
This time, Kim, Jay and Troyzan raised their hand but nobody else did.
The camera and the sound effect guy zinged Alicia, underlining a mistake.
Asked about it, Kim wisely said she felt safe at the immunity challenge, safe while she ate but that “at camp, there was a funky vibe.” She brought up that paranoia had settled in.
Asked about it, Chelsea said you had to go with your gut to know that people were being honest.
Troyzan seemed amused by the whole exchange but, when it seemed that Kim wanted to look in his eyes, he turned away.
Troyzan explained that the feelings changed after the immunity challenge because he realized who felt safe and who got applause when they step off. He noticed that people (we had seen Chelsea) were rooting against him.
It’s been many years since Marquesas but people still fall for the reward challenge revelations!
Chelsea said she suspected people of having the idol because of how they acted with their bags or because of the bulge in their pocket (!)
Alicia said she noticed that the men weren’t in their swimming trunks but had shorts with pockets, singling out Troyzan.
Tarzan said that, after the vote, the alliance that he knows will be strengthen, faith will be restored and it will be a powerhouse to go to the end.

After the votes had been tallied, Troyzan stood up to play his idol. He said that he wouldn’t be as dumb as others and get voted out with an idol in his pocket.
Jonas was seen smiling at that decision.
Kim sat there, apparently calmly deciding not to play her own idol.

The first vote was against Troy and, since it didn’t count, we saw Jonas giving the thumbs up.
The next was also for Troy so the first official vote was against Kim but she took it in stride.
In the end, even if Alicia got two votes, Jay received 5 and was sent home.
We didn’t see any reactions from the jury

After Jay left, Jeff noted that with nearly half of them receiving votes, paranoia will certainly be present now.

The Story

The episode started with Tarzan saying the men were dead and it ended the same way; Tarzan told Jeff during TC that the men had lost their will while the other alliance would be a powerhouse that will go to the end. Every story needs adversity but that will only come from possible immunity wins and the doubts within the women’s alliance itself. As Kim said, Troy still had some options in this episode but he really doesn’t anymore. It’s win immunity or go home.

The last 3 episodes show us the pattern that the editors will follow: Before the merge, Jonas became the potential mastermind, the one that could rival Kim. He faded away immediately in the next episode. Next, Troyzan emerged as the big player, finding an idol and winning immunity. In the next episode he wasn’t voted out but he was played the fool. Jay was the one that emerged in that episode as the one fighting against the women’s alliance and his “slow and steady” way of winning immunity made him look like the potential big challenge winner that could go to the end. His elimination quickly followed but, as soon as he faded, Troyzan reemerged as the one that had the scales fall from his eyes and he went directly after Kim. Now out of options, he should be going soon.

Leif Like Alicia said, he is the one left over! But, as Jeff mentioned, the strong little dude fights hard in challenges so he could be used at one point to put doubt in the women’s domination. I’d say that will be the zenith of his story arc and the fall would soon follow. Kim seemed to think he would vote with her side but he wound up voting against Alicia so that could be fatal.

Christina: She can’t even get cookies and milk! Once more, her vote is shrouded in mystery because she seemed pleased by Troy’s plan but still voted as the women wanted her. Did she tell anyone that Troy had the idol? I think that, instead of creating mystery, Christina’s lack of story is due to disinterest by the story tellers.

Alicia: It seemed that it would have been smart to tall Jeff that she was worried about elimination. The editors wanted us to see her making a dumb decision.

Tarzan: His words to Jeff about the alliance that he knew and how votes would go take an interesting angle when we realize that he voted against Jay, refusing to follow Troy in his plan. It suggests that he has accepted the situation and simply hopes to be riding the wave all the way to the end.

Sabrina: She is solidly in Kim’s camp but she continues to talk about the alliance rather than her own game. This was one of her typical confessionals: “If we look back to day 1, we made this alliance and said that was what we were going to stick with. we want to go to the end.” That doesn’t give her end-game connections, that gives her the role of narrator.

Troyzan: It was good that he finally saw the women’s duplicity but, even with an idol, he was unable to pull the full on switcheroo. Good luck now that his options have dried out. Being mentioned as the one that wants to win the most is something to consider, something that keeps his hopes alive but it also serves to build the fan favorite votes.

Chelsea: We heard it mentioned a few times that this cast doesn’t like wishy-washy players. Colton said it about Bill and Leif and we have heard other mentions of the term with regards to Christina and Alicia. This episode showed us that Chelsea was also wishy-washy. Alicia, Kat and Sabrina talked about her reluctance to make the big decisions, she even said it was idiotic to think that way. Still, she couldn’t look Jay in the eyes and lie to him. It tells us she won’t be able to face the jury and explain herself. What is worse for her story is that the editors let us hear her problems with looking people in the eyes immediately after we heard Kim’s confident view of her jury interactions.

Kat: It was funny that this episode started with the second dream about death this season. Jay’s dream was appropriately presented in his final episode so what do we now make of Kat’s earlier dream? I’d propose that Alicia’s FTC question will be the one that “kills” Kat’s chances. Still, we see a stronger Kitty-Kat emerging and I have little doubt that she would get more votes than Chelsea in the FTC just like Courtney edged out Amanda. I think she already has Jay’s vote.

Kim: We are seeing a player that not only knows the history of the game but follows a plan that we have often discussed here. We’ve said it’s best not to be seen as a threat so winning challenges when you don’t need them should be avoided. We also don’t want a player to be outspoken and get on people nerves or on their radar but that they don’t want to be seen as blind followers either. We said that splitting votes is a risky way to go because the other side doesn’t need many votes to foil the plan (ask Tyson!). She told us she was aware of all these pitfalls and was actively working to avoid them.

With the editors including a quote like: “I think the people on the jury will know that I was making most of these decisions” we just know that she will indeed face the jury and have to explain her actions.

I know I say that winners don’t vote out victims but jay wasn’t presented as a victim. Not only was he a threat but he also planned on eliminating Troyzan even if he considered him like a big brother. Jay, as it turned out, was presented as a dumb player, one that trusted the girls even if he, more than most, talked about it being men versus women.

Kim has all the elements to her story to be the winner..

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by Belle Book on 04-14-12 at 06:52 PM
It seems like the message of this season is: Be wary of Kim. You should only trust her if you aren't a threat to her in any way, shape or form. Michael trusted her -- and he's on the jury! Jay trusted her -- and he's with Michael and Jonas on the jury! Although Troyzan no longer trusts her, he trusted her last week and unless he wins Immunity, he'll be following Jay on the jury next week.


"Belle"
Posted by Georjanna on 04-14-12 at 07:49 PM
It's good to see you. You've been missed.

G

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by Murphy3126 on 04-15-12 at 08:16 PM
I posted regularly at Sucks the 1st season. Swore off Survivor until All-Stars, & have enjoyed checking the boards during many spoiled seasons since (I prefer it that way). I’ve come up with a theory that I don’t like, maybe posted elsewhere by others, but thought I’d share it.

At last TC, Grog (He hasn’t earned “Tarzan” & not remembering names I can tolerate, but his “Whatever” when someone offered their name, causes me to want to call him Grog - from BC comic strip) … anyway, Grog alluded to his being in a secret alliance that had grown stronger. He also struck me as someone wanting to give out his secret & in the process, gave out too much. I read he was close with Alicia & Alicia is close to Kat. Leif is a vote that I think can be easily directed by Grog when needed. Alicia, Kat & Leif together are not smart enough to come up with a strategy. Grog’s only big move was to push Colton’s wish to go to TC instead of the women. (Good for Colton, but bad for Grog & the rest of the guys. Personally, I don’t think any of the guys deserve a win after that.) Grog has started to show an awareness of strategy. Dumb move aside, Grog should be smart enough & the type to think deeper into the game. Colby was playing one game as a loser, but came alive & played harder & better as he went deeper into the game.

Alicia’s 1st confessional indicated she wanted to play a guy that liked her. I think she wants to play anyone. She’s been frequently identified as playing both sides. Alicia has to realize she lost status with the instant beach alliance of 5 since the tribal shuffle. She may have too much ego, but she & Kat should realize they’re not part of the pretty girl in-crowd of Kim, Sabrina & Chelsea. They could also consider a misfit alliance as a back-up plan.

Sabrina had leadership thrust upon her at the start, which she did not want. Overall, I get a vibe as a good player, but not really out of the ordinary.

I laughed at Chelsea’s 1st profanity, not so much the 2nd, nor her upcoming “Shut up” to Troy’s antics. (& I use too much profanity myself) I’m surprised CBS would acknowledge the boob job of an eventual winner, even though funny. (I agree, nothing for Chelsea to complain about & I think its why she gets so much airtime) Kim said to Jay or Troy early that Chelsea was not playing the game.

I thought Kim blew a straight ride to the finals. Majority tribe at the merge. Women with numbers after the 1st post merge boot. Instant beach alliance of 5 & the secret 4 with Troyzan, Jay & Chelsea. Just go in natural order: Grog & Leif & then the 3 remaining guys & then Christina. At worst, 1 guy in the finals, but the guys don’t seem so overwhelming to beat Kim, who’s probably sandbagging, & other strong women. Kim is showing the overconfidence of those who seemed to be on track to win, but got voted out before TC.

I don’t see any of Kim, Sabrina or Chelsea being hard core enough to actually take a goat to the finals. I do believe Kim & Sabrina want an all girl finals, with Chelsea as the 3rd. I don’t see Troyzan as being a bragging winner or bitter loser, as one or the other is indicated by his Tweets. Troyzan also Tweets to remember Kim not being able to get to her idol in time. Maybe she does again, when it matters, or she brings & plays it when it does not matter.

Danni on Skills posted about a Sabrina pre-boot interview. She did the same thing just before Jason’s boot, pointing out it also happened just before the premier with a double interview with Matt & Nina, the 2nd & 3rd out. Maybe just a coincidence, or Mark Burnett now playing games, but, as Danni said “Just a little something that makes me go hmmmmmm.”

Jeff says at this point, anyone could win except Christina. I think he's just promoting the show. Grog, Leif or Alicia as a potential winner of this season? How can he possibly say that without cracking up laughing? Not many are that good of actor & he should want to maintain at least a little credibility.

I connect the dots & can see Alicia & Kat staying with the girls to get Jay & Troyzan out. Then Alicia saying she wants Christina out for old reasons & Kat suggesting keeping the last 2 guys around for a little while longer. Suddenly, Grog, Alicia, Kat & Leif are 4 to Kim’s 3. If Troyzan wins immunity this week, they’re now 5 & can let Troyzan take the heat without his even knowing of the new misfit alliance. Kim was named last time & they play it safe voting out Sabrina & the big 3 is down to 2. The remaining 2 should be willing to take out Troyzan with the misfit alliance & the misfits can take out all 3 at will, barring immunity runs. Maybe 3 misfits as final 3? Nah, I prefer Troyzan, Kim, Sabrina or Chelsea as winner.

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by dabo on 04-16-12 at 00:08 AM
Welcome aboard. LOL on Grog!

Interesting ideas.

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by parathor on 04-16-12 at 09:16 AM
Great analysis!!

Kim is great (although cold & calculating), and I really want to see her succeed (she has the plan, and she's implementing it nearly flawlessly), but all sorts of signs are pointing towards Chelsea as the winner (from my viewpoint)

- Chelsea did put on her "big girl panties" (the same ones she washed with Tarzan?) at the end, with confessionals showing she realized her mistake, and that her head was back in the game. Maybe it was a bad sign that Sabrina and Kat were like "what is she doing?" but I think it's just as likely that this "storyline" showed Chelsea's rationalization (and personally, I would have thought getting rid of Leif or Tarzan next would have been the best move, too, but like Chelsea, I see I was wrong in that thinking)

- Chelsea flirted with Jay (he didn't buy it or dismiss it, which seemed like a good sign), and flirted with Leif (earning her a bite of the food reward, and claim on "winning the challenge"). Two jury members secured (three, if you count the eventual Tarzan). From the "cut to commercial" scenes, Chelsea had a couple this episode, but not as many as previous episodes

- "I hate to be that person but I love money" - potentially a winner's quote. I didn't see it as a mercenary move so much as she (again) got her head in the game. She's not there to win friends, she's there to win money. She even had a little humility to go with it. On the other hand, is there anyone that thinks that she changed her mind on her own? Not a chance... Kim must have taken her aside to tell her that.

I don't think Chelsea will have a melt-down at final tribal council - she's no touchy-feely Amanda. She may change her mind a lot about which person to get rid of, but she's not the type to cry when people start yelling at her. If it gets to that point, she'll say "whatever, whatever," and shut the person out (not the best debate method, but if there's someone yelling at her and not open-minded, then I think that'll be her tactic). I don't think she'll be the spokesperson that Kim will be in front of people, but I think she'll do okay.

sidenote: Kat is awesome! Has she been pretending to be stupid the entire time? This episode painted her in a glowing light, I thought... is it likely that we'll have a 3-way tie? No, and I don't think she's been shown as having any real ties to anyone, but still, a strong episode...

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by michel on 04-16-12 at 05:55 PM
We'll have to see about Chelsea but her edit reminds me a bit of two other players besides Amanda: Stephen and Chase.
I always knew Stephen wouldn't win because he was shown has being very undecisive. The same was true of Chase and now we see it in Chelsea.
"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts: Editors Honor Christina's treatment of Colton and Alicia?"
Posted by Delurker_MN on 04-18-12 at 06:26 PM
My take on Christina's edit is quite different from general consensus on this forum and in recaps/reviews. IS she edited as boring, unimportant, nonstrategic, weak?

Christina is not featured in every episode, true. She has not had confessionals connecting her to the finals, true. But the Christina that editing shows us is quite different from what her tribemates say about her. Also, her appearances may be few but memorable. What editing has shown so far:

1) Successful negotiation with the men's tribe in Episode 1.

2) Modifying her aggression when responding to Alicia (Ep 1 and the episode where Colton leaves. She could have SAID a lot more, and then shown as saying a lot more. But we saw a measured response.

3) Physical weakness: Her challenge performances have been up and down, but she's shown to have done better than those who criticize her (Colton, Alicia). She does seem to have puzzle-solving skills, so Jeff's labeling of her attempt to preview her team's "Puzzle From the Sea" as "not helping" isn't good.

4) Humility: Accepting some of the abuse from Colton and Alicia as "likely" (specifically, that she has no allies) is nice to see.

5) Not being strategic: Two of her most memorable appearances showed strong strategy. (Episode 1, plus pitching her case to Jonas and Leif.)

6) Weak around camp: Very few were shown working around camp. She earned a compliment on this from Sabrina. She has not been shown lying around, filing her nails, or failing (just struggling)at camp tasks.

6) Two of her most memorable appearances show her with her heart in the right place. She accepted Alicia's faux apology. She soothed Colton in his pain, went to find him when he did not return, and asked for the medical team - all after considerable verbal abuse. Remember Bill's dignified tribal remarks? More people will remember Christina, I think.

I think editing is honoring her for handling Colton's situation so well. She might have no end-game potential, and they aren't interested in her story. BUT - They could have presented her as her tribe mates (even Monica and Nina) saw her. Instead, every time she's singled out, it's either been very positive, or quite explainable.

It reminds me of the hero's edit send-off that astronaut Dan Barry received in the original Exile Island, as well as Margaret's nursing of sick tribe mates in Guatamala. Editing is giving her something good to share with family and friends.

She can hold her head high. How many Survivors can say that?

DeLurker_MN


"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts: Chelsea's edit looks good"
Posted by Delurker_MN on 04-18-12 at 05:34 PM
Hi, Michel, I LOVE your long recaps + analysis. I learn strategy, observation and other "thinking skills" by watching other minds at work. You definitely make it onto my list of "people's minds to pick."

But I have different impressions about the edits of Christina and Chelsea that I would like to run by you and the others here:

Chelsea: At the tribal swap, Kim said "She's not playing a strategic game." But my impression is that Chelsea IS playing strategically by:
- Thinking through her votes, using both her gut and her head. Head only (no pun) = "He-Who-Must-Be-Named." It can burn your chances with the jury.
- Winning the endurance challenge. She specifically said that she had to make up for her earlier performance. I see this as showing humility, self-awareness, and loyalty, which Editing chose to show us.
- Her whining during the storm and over-the-top reaction to Tarzan's shorts: Doesn't this simply present doubt that this well-rounded, highly visible character could conceivably win?

I actually think she's #2 behind either Kim or Troyzan, but this forum has often said that doubt, shortcomings, and well-roundedness are characteristic of a "typical winner's edit."

Christina in my next post.
Delurker_MN

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts: Chelsea's edit looks good"
Posted by michel on 04-18-12 at 05:54 PM
Hi Delurker and thank you! I learned from Veruca so it's nice to pass it along to others.

If we were meant to see Chelsea as a strategic player. I think we would have heard something like: "I don't want to lie directly to the guys because that's a sure way to lose jury votes. Kim will get burned playing that way."

Instead, we mostly see, like with Chase and Stephen before, an hesitation, an inability to accept the part of the game that sucks. Yes, Survivor forces the players to make tough decisions but the winners are shown as being decisive. Even Yul, the most diplomatic winner ever, was never shown as hesitating to get rid of someone. At most, he wondered if it would be good to get rid of Jonathan before or after Adam and Parvati but it was never a question of hesitating to pull the trigger. I could be wrong so we will have to wait and see.

As for Christina, since her story is MIA, I am interested in hearing what you see. Anything's possible but I'd like it if the editors gave us material to consider; maybe just a smile from Christina when Kim, Chelsea or Kat talk about being F3. Instead, she smiled at Troy's plan and then did nothing about it.

"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts: Chelsea's edit looks good"
Posted by Delurker_MN on 04-18-12 at 06:33 PM
That's a good observation! I too don't think she'll win; either Kim will pull it out or Troyzan will. Maybe they want her to get votes as fan favorite.
Delurker_MN
"RE: Episode 9 - Editing Thoughts: Chelsea's edit looks good"
Posted by Delurker_MN on 04-18-12 at 10:54 PM
A couple of quick reactions to Episode 10:

1) Once again we hear Jeff say (without being seen): "Kim misses!" He said it twice, but he also said it a few episodes back. His "during the challenge" comments since that 1st "Kim misses" have not been as bad, but have not been complimentary either. Is he tipping the result: Kim loses it all? Or is he building suspense for what would otherwise seem a foregone conclusion?

2) We've now seen the rationale for why Christina will be booted: Not bidding $500 for immunity advantage. It now seems that any original rancor against her was not enough to make her an "other," a non-ally. Even Alicia has been working with Christina ever since the merge.

If Christina was wearing Alicia's dress, that's probably an indication that Alicia is going to work with Christina as long as she has to. It also means that Chelsea didn't "speak in front of non-allies" when sounding Jay out about a Mike boot.

3) Troyzan and Tarzan are trading places in the editing! On old Manono, Troyzan was one of the voices of reason, while Tarzan was over-the-top ridiculous. He still has his ridiculous moments, but with each passing episode, a greater percentage of his appearances have shown him sensible, smart, sane, and even sensitive to someone's needs (aka Leif). Does anyone hear a snake hissing? S-s-s-s-s.........!

And Troy is being shown not strategically smart enough to win (first 2 votes against men; giving up tribal immunity; tipping his hand as a possible immunity hog), and over-the-top ridiculous. Even testosterone-favoring Jeff was quick to say, "Troy just misses!"

4) Kim is being given an underdog status now. Maybe SHE is being groomed for fan favorite if she fails to win?

5) Sabrina is more often the voice of reason, but she probably lost some male votes by sniping at Troy during the challenge, and trying to coach him to display better behavior (tribal council). If she does make F3 along with Kim, she could be a powerful, articulate alternative to Kim. She loses only if the F3 includes a man, or if she's voted out before F3. If she's on the jury, she will be a voice of sanity - even among angry males.

6)Troy might not get the votes of the "roosters' alliance," Jay and Mike, especially since he voted to eject Mike, and failed to protect Jay with his idol.

He COULD have protected Jay without giving anything away about his idol. Like this:
- Pre-Tribal: "You know, there IS another idol out there. Jay and I have been looking for it. I think I'll look now. He'll probably look too."
- "At Tribal: "You know, Jay and I have been looking for that idol. How do you know for sure that neither of us has it...."

7) Christina is still getting her "Thanks for taking care of Colton" edit.

- She's shown smiling a lot more, and even looking enthusiastic while walking to the immunity challenge.
- She's shown looking pretty in Alicia's dress (as opposed to looking worse in that dress; it CAN be done, even with a beautiful woman!).
-She's made it clear that she's in the girls' alliance.
- Troyzan singles her out for the Tribal Council split vote for Jay and Troy.
- ALICIA defends her! Loans her a dress, washing things when in the ocean together... Making it appear that Christina's measured response to Alicia's abuse and accepting Alicia's apology has really paid off big time.
- Although the point she scored in the second phase of the IC was not mentioned. Production doesn't want her to be seen as growing somewhat more competent in too many areas (social, outwit, outlast, even challenge performances, camp life, etc.).

Christina is still not likely to be in the F3, but:
- Only Chelsea sounded off about her failure to prevent Troy from getting the immunity advantage. Chelsea sounds off about everything in her confessionals, and almost as much in front of tribe mates.
- Christina is going MUCH further than Colton predicted. She may even outlast Alicia.
- She will definitely vote for a woman in the F3.

8) The episode ends with another Kim smile. One more notch in her belt!

"RE: The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor One World - Merger and More"
Posted by michel on 04-21-12 at 04:34 PM
When the two tribes merged into one, Kim was playing both sides…
When the time came, Kim opted to go with the women and take out the men.

Troyzan and Jay, the two strongest remaining men, became uneasy.
At the immunity challenge, Chelsea came out on top.
Without the protection of an immunity necklace, Troyzan decided it was time to make a desperate move.
<We saw Troy unearthing his idol and telling Jay he was trying to round up the votes to eliminate Kim>
Despite his earlier suspicions, Jay maintained his alliance with the women.
At Tribal Council, Troyzan made good on his idol threat.
With the immunity idol in play, the women’s split vote <we see a Kim and Kat sharing a knowing glance> meant that Jay was sent packing.

Completely alone, can Troyzan find a way back in?

The recap focused entirely on Kim’s strategy and how it affected the men. For those that think Chelsea has what it takes to win in the end, I think this shows that she isn’t the one that matters. While “playing both sides” isn’t really flattering and could be used to forsehadow an eventual fall, we are told that Kim made her move “when the time came” which is almost an endorsement.

Troyzan’s move, on the other hand, was described as “desperate” as if its failure was expected and not due to the other players’ failure to jump on board. Certainly, Jeff and the writers were aware of the double meaning of idol/idle threat so we are not to take Troyzan’s moves as particularly dangerous to the women. The episode showed that Troy didn’t find a way back in so he is right back where he started with one less vote to use.

Tikiano – Night 25

Troy: “Tribal Council was the biggest dissappointment so far. Jay got voted out so I’m basically next in line probably.”

Sitting in the shelter next to most of the women, Troy singled out Christina, asking why she didn’t vote with him.
The women felt he was attacking Christina so an argument ensued.

Alicia: “Troy is definitely digging himself a bigger hole. He is attacking everybody else and trying to cop an attitude with me. I don’t feel he should be upset with me; I didn’t vote for him.”

Troy: “I am pissed off. I feel like I am completely alone now. When I get pissed off, I get fired up so now, I am going to win every damn immunity. I couldn’t give a crap about these people. This is no team anymore and I am no team player. This is just Troyzan versus everybody else. That’s the way I feel.”

For some reason, the camera focused on the knife he was holding and an ominous sound was heard. Should we worry that Troy will do something stupid?!

Day 26

Troy approached Chelsea and said that there were three or four people that didn’t deserve to be there.
With Tarzan standing there, Chelsea told Troy it was just a game.

Troy: “I can’t believe how ridiculous these people are. They think I’m supposed to come back to camp and be all like “It’s just a game, we’re just having fun here.” Are you kidding me right now? I have the right to be angry.”

Chelsea went on, saying Troy should take it like Jonas who had taken it like a man even if he deserved to be there more than “maybe even you”.

Troy: “These women are kind of acting like a lot of women act in the real world: They get their house, they get their food, they get their stuff and as soon as they get satisfied they go: “Guess what? We don’t need you anymore, we’re done with the guys.”

The sight of a scorpion being killed by ants showed us what will happen to Troy. A statement like that will not earn him sympathy from a large segment of the audience. Note that a pattern emerged: Troy will be fighting with Alicia, Chelsea and even Sabrina but not with Kim. She was removed from the mêlée as if standing above the fray. Even the viewers siding with Troy were given more reasons to be upset with Alicia, Chelsea and Sabrina than with Kim.

Tree mail – Auction!

Kim was seen for the first time of the episode as this scene showed a change in atmosphere: Troy’s gloom and doom had given way to happier times and Kim was seen clapping at the news.

Troy: “We go to Tree Mail and it’s an auction. They are all talking like it’s food. I don’t care about food. If I get to the auction and Jeff says here’s a note that could get you further in the game, I am buying it, I am spending 500 bucks even if it’s all I got!”

Note that a potential “trap” for Kim’s edit had been set up here: With his confessional, Troy is seen has having his head in the game while Kim is jumping up and down at the thought of luxury items. If Kim isn’t our winner, the editors could easily mock her actions.

On a side note, Christina wore Alicia’s dress at the auction. Is it a sign that they have made up? Did something happen to Christina’s clothes that forced Alicia to lend her that dress? (All I know is that she looked better in it than Alicia!)

Kim and Chelsea battled over donuts which Chelsea bought for $160 and she thanked Kim for letting her have it.
In a biding war with Alicia and Kat, Sabrina paid $400 for chips, guacomole and a margarita.
Leif got a protein shake for $100. That surprised Troy while Kat only wanted him to get back to the bench so she could bid on the next item.
After Alicia bid $20 for the shower, Kim used Kat’s confusion about $20 increments to bid $40 and win it. Note that Jeff and Alicia’s reaction made it evident that Kim had a great bargain. For someone that was supposedly focused on the game, Troyzan couldn’t help ogling Kim in the shower!

When Kim turned on the water, everyone was envious and we heard someone saying: “For 40 bucks?”
Next up was a BLT sandwich, chips and ice tea. Kat outbid Christina and, for her $180, she had the surprise to see that her BLT included bacon (!!!!). Troyzan was obviously not interested in the food but seemed more interested in the shower show than the game!

For the next item, Jeff expected a biding war: Peanut butter and chocolate. To Jeff’s dismay, it went to Kim who called her bid from the shower. “Craziest auction ever’ he said but it was directed at Alicia who also wanted the item. Jeff couldn’t understand her hesitations because she was “given $500.”
Alicia did bid her $500 on her letters from home.
The emotions were too much for Tarzan who forgot about saving the money for car repairs and seized the opportunity to buy his own letter.
Troy told Jeff he felt completely alone.
The next item was what Troy had been waiting for but he only bid $300 at first, opening the door to Christina who bid $360.
The bidding went up by only $20 after that and, despite the women telling Christina to bid $500, Troy got the envelope for $420,
When Troy slammed the table, Sabrina was heard saying: “We will still vote you out.” An argument followed until Kat said she still had money to spend.
Kat did get that last item, a cake that she had to share with everyone.

Although Kat’s goofiness highlighted the auction, the editing carefully manipulated the scenes to make Kim look good. Even if she went for two luxury items, something that could have been portrayed as being un-Survivor like, we got the impression that she made good deals: We heard that the shower was practically given away while the peanut butter and chocolate was purchased with house money. The auction could have been edited as Troy’s determination contrasting Kim’s frivolity but it wasn’t. We could even say that Troy was lucky to get what he really wanted because Christina let the “team” down. Sometimes, like when JT chooses to sit out a challenge in order to eat, the editors have to work around the winner making moves that can be blamed and this is how they do it.

Troy: “I got a note…If you can get an advantage; take it. I’m winning this thing, I have to win. These knuckleheads <Chelsea shown> don’t know what they’ve gotten into. You cannot mess with Troyzan. You think you have me outsmarted, you don’t. They are very scared and that tells me something. I’m think, heck, the immunity idol, if there is a new one out there, I’m gonna start looking and I’ll do it in front of everybody, I don’t care. You put fear in people’s hearts and you can scramble a little bit.”

With the women watching, he started snooping around so Kim suggested they all look for it.

Chelsea: “When Jeff brought out…the advantage in the next immunity challenge, we knew that Christina was the only one with enough money left that could take it from Troy. When she backed out, I think everyone went Haaaa! How can you do that? The way I see it is that Troy has put the crosshairs on his back and it’s 8 against 1 right now. We just want to take him down more than anything but, right now, Troy is going to put more heart into this game than most of the people here.”

Troy: “I see Kim looking at me so I pull out a little piece of cloth and I start stuffing it in, acting like something is up, letting them think I have an idol. I’m acting more cocky now because, basically, I can: I got nothing to lose. They are already looking at me like what’s in his pocket? I want them to think that I’ve got it.”

Kat told the group they can flush the idol with the vote.

Kim: “It sucks that he has the advantage in the immunity challenge. That’s about as big a disaster as could have happened at the auction today. The absolute worse would be if he wins immunity and he has an idol on top of that. That’s a disaster! He is going to be like…scary. Who knows what he can pull out? He is a very smart guy. Hopefully, we can get rid of him before he does something too crazy that could send me home.”

Once more, Kim’s confessional showed her smiling at the possibilities. We see that she keeps a sense of humor despite the stress and she doesn’t underestimate her opponent.

The Immunity Challenge

Troy read his note, letting everyone know he had bought a pass to the second round.
Tarzan, Kim and Christina moved on to the second round.
If this is a battle between Kim and Troyzan, maybe the editors didn’t have to worry too much about showing Kim at the auction since she did make it to the second round without the advantage.

The second round was close but Kim was beaten by the two guys.
After hitting his targets, Troy let out a scream: “This is my island: You can’t beat me!”
Chelsea told him to shut up while we saw Sabrina becoming agitated.
The third round was close again, Tarzan getting within one shot of winning but Troy pulled it out.
Beating his chest, Troy taunted the women.
Sabrina said he had only bought one round.
Troy countered by saying he would keep winning.


The tribe returned to camp to a gloomy music that fit the mood of the women, not Troyzan’s.
Immediately, Tarzan asked to speak and he turned to Troy, telling him his actions weren’t noble.
It put the immunity winner on the defensive.

Troyzan: “This thing (the immunity necklace) is outstanding. It changes my whole day. It changes everybody else’s happy-go-lucky mood to paranoia. Does he have an immunity idol as well? It’s like their worse case scenario. Their worse case scenario: Troy wins!”

We’ve had winner’s quotes before but rarely does a player present it as the worst case scenario! By showing Troy’s arrogance, inserting Tarzan’s reprimand and choosing a somber music, it seems that the editors really want the audience to view a win by Troy as the worst case scenario. Of course, his fans won’t see it that way and no amount of manipulation will make them root against him but we clearly notice an attempt to sway the undecided against Troy.

Kim and Chelsea got together, Kim using the nickname Kemosahbe when she asked Cheslea for her thoughts.
Does it mean anything that Kim referred to Chelsea the way Tonto called the Lone Ranger? Lone Ranger, Sole Survivor? Up to now we had seen Kim as the leader but Chelsea was the one that expressed their plans this time and she put the target on Leif. Kim said those were her thoughts as well but then Chelsea had the confessional: “The one thing that all of us didn’t want to happen today was for Troy to win and it happened. So, immediately, you start thinking about Tribal. I think that, if we were to take a girl out right now, it would do nothing but create chaos and paranoia and that’s the last thing we need right now so it’s easy to take Tarzan out or Leif out.”

Leif and Tarzan were getting washed in the ocean and knew they were on the block.

Troy: “The best strategy for me tonight is that I am going to talk to Leif, Christina, Alicia and Tarzan and I am going to be point blank: You are on the bottom so, if you’re smart, come along with me and we have five votes and we vote out Kim. You can break up those girls over there and then you can basically pick them off one by one. It would not be that difficult. That would be the best scenario. The worse would be if they decide to vote off a Leif or a Christina because that takes away any chance I have of swaying someone’s vote and then the girls have major control. I said you guys can move yourselves ahead. Why stick with the plan if the plan is for those girls to vote you off in 6th, 7th or whatever. If you are 5, you can go to 4 easily.”

In turn, we saw Troy approach the four. Only Alicia’s response was heard and her words were closed-captioned: “That is something that I am not closing my door to.”

Alicia: “You know, Troy is on to something. Let’s say Troy turns out to be the god of immunity challenges, I am going to side with Troy. I am no dummy: I need to be the first girl that he takes. It’s something that I have to think about”

This should settle the question of Kim’s road to the Final 3 being too easy. The doubts and the plots are now all centered around her. By the way they voted, it seems that Tarzan and Alicia don’t think they are on the bottom. Of the four that Troyzan approached, Alicia was the only one that we heard and she was pretty smart about her strategy. It made us think that, even if Troy doesn’t win all the immunities, Alicia will be the next to threaten Kim. She would make that even clearer during the next conversation with Jeff, Alicia’s door is open to a big move.

Troy: “I am hoping this group will come along with me: Vote for Kim. I’m gonna vote for Kim and they can all be at five. It’s simple: Be with me, you can’t go wrong.”

If we remove the last part then this confessional could foreshadow Troy telling the jury to vote for Kim in the end!

Tribal Council

I noted that the editors didn’t give us clear reactions from the jurors as they entered and saw Troy with immunity, a sign that it won’t matter in the end. At most, we saw Jonas smiling but that appeared to be in repsonse to Jeff’s welcome.

Jeff went directly to Troy about his negative energy towards the women.
He defended himself by saying that is how he plays.
Chelsea answered that the women’s reaction was to be expected when he shouted: “You will never beat me. This is my (bleep) island.”
The jury enjoyed that!

Troy insisted that he said you can’t (bleep) with me instead.
Sabrina jumped in and an argument followed between the three during which we saw Kim remaining calm.
Sabrina said Troy had turned into a creature that she couldn’t identify.
Troy said he didn’t care.
Sabrina talked about being likable but Troyzan didn’t want a “mother telling (him) what he can or can’t do”.
Troy laughed at Sabrina’s version of the truth because he said she lied.
The whole conversation seemed to be discomforting for Jeff which tells us it’s the way we should take it also: Troy and Sabrina were wrong

Asked about the competition, Chelsea talked about paranoia and the old Manono that Troy was trying to switch their votes.
Troy replied that Tarzan, Leif and Christina were going next, that Kim, Sabrina, Chelsea and Kat could do whatever they wanted.
Alicia didn’t seem to agree with that but didn’t say a word.

Troy told Jeff about his plan for the final 5 “if they vote Kim out.”
Chelsea tried to make an argument that Troy’s plan would work only if he won immunity.
Troy correctly replied that it didn’t hinge in that.
Finally, Kim intervened: “To me, the fault with all this logic is that everybody is making a lot of assumptions and nobody knows who lies where and who is with who. If it were that simple and if Christina and Alicia were on the bottom, it would be the obvious move but that is not the case.”
Kat and Sabrina chimed in.
Christina told Jeff what she thought of Troy’s pitch, saying that she had to weigh her options.
Alicia was more direct: “If any of us were to flip, the girls would be screwed.” She told Jeff that she was struggling with the timing of the move.

Sent out to vote, Troy said: “Kim; you are a fantastic player and probably the best girl here.”
Chelsea voted against Leif, noting that he had been wishy-washy.

With Tarzan casting the deciding vote, Leif was sent packing and the first reactions we had were from Kim and Alicia who appeared to exchange glances. Alicia looked worried. Did Kim catch on that Alicia could be trouble or was Alicia surprised by the results? That seems to be the story left to be told.

Addressing the two guys, Jeff said they had two options: Win immunity or find a way in.

The Story

This episode started by asking if Troy could make it back in and we clearly saw that he couldn’t so, despite the previews, most signs, like Jeff’s reaction at TC, point to the end of Troyzan’s story. The next scene will be a confrontation between Alicia and Kim so I was particularly interested in the camera work when Jeff announced the latest casualty. It seems that Kim already knows that Alicia will be trouble, that she is trying to figure out when to make her move.

The Characters


Troy: Maybe Chelsea didn’t phrase it properly but what did he mean by people not deserving to be there? From the audience point of view, he has a case but, from the players’ position, should the “undeserving” ones just fold? Like Kenny told Corinne and Charlie after eliminating Marcus: What does deserving mean? His story ended when we saw that he couldn’t be portrayed as the greatest survivor ever but this episode was painful to watch at times. We heard a defamatory comment towards women, he showed us an arrogance that some said eclipsed even Terry’s and he didn’t make any inroads. Troy should be the next to join the jury.

Christina: We continued to see someone that was clueless about the game, the one that didn’t buy anything at the auction. She was even portrayed as going against the team when she didn’t outbid Troy. Her answer to Jeff was insignificant.

Kat: This was mostly a return of her goofiness but she did have some insightful comments after the Immunity Challenge about Troy and the idol. If Kat starts coming up with plans who knows how this will turn out?!!

Tarzan: He has embedded himself inside the women’s numbers and he could be the one organizing a coup against Kim. That would explain his “the game is afoot” story but none of the players he could gather have a winner’s story.

Chelsea: Her increased implication in the strategy during these last few episodes could bode well for Chelsea except that it seems more to show that she is the one antagonizing the future jurors. It was subtle when we heard her say she couldn’t look Jay in the eyes but it was evident when she confronted Troy three times during the episode: The morning after council, after the immunity challenge and at this Tribal Council. Some will say that the Kemosahbe comment is a hint that she will be the Lone Survivor so we still have to wait and see.

Sabrina: She got mixed up in the fight against Troy in a way that frustrated our host. Maybe her words to Troy about needing to be likable will turn against her because, for the first time, we got an indication that she could have trouble earning enough votes if she made it to the end.

Alicia: From her stay on Manono, we know that Alicia thinks a lot about strategy. Of course, that doesn’t mean she is good at it but she has her door open to a good suggestion. Could she gather Tarzan, Christina and Kat and really screw the other women? That question is the one that the editors will serve to the audience to make them fear a worse case scenario like a victory by Alicia.

Kim: She is a fantastic player, the best one there. Troy’s voting comments are all we need to know about Kim’s future.


"RE: The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor One World - Merger and More"
Posted by Belle Book on 04-21-12 at 07:16 PM
I suspect there are two reasons why Troyzan was unable to get enough people to join forces with him. One definite reason is because even if Alicia and Christina joined forces with Leif, Tarzan and Troyzan that would be three guys to two girls, with Troyzan being a known Immunity threat and Leif being a jury threat. I don't think both Alicia and Christina would make it to face the jury and I think they figured the same, so it's best for them to wait until Final 7 at least.

The second reason is that Kim seems to have done a very good job in nipping any potential threats in the bud. I also suspect that she's probably convinced Alicia, Tarzan and maybe even Christina that they're not outliers by making Final 3 deals with them like Sophie from last season did with Rick and Edna from Upolu. So she's done her part to thwart any threats to her control of the game.


"RE: The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor One World - Merger and More"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 04-23-12 at 01:44 AM
Thanks for another great recap, Michel!

I think you're right on with all your observations about Troy. While his edit is showing passion and will still connect with his fans (making him a likely candidate to be in the running for Fan Favorite) I believe this episode gave more than enough clues that Troy won't be Sole Survivor. I think they have milked Troy for everything he's worth, and rightfully so - he's a passionate, interesting player. And even more importantly, he's PLAYING the game.

I must say, I really enjoyed his banter at TC, and although I like Sabrina, I'm glad he called her out on her "honesty." And notably it was Chelsea and Sabrina that got into words with Troy, not Kim. Kim yet again manages to stay out of the fray (and at this point I think she is both doing this gamewise, as well as having the editing highlighting it) This harkens back to the old Salani's TC where both Chelsea and Sabrina stated that if they could do it over again, they would set up a different core alliance. Back then, Kim agreed, but knew not to share this openly. Just as Kim knows not to argue at TC with Troy now. And editing is once again letting us know that Sabrina and Chelsea don't know that they should NOT do this - a flaw in each of their games perhaps.

And in my opinion, the episode looked even worse for Chelsea, as once again we had her narrate something that can be seen as hypocritical. As she got the confessional about her thoughts on the auction and how Christina didn't bid all her money against Troy. I imagine there's some part of the audience thinking what I was, "Well then Chelsea, if it were that important why did you use your darn money on some donuts when you could've blocked Troy?" Survivor loves to show hypocritical confessionals like this, especially when we can see that the player thinks nothing of it. But they likely hide this or keep this to a minimum for the season's winner. Why are they not being so kind to Chelsea?

Like you've mentioned, I've noticed too that we've seen lots of evidence of Chelsea antagonizing the jurors so far. If this jury were to be bitter (toward Kim, or whoever else could sit alongside Chelsea at FTC) I feel this is the only way that Chelsea could have a chance at winning. I think Chelsea is likeable enough, and could do a decent job at FTC (although I remember reading how you made a comparison to Amanda, to which Chelsea could blow the FTC - and this could be a possibility). Amanda is just one of a few players that Chelsea is starting to resemble that make it to FTC and can't pull out the win. She seems to have some similarity to Chase, who was in on some of the strategy with Sash and Brenda, just like Chelsea is with Kim. They both have southern charm and do well enough surviving, but are also rough around the edges with being too outspoken/honest at times. Jurors who honor strategy, will likely see this as a flaw in that type of game. Chelsea's edit also bears some resemblance to Stephen in Tocantins. I've gotten the impression that we've seen Chelsea strategizing with Kim so much, so that the audience knows why she deserves to make it to FTC. Whereas the jury won't have known this, and like with Stephen, they won't think to honor her with a vote based only for likeability and "outlasting." Especially when up against someone who has displayed strategy and leadership, as well as likeability (like JT, or in this case, Kim)

Nice catch on the little hints that Kim might be picking up that Alicia could be trouble. Out of all the players remaining I think Alicia is the one most likely to be able to arrange something that could take Kim out. Although we haven't seen anything from the editing that would lead us to believe that Alicia can outwit Kim. Therefore, I think it's likely that Kim will circumvent any coup that Alicia could possibly create. This could be done by ousting Alicia first out of the women. Or she can possibly calm her down with an F3 promise or something along those lines. The question is will Kim see someone else as more of threat than Alicia. A likely candidate here could be Sabrina. As savvy of a player as Kim is, she must know that she cannot sit next to Alicia (ties to the men on nuManono) or Sabrina (too likeable of a player). Who will Kim sacrifice as the first woman booted from Tikiano? While this is coming from a gamewise perspective, what does the editing tell us? We have Alicia's declaration about "if any of us were to flip" that this could be an indicator as to start her final arc. But we also have Sabrina's debate with Troy that really was the worst we've seen Sabrina portrayed. While this had nothing to do with Kim, could this be the beginning of a downward spiral for Sabrina that could justify an impending early boot?

I'm eager to see what develops around the sidelines of Troys attack plan next ep (which will likely fail due to his huge spike in ep 10) As each man falls, they will be giving us more clues on how the women will take each other out

"RE: The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor One World - Merger and More"
Posted by parathor on 04-23-12 at 09:29 AM
I guess Chelsea is like Amanda or Chase... except Chelsea isn't as weak as Amanda (see: snide comments when people over-celebrate), and she's not as slimey as Chase (see: she's not overtly coniving, or giving duplicitous confessionals). Ok, maybe she's not like either one. She's not like anyone, really... I want to say she's like Sophie. Kind of annoying, the weak sidekick, good at challenges, has a bit of an attitude, and will probably suck up jury votes when people turn against the real winner.

I immediately picked up on the Kemosabe comment, but Chelsea's "What?" spoke volumes to me. (paraphrasing) -
"I'll be Tonto, you be the Lone Ranger."
"What?"
"Er, any ideas?"
"Eh, here's all 10 ideas that you already came up with - and you're not even listening, really, so... why am I talking?"

I didn't think it was a good showing for Chelsea.

That said, the best indicators for winners (to me) are the potential "cut to commercial" spots and/or quotes. Troyzan had a lot. Kat had one ("yo, this BLT sandwich has bacon!"). Kim and Chelsea didn't really have any (except maybe the aforementioned Lone Ranger reference)

I did like the Troyzan quote that Michel picked up on:
Troy: “I am hoping this group will come along with me: Vote for Kim."
...It could be twisted at the final jury ("come along with me: don't vote for kim!"), but two things to go along with this:
1. Chelsea was seen explaining things to Troyzan as to why they voted out Jay, putting Troyzan in his place, telling him to man up. He didn't like it, but he took it, and then afterwards lumped Chelsea with Kim. I think Kim gets the brunt of his anger at FTC, since he laid down with Kim to form the alliance, not with Chelsea. Bonus: Chelsea looked strong explaining things to Troyzan. Practice for later?
2. Troyzan hasn't been able to mobilize ANYONE, like, all game. He's easily led & swayed, but can't lead or sway anyone else. If he's rallying jurors against Kim at the end, then I think that improves her chances.

Final 3:
Kim, Chelsea, ... Kat?

Vote predictions:
- Kim (Alicia, Christina, Sabrina, Jonas)
- Chelsea (Leif, Tarzan, Michael, Troyzan)
- Kat (Jay? he said something about "his kat" that last ep)

Could it be a tie? We've seen them showing the strength of the pair --

"RE: The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor One World - Merger and More"
Posted by michel on 04-23-12 at 01:16 PM
Interesting point of view, parathor.

I can easily imagine Jeff looking at the camera while Kim is celebrating her win and saying something like: "Everyone thought they had an alliance with her at one point or another so how did Kim keep her alliance together?"
Then we hear Kim's words at the last TC: "...nobody knows who lies where and who is with who. If it were that simple and if Christina and Alicia were on the bottom, it would be the obvious move but that is not the case.”

The bacon comment from Kat could be used as an example of Jeff saying: "She wasn't always on top of things but she tried her best out there. When we come back, we talk to Kat..."

I thought Chelsea's "More deserving than you" comment was unnecessarily provocative. It wasn't an example of "giving the jury what they want to hear". Chelsea's fight with Troy at TC was well received though, especially by Jay.

Troy's voting confessional should be an indication of how he will vote at the end of this. Why would they let us hear "fantastic player, best one here" if he were to vote for someone else. If Kim is in the F3 and Troy on the jury, he votes for her, that I am practically certain.


"Editing Thoughts - episode 10, onward"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 04-23-12 at 00:07 AM
It seems that since the surprise of Colton's removal from the game, and the semi-surprise of Jonas' being first-voted-out at merge (only "semi-surprise" as it was a bit obvious this should happen once Colton was gone) the boots have been rather obvious. Therefore I've decided to go about noting the editing based on the obvious boot order. (But don't get me wrong, I'm still loving this season )

To me, it's most obvious that Troy's game is over. Michel has been covering Troy's latest story arc as accurately as I can see, so I won't repeat much here (thanks, Michel!). But it seems like there was too much of what could be perceived as negativity from Troy - poor-sportsmanship - arrogance - mania - confrontation - that his edit is pretty much done. Add this to Dabo's calculation of Troy having an unprecedented 9 confessionals this season in episode 10 (thanks, Dabo!) Making it hard to deny that the writing is on the wall on the wall for Troy. If this weren't a spike before a boot episode, I don't know what is. So yes, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Troy will be joining the jury, and therefore I'll move on to the 7 remaining players.

Since we are now past the 2/3's mark in the game, we can say all of these players achieved longevity, so I'm going to make my focus more about their significance for the rest of the game. This leaves me to speculate about the "obvious" boot order placings based on the edits of the remaining players so far. In terms of "meat" in their story, as well as confessionals and consistency in edit. (so yeah, nothing sourced, just based on editing thoughts)

It looks like this:
Tarzan
Christina
Kat
Alicia
Sabrina
Chelsea
Kim

But I would hope production would have something more in store for us rather than this obvious progression. It's not like we haven't seen seasons where the boot order was rather obvious from F7 on down (last season and Palau quickly come to mind) but there will likely be a switch up from the order that one might speculate based on "juicier" edits alone.

I think the most likely change up will be that Sabrina gets taken out earlier than it appears (for a regular viewer). This has been said by others as well on the boards and even discussed as early on as during the tribal phase. It's just that her edit has been so good and consistent. Yet, she hasn't been given a hero edit or underdog edit, and we haven't been shown any doubt of her chances to win. Those are some major flaws to have regarding an FTC or winners edit at this stage in the game. She's really the only player left that, in terms of an edit AND gameplay combination, could be taken out and it could be viewed as a "surprise." (Or be hyped as a blindside for some late game production drama - otherwise it's gonna be a mild ride to the finals for the audience)

Pre-merge there seemed to be a chance that Chelsea could've been the one to be taken out earlier than expected, because of the aspects of doubt and the occasional lack of positive editing. But since the merge we're seeing her remaining to be tied to the endgame. Not only this, but we're continuing to see how she is still pissing off the guys (like with Tarzan and his underwear, or calling Troy out when he gloated at the challenge) and there's a chance we'll see why these things contribute to her not getting enough votes at FTC. With each episode, Chelsea's edit is looking more like likeable players that make it to the end, but won't have the backing at FTC (Stephen/Tocantins, Chase/Nicaragua and Amanda/China come to mind) So, right now, I'll stick with the likelihood of Chelsea remaining on a nice trajectory to FTC.

And rounding out the top 3 edits is Kim. I just cannot see how Kim wouldn't make FTC. She has been handled with care since episode 1, having a presence, but not having he most overpowering edit. Since the merge (and removal of Colton), she has been shown as the most powerful and the most strategic player. And even better for the viewership of the season, we have seen this through her edit, as well as her actual gameplay (meaning it wasn't just the editors slicing & dicing to make her appear strategic). I think any hope one might have of seeing Kim taken out earlier would be merely misdirection of the editors in attempt to pose doubt for her. Which anyone who is familiar with Survivor editing knows, this is actually a good sign for her continued longevity not a bad sign (especially when coupled with all the positive aspects of her edit, like Jeff's repeated mention of her in the recap). I made the mistake of reading more into Mike's edit earlier on, hoping that the editors were holding out to show us something big and surprising, when least expected. But that would have been if they were editing the show for diehards on boards like this, rather than for the regular viewers. I believe the same goes for Kim, it's not a matter of whether she makes it to FTC or not (at this point it would be too surprising & unexpected if she didn't) It's more a matter of can she win when she gets there.

The other alteration that is likely to happen from the "obvious" edited line-up is Kat making it into the FTC (which I've long since felt she does). I feel they've downplayed her edit enough to the casual viewer to make for some doubt to her getting there (the closest thing this season we have this season to an underdog edit, or as I'm seeing it a Jud "fabio" -esque edit) Kat's edit can also aid to contrast how a more prominent player (ie. Sabrina) appears to make the final 3, but won't. So, when one of the more obvious candidates for F3 gets their earlier ouster, it will be Kat to slip into their place. Her edit will simply steadily pick up as everyone else disappears. She's been on a nice slow simmer since episode one, and we saw some hints in recent eps, through strategy talks with both Jay and Sabrina (and confessional) that her head is actually in the game. I think Kat will likely maintain this steady incline till the end.

The only other long-shot could be Alicia. Her edit has been very peculiar to me all season, and she is hard to peg at times because she has many extreme things to say (which make for interesting sound-bites to air). Editing for her can also be erratic at times for as she is the least likeable player left in the game. (Although I will say she has gotten better throughout the season, and her choice to get a letters-from-home at the Reward Auction was very endearing) It's the interesting pattern of highs and lows that Alicia's received so far within the season that is even posing any the question for me though. Yet, gameplay-wise, it is pretty obvious that Kim won't let Alicia near the FTC as she has ties to the nu-Manono men.

Not seeing much hope for Tarzan or Christina, so I think it's just a matter of time when they go prior to true endgame. While I think Christina has had more "story" than Tarzan, I think they are both interchangeable in that, compared to everyone else remaining, they have not had enough manipulation to their edit to have me believe that they could make it the endgame. Of the remaining players, they have been edited to be the least significant. (Although not as insignificant as Leif, our last booted player ;)

"RE: Editing Thoughts - episode 10, onward"
Posted by michel on 04-23-12 at 00:46 AM
Nice read, Aaron. As for your surprise how about if both Chelsea and Sabrina get voted out before F3? A Kim/Chelsea/Kat F3 seemed likely but talk in the fanatics forum about Alicia and Christina being dumb not to follow Troy had me quoting Kim at TC saying no one knows where they stand. That made me see a possible Kim/Kat/Alicia F3.

There is an unresolved story line about the women not forming the best alliance at the start: Chelsea said she thought Kat should be voted out in the second episode while Sabrina wanted to eliminate Alicia when the men gave up immunity. I can see that coming back to haunt them.

Alicia and Christina seem to have made up: Christina wore Alicia's dress and Alicia came to Christina's defense when Troy attacked her. Kat, Alicia and Christina could team up to blindside Chelsea and Sabrina and the editors could make us worry that Kim will be their next target. But Kim defended both Kat and Alicia back then so I can see them being together.

"RE: Editing Thoughts - episode 10, onward"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 04-23-12 at 02:12 AM
Wow, that would be a surprise Michel! One that I haven't been considering. Ever since the merge, and Jonas' boot (which indicated to me that the men were on the losing end) I was thinking only one of the top 3 edits (Kim/Chelsea/Sabrina) wouldn't make it to FTC, and have been toying with thoughts of which two would be there with a "new" third. (Although I had long been seeing hints of Kat as the third) I just feel that Chelsea has been given too much care with her edit both pre- and post- merge (I posted about this in response to your recap) So, I think I'm still in the camp that Chelsea makes it to FTC, but won't win.

Although I think it would be very exciting to see both Sabrina and Chelsea get blindsided, as I'm sure they each think they are F3. Editing wise, I see the possibility for Sabrina more than for Chelsea to lose out. And gamewise, I don't see how it would benefit Kim to make it to the end with Kat and Alicia - as she doesn't need to betray both Sabrina & Chelsea (unless it is not her that betrays Chelsea. Like if it happens at F4 - where Kat or Alicia would make the choice). Still, I think Kim would know that chances are likely better for her to go up against Chelsea, rather than Alicia (mainly because of Alicia has better ties to the men than Chelsea, as well as Alicia could put out the argument that she had a lot more maneuvering to do in order to even get to FTC) I think Kim would secure this and use as much of her power to assure that Chelsea will be there with her in the final (as they were a pair, and Kim can easily sell being the more dominant part of that pair).

But thanks for posing this food for thought, it's fun having options to speculate about this far into the game. If it's to happen, then editing will soon have to give hints toward Kim/Kat/Alicia. And one of those hints would have to be to have a reconnection between Kat and Alicia, which has been lacking since their old Salani days. I will certainly be looking for any sign they might give us between Kat and Alicia.

"RE: Editing Thoughts - episode 10, onward"
Posted by PepeLePew13 on 04-23-12 at 11:06 PM

>editing will soon have to
>give hints toward Kim/Kat/Alicia.

How about this for a hint? This was posted back on Feb. 13th in the original editing thread.

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID2/7828.shtml#4

"RE: Editing Thoughts - episode 10, onward"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 04-24-12 at 00:50 AM
Yes, I do remember seeing this Pepe! That would be so cool if it panned out.

I just don't see Alicia making it to F3 though. I'll need another episode or 2 to hone in on her, ha.
At this point I do find Alicia's edit to be the most mysterious/questionable of the remaining players. I've always attributed it to her getting extra attention possibly for being loud or being better entertainment value (meaning more clips of her would be featured for the sake of the "show") But perhaps, this was also happening in tandem to them craftily editing her to make it all the way to the end. Still, I think we'll have to see some new "hints" if the Kim/Kat/Alicia F3 were to come to fruition. I'll be keeping my eye out ;)

"Aside"
Posted by dabo on 04-24-12 at 02:29 AM
The editing this season seems somewhat lost in the current. I haven't had much to say in these editing threads this season, sometimes because when I finally think of something to say I find someone else has already said it so, hey kudos to all who have contributed.

But mainly I conclude that after two seasons of casting returning camera hogs repeat players amidst neofites, the editors got lazy. Those repeat players knew how to be camera hogs, entertaining players, and absorb a lot of airtime -- the editors were left at a loss this season. Or maybe we were the ones who got lazy.

"Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by michel on 04-27-12 at 06:15 PM
Since the merge, Kim has brought the women together to take control of the game, sending three men in a row to the jury…
Troyzan was next in line but played an immunity idol to save himself…
Unable to find a second idol, he decided to fake one.
At the immunity challenge, Troyzan won <we see a smiling Kim> and was safe from the vote.
Protected by the immunity necklace, Troy tried to flip the game in his favor.
<we hear Sabrina saying that Troy was on to something, that she’d have to think about it>

At Tribal Council, Troyzan continued to try to switch the vote…
<we heard his arguments to vote Kim out>

In the end, the women stuck with Kim and continued their dominance over the men…
Sending Leif to the jury.

We heard Jeff telling the zans that they would need to win immunity or find a way in.

With the recap spelling out once more Troy’s plan in detail, it makes me think that Alicia was used only for the suspense of the last episode. The way Jeff insisted that the women stuck with Kim despite Troy’s pitch doesn’t leave much room for Alicia’s door to reopen.
On another note, with Tarzan not even being the secondary target, it appears he has found a way in… but for how long?

Damage Control


Camp – Night 27

Tarzan: “We are down to 8 and look where we are now: Two boys left. Now, we are in a hopeless situation unless the boys win immunity. So, if I want to play the odds in my favor, the smartest thing to do is to do what the girls want me to do rather than risk being exposed as a person on Troyzan’s side.”

After all his “the game is afoot” comments, it seems that his game is rather pedestrian. This looks to be the editors’ way of saying: “Nothing to see here.”

Kim had a confessional that was delivered while we saw her being comforted by Alicia: “Tribal was really interesting tonight: Troyzan threw my name out which definitely throws me a curveball in this game. I wasn’t planning on being a target so early on. I kind of feel like tonight sealed the deal a little bit with the women’s alliance. I feel like everybody feels married to our alliance and locked in so I am just trying to stay calm and keep everybody happy and hopefully get rid of Troy by the next tribal council.”

Troyzan: “Right now, I am on my own. Well, there’s Tarzan but he is not really with me so I feel like I am one man against all the women and Tarzan. They think I have an idol to play so that will be to my advantage. Right now, I need to win every single immunity. One man versus all the women: Bring it on! Ha-Ha!”

We now know that Troyzan’s bravado was futile but could his one man versus all the women comment be transferred to Tarzan? The problem is that Tarzan isn’t against the women but simply following along. As for Kim, I think that the scene with Alicia was chosen to show that Alicia will not seize an opportunity to overturn Kim. It would have been so easy to let us hear Alicia saying that Kim was wrong in thinking that her alliance was solid.

Day 28 – Tree Mail

Alicia read the note that announced the upcoming “coconut chop” challenge, something that we had missed because of Redemption Island. It’s always interesting to see the inner dynamics, how everyone perceives the others and who is on the outs. As it turned out, another trap was waiting for Kim’s edit.

Kat: “I am hoping that, whoever wins, gets to go with another person on reward and I think it is time for me to go on something. I think I have a great relation with Kim so, if I win, I can pick Kim and if she wins, she can pick me.”

We saw her approach Kim and ask: “You are picking me, right?”
Kim answered: “The only people I wouldn’t send back to camp, all together, would be Troy, Alicia and Christina.”

Note that Tarzan wasn’t mentioned! He is in with Kim.

Quite cruelly, the camera went to Kat when Jeff mentioned the helicopter ride and then when he showed the picnic basket.

Again, when Jeff said the word “consensus”, we saw Kat looking around as if asking what the word meant.

Q1: Who does not deserve to still be here?
Group answer: Christina (who said she didn’t understand why!)
Troyzan chopped Kat
Kim chopped Troy
Chelsea chopped Tarzan

Q2: Who would you trust with your life? Kim (note that Kim, Kat and Sabrina wrote TARZAN!)
Christina hacked Chelsea
Chelsea went for Toyzan
Alicia finished Troyzan.
We then heard her mocking him: “This is my island.”
Tarzan followed up on that saying; “Now he is part of the island..his ashes…”
Was that the reason why we heard Troy saying that phrase so often?!

Q3: Who most needs a wake-up call in life? It was practically unanimous: Kat (who took it with a smile)
Sabrina hit Tarzan
Tarzan struck Chelsea
Kim put Tarzan out of his misery
Christina chopped Sabrina
Chelsea hit Christina
Alicia put Chelsea “out of the game” The way Jeff said that made me go: Hummmmm…

Q4: Who is the biggest poser? Everyone said Troyzan except Alicia who said Christina forcing Jeff to note that she gets an answer every time.
Kim surprised Sabrina
Christina gave Kim her first hit.
Kat and Sabrina both went after Alicia.

Q5: Who does the least for their tribe? The answer was quite surprising: Sabrina.
Christina hit Kat who replied: “What did I do to you?”
Alicia knocked Kat out of the challenge. She didn’t take this with a smile.
Kim finished Sabrina

Q6: Who would you most like to be stranded with on an island? Kim was the answer.
Alicia and Kim teamed up against Christina.

Q7: Who do you hope to never see again? Both women were right in saying Troyzan so Kim won because Alicia only had one rope left.

When asked to pick one person Kim chose Alicia without hesitating (Alicia was the runner-up and it matched her previous comments to Kat)
She had more trouble when Jeff said she would pick a second person.
She first said sorry to Kat and chose Chelsea
That clearly upset Kat: “Are you serious?
Kim explained that Chelsea never eats but that didn’t appease Kat.
Troyzan pointed out that the choices revealed where everyone stood: “Kim, Chelsea and Alicia are the top dogs.”
As they went for the chopper, Kim turned around and said sorry once more to Kat who simple mumbled: “Whatever.”

Troyzan: “I started planting a few seeds like maybe I am on the bottom and now I am really going to toy with their minds.”

In the helicopter, Kim said that there was no one else she wanted to bring more.

Chelsea: “I have never been on an helicopter ride so that is definitely one of the top ten things I have ever done. It was very, very cool…To come here with two of my friends from the game, I don’t think it gets any better.”

Kim said she hated that game because everyone else would be pissed.

Kim: “The reward was awesome but I can’t decide if I am enjoying it or not… I’m scared right now with what happened at the reward challenge.”

Alicia pointed out that Christina took a beating which Kim followed by saying: “We are going to have to do a lot of damage control.” She went on to say that this could be the day the tide turned on her, that it could be a disaster.

This sequence was in itself damage control for Kim’s story. She could have been ignored during this short reward and the viewers would have been left with the impression that she didn’t care about Kat’s reaction. Kim could have been seen simply enjoying herself and we would have been reminded of the carefree Rotu 4 when their pecking order was revealed. Instead, we heard Kim talk about damage control with her alliance, telling us that, despite this obvious mistake, she still knows what to do.

In camp, Kat said she was hungry too.
Troyzan told her that the picks weren’t about food but strategy.

Troyzan: “It gave me an opportunity to sit with 5 people I wouldn’t have a chance to pow-wow with. When you can put fear in people’s head, you are one step ahead.You want to get paranoid, I’ll make you more paranoid: I am going to play with your mind.”

Kat: “I am pissed because Kim didn’t take me and I am pissed because I have to listen to Troyzan that I am a follower and that I don’t make any decision for myself and that Kim is the lead player. I don’t believe that. Troy was making me so angry and I am so tired of him saying that. He says that they are the final 3 which is not true. My fear is that I don’t want to go down as a weak player and I am going to do everything I can to make sure that isn’t the case and, if that means having to vote Kim out then that’s fine.”

Now Kat is being used to cast doubt over Kim’s chances! It’s often like this after the merge: The editors use players in succession to feature and make us think the leading candidate is in trouble. Kat’s story is about personal growth, not about winning and this is really part of her learning process. We see that she is still too emotional, a hot mess so she still has things to learn.

Sabrina: “Kat needs to be suited. She’s a hot mess right now. Troy...if anyone can go through this game and win every single challenge, it’s him, hands down.” We saw Sabrina asking Troy about his plan while sitting next to Christina. Sabrina’s confessional continued: “Obviously, I am not on their side but the main reason I put it out there was to see who is easily swayed. Christina, within seconds of me proposing it, said it was a good idea. She sways like the wind: I don’t trust her at all.”

We saw that wishy-washy players aren’t appreciated in One World. Christina won’t be an exception.

Kat: “When Kim came back, there were a lot of things going through my mind that I didn’t know if those were seeds that Troy put there or those were just ridiculous ideas that are making me feel differently about Kim. I was devastated and I didn’t have anything to say to her.”

Already, the thought of voting against Kim is a “ridiculous idea”. Kat got her emotions under control but it hasn’t cleared her strategic judgment.

Finally, the two women went for a walk. Kim explained that she adored Kat but that it was a game for a million dollars.
Kat replied that she hated being seen as a follower.
Kim said it was her worse day because it’s more fun to be taken then having to choose.

Kim: “I think choosing not to take Kat today was the first decision that I made that was not strategic. I think I am paying for it now.”

Camp – Day 29
Comic Relief

It was raining heavily when a visitor came by:

Troyzan: “…I just glanced over and this giant pig…goes walking right across the path…What the hell!”

Alicia was the first to jump out after it, followed by Kim who brought a rope.
Christina went for the axe that Alicia was requesting while Sabrina narrated the events with a weird confessional done in camp during all the confusion!

Sabrina: “We were ready to cook rice…Ok! Ok! We were sitting down… and we see a freaking big ass pig go by. Bacon and ham!”

Troy: “I jumped in for laughs but then I thought how foolish this looked. These girls are running around, chasing a pig and not knowing what they are going to do once they catch it…It just shows you the intelligence of my tribe.”

The banjo music and the pig’s squeals underlined the comedy that followed. One person though looked at the events from a different perspective:

Kim: “I have no experience catching pigs but the pig coming into camp was awesome for me right now because it breaks the tension and I can already feel walls coming down. That pig is cute! I am sorry, I am not killing that pig. We can definitely keep it as a pet.”

We saw Kim enjoying herself during the chase so it is safe to assume that she has successfully controled the damage. Some may see it as Kim being still in game-mode but I think it wasn’t a coincidence that she was the one shown having fun. It’s part of the humanizing effort that editors do for their winners.

The Challenge

Kat had a little dance to celebrate her win over Sabrina but the biggest celebration came when Tarzan defeated Troyzan who spent the rest of the challenge staring out at sea.

Jeff made a couple of noteworthy quotes: “Kim’s got a strategy that’s been proven to work.”
“First immunity win.” Making us think there could be more.

We also heard Alicia saying: “You earned it, Kim.”

As they returned to camp, we saw them walking right next to their new pet pig. It was simply laying there, looking as safe as if it had been wearing an immunity necklace! One person didn’t feel so safe:

Troy: “Today was a complete and utter disappointment…They must think I have an immunity idol so they will split the vote. Never say die in Survivor!”

Kim was the one that proposed putting two votes on Christina just in case while Sabrina and Kat listened.
Kat’s body language showed that she was less than enthusiastic at the idea.

Kat: “Troy; we don’t know if he has an idol so we are going to split the vote but I am getting tired that people keep on telling me what to do because, you know, no one thinks I am the one running the show. Everyone thinks that Kim is, like I can make a decision for myself? What is this? It’s frustrating for me. I don’t know what to do.”

Then in what could have been seen as a stupid decision, Sabrina told Christina that she and Tarzan were going to vote against her in case Troy had the idol. “But it’s not you” she added as if that was supposed to make a difference.

Sabrina: “The plan is to split the vote and I am sticking with Kim’s plan. I just let Christina know that we are going to vote you but you are not going home. I should have thrown out another name or I should have said everyone is going to vote Troy. I did not want her to feel bad because people do not forget how you make them feel. I don’t know if she processed it enough to know that I may be going home if he has the idol but she was fine with it, at least that’s what it looked like.”

Were we supposed to see this as a dumb move? The editors did show that Christina wasn’t totally fine with it because she didn’t go along with it. She simply didn’t know how to use this information properly. What I found most interesting is that, by putting herself in Christina’s shoes, Sabrina said: “I may be going home if he has the idol”. All we have to do is substitute a “she” in place of the “he’ and we have a hint that Sabrina could be the victim of Kim’s idol!

Christina went to Kim and Alicia, saying she was fine with eliminating Troy but added that Sabrina told her that she was getting votes.
Kim asked if she was ok with that and Christina said yes.

Alicia, in confessional, told us how she would have reacted to Sabrina’s indiscretion: “If I was getting a couple of votes, all hell would break loose! But, Christina’s IQ is probably a zero…I’m a special ED teacher so I handle Christina as one of my students and she is going to do whatever we tell her to do and if Troy pulls out an immunity idol, Christina is going to go…It ain’t my name so I don’t care.”


The one that was shown making the real stupid move though was Christina who revealed the whole plan to Troy, someone that knew how to use the information.

Christina: “I don’t trust the girls 100% so that is why I am entertaining Troyzan’s proposal because it makes sense.”

Troy: “Christina said she would vote for Chelsea but I don’t think anybody else would vote for Chelsea. Now, I have to figure out who they are splitting this vote with and I am going to have to vote for that person.” The sound effect and Troy’s smile underlined Christina’s mistake. Troy went on: “When Christina said who they were going to split the vote with! Ha! Ha! Ha! Great, that’s all I needed to hear. When I start to think about this vote, I only need three people to vote for Christina and boum! I can be the 4th. It could be a miracle.”

Kim: “The plan tonight is to give Troy 5 votes and give Christina two. I think splitting votes is always hard because you don’t know who is with you and who is not. So you have 5 people voting for Troy but, if two of them flip, all of a sudden, Troy is back in. I won’t believe that Troy is going home until he steps in front of Jeff and Jeff snuffs his torch. He’s just full of craziness and surprises. I mean he is just playing so hard. Who knows what is about to happen”

Once more we see that Kim had a clear grasp of the situation. Players that are about to take a big fall have confessional that make them look unaware, players that are about to win have confessionals that show them in control. Kim is definitely in the latter situation.

While we heard Kim’s confessional, we saw Troy making his rounds:
The first person that Troy tried to rally was Tarzan, someone that was supposed to vote against Christina though.
Tarzan was quick to tell Troy that he wasn’t writing his name down.
Then he went to Kat, the weak link in the women’s plan and our cue that it was time to go to...

Tribal Council

Troyzan opened by hoping the Survivor gods were out there.
Jeff asked Sabrina if there was talk about number 6 amongst the women.
That could be a hint that Sabrina is number 6; the first women out.
Sabrina, rather undiplomatically, said it wasn’t discussed among all 6 of them.
That caught Christina’s attention.
However, she didn’t really seize the occasion when Jeff gave her an opening.
Chelsea, a bit abruptly, said people were thinking top 3 on day 1,
Still Chritina held hope that things could change.
Troyzan knew that meant that Christina wasn’t 100% in her alliance.
Asked why she was there, Christina said she was one lucky girl.
Alicia laughed and reminded everyone that Christina was voted as the one that didn’t deserve to be there.
Christina said it hurt her feelings but it was because people didn’t have a chance to get to know her.
Jeff pointed out that it had been a month!
Christina replied that she thought she deserved to be there.
Alicia pointed out it was because she had no strategy.
Christina countered that she did have a strategy but didn’t talk about it.
That remark really made it hard for Kim not to react!
Troyzan spelled it out, saying that Christina was on the bottom.
He added that the women were dumb to believe everybody.
Kim explained that her reward decision was like a nightmare because Troy was a brilliant guy and could get in people’s head.
Kat explained that she was heartbroken because Troy said Kim, Alicia and Chelsea were the top three. She asked: “Am I a weak player? Am I a follower? Am I so far up Chelsea and Kim’s ass that I can’t see if I am making the right decision for myself. I don’t want to go down as a weak player in Survivor or a follower. He got to me.”

We heard Kim’s voting confessional: “Please go home” which may be telling us that she got what she wanted but didn’t realize it was too early to celebrate.

Despite feeling good about the vote, Troy was sent packing. As he walked towards Jeff, Troy leaned over Kat and said: “Do it.”

Jeff ended the evening by saying it had “been the mission of this group to get rid of Troy: Mission accomplished. Now what?”

The Story

Jeff’s last words and Kim’s own voting confessional strongly suggest that Kim may have gotten what she wanted but will not get any more. This could be the set up for Kim’s fall in the very next episode. Some will be hoping to see it happen, some will be curious to see if it will happen. All their expectations lie on one person: Kat. Her final TC comment are also part of that set up. However, here was Kim’s reaction when Jeff asked “Now what?”

Her smile seemed to show that she was ready for Jeff’s challenge, that she was already thinking far ahead as we heard her say. So, while Kat flipping the game and eliminating Kim would be tremendously entertaining, I don’t see the story going that way. The story hasn’t really changed but with Kim choosing Alicia for the reward and Troy losing immunity and getting snuffed, the editors had to find a new antagonist for Kim and Kat gave them exactly what they wanted: Someone that doesn’t want to follow the plan. Next week, it will probably be someone else.


The Characters


Tarzan: There will always be the possibility that we are being Tarzaned by the editors but his overdue confessional wasn’t promising. The lack of game doesn’t appear to be a trick; there really seems to be nothing there.

Christina: She said it best: She was lucky to be there. However, in this game, it’s often better to be lucky than to be good. I seriously doubt that Christina will be the first woman voted out. Kim probably has her hooks in her also and her vote will be useful. We don’t usually see such cluelessness unles the clueless player somehow gets a opportunity to turn things on those that think they are doomed. Alicia and Sabrina picked on her so much in this episode that Christina may outlast at least one and, if she is lucky, who knows? Both? Someone that doesn’t deserve to be there would make a great goat so that could be in Christina’s future.

Sabrina: I believe that Kat won’t follow the plan and this episode gave us an indication where she’ll force Kim to change course or so she thinks: Sabrina seems set up for a fall. Even before the previews, we had heard her talk about being 6th, we saw her lack of strategic acumen with Christina and Kim went after Sabrina once the men were eliminated from the RC. So, if she is already targeting Sabrina, Kim could very well let Kat “decide” that it’s time to eliminate their former leader. Kill two birds with one shot.

Chelsea: She was another one that didn’t look too smart during Tribal Council, admitting that talks of Final three had started on day 1. The looks some players exchanged as she said that seemed to underline the boldness of that statement. Jeff’s comment during the reward suggested that Alicia will put Chelsea out of the game, taking the F3 spot that seemed destined to the country girl. After a couple of episodes where Chelsea had been more involved in strategy, she was strangely quiet in this episode. Reduced to narrating the reward. Chelsea had always been the biggest supporter of Men versus Women so, now that the war is practically over, it wasn’t surprising that Chelsea’s role began to erode: She had never thought about the next stage of the game, the part we are now entering when it will be women against women.

Alicia: We have some indications that she could be in the F3 but it isn’t so simple. Her aggressive comments about Christina suggest she could leave before the clueless woman. TC could have been limited to Christina saying that she was lucky and Alicia replying that she had no strategy but we were reminded that Chgristina didn’t deserve to be there. Why such overkill? Could Christina hae to explain it again later on? Will Alicia get more than a couple of votes against her or is she in Kim’s F3? Either way, like Christina, Alicia cannot win. Two goats for the price of one!

Kat: Will Kat do it? Her story is about personal growth, not about winning even if that would make an amazing story! We have seen the hard road that Kat has followed to get here: From being clueless and nearly the first woman voted out, she now is the one that looks to be in the best position to change the game. The problem is that Kat can’t differentiate a good plan from a ridiculous idea. Kim reminding Kat that this was a game for a million dollars makes sense only if those two are in it to the end or, at the very least, if Kat believes she’s in it to the end with Kim. Now that the source of paranoia is gone, Kim should be able to bring her back into the fold.


Kim: With her position in the game having been firmly established in the eyes of the general audience, she is receiving some doubts from the editors. The thing to note however is that her doubts come from varying directions. As she had told us, the pre-merge was a breeze for her but since then, her position has been constantly threatened and those threats have even been amplified by the editors; Jonas looked like a formidable force as he entered the merge but he was never in a position to do a thing about Kim’s position. Troy’s idol was played up as a possible danger but the fact that she had her own idol to counter it wasn’t mentioned. Alicia had opened her door to flip the game but that idea was quickly dropped as we saw at the start of this episode. Now, Kat is her main antagonist and, while it would be nice to get a surprise outcome, we have to consider that Kim is always thinking ahead. If Kat was so upset that Alicia and Chelsea could be in the F3 with Kim, doesn’t it follow that Kat has a Final 3 deal with Kim?

Let’s not forget that Kim protected Kat when Chelsea wanted to get rid of her. She also protected Alicia when Sabrina targeted her. Was it because those two were always Kim Final 3? Kim couldn’t kill the pig because it was too cute but she has never looked to shy away from executing those that stand in her way. She has a strategy that has been proven to work and she seems to have already earned it!


"RE: Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by Belle Book on 04-27-12 at 08:37 PM
It certainly seems to be Kim's game to lose. We're seeing just about all the time that she's no strategic dummy! I wouldn't be surprised if Sabrina is the next to go, if only because she's probably the most strategic person left after Kim!


"RE: Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by DRONES on 04-30-12 at 10:33 AM
Great job as always michael. I haven't been able to post much on this board during the last several seasons because of my schedule. I still enjoy stopping by on occasion to read all of your thoughts when I have some free time.

I have a few thoughts / observations:

1. During the pagonging of the men one of the last images we are left with after each TC is of Kims smile / smirk. Something about the self satisfied look on her face (smug?) that really bothers me. If I'm interpreting it this way I'm wondering if the jury is as well. Hopefully we'll start to hear some end game thoughs about the jury from the players. I'm curious about Kim's relationships with the men. We know that both Kat and Chelsea got along with several of the guys, but what about Kim? She was in an alliance but we never really saw here talking one on one with any of them.

2. Troy bent over wispering to Kat had to send shivers down the spine of Kim, Chelsea, Sabrian and Alicia. I don't think any of them want to be sitting next to her at FTC. I'll be curious to see if Kim, Chelsea, etc took notice. Kat has been portrayed as the little girl who wants to dress up in her moms close and be a big girl. She's adorable. If there are jury members who were to hold a grudge against Kim for betraying an aliance with them then Kat would definately get the lesser of evils vote. Alas I don't believe that to be the case as she's the personal journey player. She'll be portrayed as instrumental in voting out Sabrina. This should end her story as she will no longer be seen as a follower. Gone at F5.

3. Greg is the only player that has me baffled. If they don't vote him out in the next episode, and all indications are that he's safe, then it makes me wonder if there is something going on that we aren' aware of. There is no way that any of the women want to be setting next to him at FTC. The women would have no way of truely knowing what the men on the jury would do and in the end they might vote for him out of spite against the womens alliance.

DRONES

"RE: Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by parathor on 04-30-12 at 11:40 AM
I didn't think it was a good showing for my (former?) presumed winner (Chelsea) this past episode, but not because of her "final 3 on day 1" comment (actually, that was a good sign for her). She didn't have any "cut to commercial" scenes this time, and she seemed more follower than leader (and with Kat whining that she didn't want to be seen as a weak follower, I was like "wait, that should be Chelsea's line!")

Kat had a fantastic episode, with a plethora of cut-to-commercials and bonding with jury members (both the recently jurored like Troy and the soon-to-be's back at camp). I figured she was totally winning (up until reading Michel's post!) Her story IS about personal growth. I'm still keeping her in F3, but she might do better than we expect.

Kim had a good episode, too, showing off her best Boston Rob damage-control tactics. But it still seemed very villain'ish, or at best lone-wolf-like (and again, villain is not equal to evil). She's easily the best player out there, and I enjoy watching her play, but it's rare to have a villain win. That said, there's really no heroes here except MAYBE Kat, but plenty of UTR spoilers as potential winners.

Kim is totally in control, so I don't see her getting rid of Tarzan yet (wait till next episode/F6), or disrupting her core group (Chelsea/Alicia/Kat/Sab), so even if Chelsea/Sab are saying Kat and Kat is saying Sab, doesn't it HAVE to be Christina next? Or is Kim just totally botching up the handling of the jury? (my only reason why she won't win - bitter jury)

So who wins?
- Kat the "Fabio"-like doofus winner who didn't ruffle anyone? (they were both kinda "out of it" and featured bodily functions)
- Chelsea the "Natalie"-like coat-tailer who let her teammate take the vengeance? (both had underwear scenes and seem to be "included" in decisions by the best player)
- Kim the "B. Rob"-like methodical playmaker, keeping her weak-willed onion-alliance on a need-to-know basis? (both have the cocky-yet-charming confidence to know how to win)

I'm leaning more towards Kat right now, because if she is F3, she'll get the pro-Kat votes AND the anti-Kim votes. That's a lot of votes...

"RE: Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by michel on 04-30-12 at 12:35 PM

It's always interesting to have different points of view.

I say that Chelsea's "Final 3 on day 1" was bad for her story because Christina made her look foolish. Christina of all people! She was the one given the very rational rebuttal that things change.

From the start, Fabio told us he wanted the others to underestimate him so looking goofy was his "strategy". Kat tells us that she wants to be seen as the one running the show. The goofiness kills her "strategy". I see an enormous difference between their edits.

There were manipulations in Natalie's edit that are simply not present in Chelsea's. In fact, the manipulation in Chelsea's edit always made her look like Kim's inferior.

"RE: Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by michel on 04-30-12 at 12:18 PM
Thanks Drones and it's nice to see you around here.
I enjoyed reading your observations and I have a few comments:


>1...after each TC is of
>Kims smile / smirk...

Myself, I think it's simply to show that she is in control. Judging by the number of Parvati and Russell fans out there, I don't think that it's bad to show someone in control. Granted, Russell lost but we heard that people hated him. Here, we hear that people trust Kim with their life and would want to be stranded on an island with her. Can you imagine the answers Galu would have given?


>Hopefully we'll start
>to hear some end game
>thoughs about the jury from
>the players. I'm curious about
>Kim's relationships with the men.

I think it will be similar to what Todd and Micronesian Parvati enjoyed: Envious respect.


>2. Troy bent over wispering to
>Kat had to send shivers
>down the spine of Kim,
>Chelsea, Sabrian and Alicia.

We'll see but it wouldn't be the first story point ignored in the next episode. I wouldn't be surprised if it never came up again. If it is brought up again, I imagine it will be another occasion to do some damage control.


>Kat's adorable.

I have been keeping an eye on her ever since episode 3. It started with Chelsea saying that they needed to get rid of the weak players but then the episode showed that Chelsea was the weak one. That's why I think those two are destined to face the jury together and Kat will get 2nd place over Chelsea. Kat's adorability hasn't been consistant and not everyone sees her like we do.

>3. Greg is the only player
>that has me baffled. If
>they don't vote him out
>in the next episode, and
>all indications are that he's
>safe, then it makes me
>wonder if there is something

I was rather proud of saying that the game is afoot meant that his strategy was rather pedestrian so I will repeat it here! I don't think there is anything to see there and certainly not a Chris type story.

"RE: Episode 11 - Editing Thoughts: "
Posted by DRONES on 04-30-12 at 02:22 PM

Kim's smile is very Parvati like. One thing that smile does is tell the audiance that this that this is how I wanted things to go. Definately shows her as the mastermind. In the end I agree that she will get envious respect.

I don't believe the Troy wisper is something that Kim will have to damage control. Troy wispering words of encouragement shows that Kat is threat if she makes it to FTC. It also gives Kim an 'out' to send Kat packing at F5 with the justification that she was a real threat and a player in the game thus securing her vote. Kim will let Kat get her moment in the sun as a strategic player and then send her packing in the next episode.

Chelsea will be pulled along by Kim to FTC as her #2. She only needs a goat to go along with them, someone like Greg, Christina, or Alicia. The only big question left in the game is who will join Kim. As we all know that can be a million dollar *cough Colby cough* decision. Kim doesn't need both Chelsea and Kat pulling votes away from her.

I agree with you about Greg, he is definately no Chris. He's disposable and will vote which ever way Kim tells him to vote.


DRONES

"Episode 12 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by michel on 05-05-12 at 05:03 PM
Previously, Kim and the women have taken out the men systematically since the merge, leaving Troyzan outnumbered and on the chopping block.
With his back against the wall, Troyzan needed to win immunity.
<We see Tarzan eliminating Troyzan from the challenge>
The women believed Troyzan might have another immunity idol and decided to split their votes.
But Troyzan learned of the plan when Christina spilled the beans.
Needing only one more person to vote against Christina, Troyzan appealed to Kat.
At Tribal Council, Christina was on the hot seat…
..but in the end, Troyzan was the fifth man to join the jury but he delivered a message to kat before he left.
<We heard Troyzan’s “do it” and we saw a surprised Kat and a perplexed Chelsea>

Why “Kim and the women”? The recap needed to remind the viewers that we do have a “boss lady” this season. In one sentence, it sets her as the one to watch. It serves both purposes: It highlights her story and puts her in danger. Behind this episode’s main plot which was the assassination of Kat, we saw clouds approaching Kim’s horizon, the first signs that it could be going to hell from here on out.

As for Kat’s elimination, it had been announced a while back when she had a dream about Alicia killing her. Alicia’s change of mind proved to be the fatal blow. We had wondered how the dream would come into play: Either Kat would use it as a premonition to kill Alicia first or Alicia would kill Kat during the Final tribal council but it turned out to be very straightforward. Once more, the editing didn’t trick us, we tricked ourselves!

Alicia Kills Kat

Tikiano – Night 30

Kim: “It’s really good that Troy is gone. I physically feel releaved. You know, like when you have a pit in your stomach and it goes away? That is how I feel now that Troy is gone.”

The question of the 3 votes against Christina puzzled the women who figured that Troy played Christina.

Alicia: “Tribal tonight showed how stupid Christina is. Seeing Christina answer questions in front of the jury made her look dumb whereas Sabrina actually can talk and she can sway them the more she is left here.” We saw Alicia explaining how she felt to Kim. Her confessional continued: “Now it’s just us girls and Tarzan. He is really not a threat and Sabrina scares me. I don’t want her here. I am not worried: I am sitting in a perfect spot. People have said that I am the misfit or that I am at the bottom and little do they know that I am at the top, controlling everything! I am the most powerful player in this game.”

This episode would drive the point home that Alicia is delusional. More importantly, it set up Sabrina has the next challenger, the one that will give Kim a scare. But, if Alicia is delusional, Kim is smart.

Day 31

Sabrina and Alicia went to get Tree Mail and quickly realized it would be family visit time.

Alicia: “…I knew what was happening.”

They gathered around to listen to the messages.

Sabrina: “..It was my brother. Hopefully, I get to see him and spend some time with him.”
Christina: “My dad got a kidney transplant last year..I want to do something for him.”
Kat: “I got to see my cousin who…is the most important person in my whole life.”
Tarzan: “To see my wife…reminds me of what a treasure she is…”
Sabrina: “There are some people that need to see their family because they may not have much longer on this earth…I hope the other women are thinking like that and not being too selfish. I’m playing for me and Tarzan today.”

Sabrina is looking good for the Miss Congeniality award.

The Challenge

Each Survivor was shown sharing a touching moment with their visitor except Kat who was just weird, Colby-and-his-mom, Greg-talking-to-his-sister or Amanda-bird-calling-her-sister, weird.

Kat won the challenge and chose Kim and Alicia to accompany her.
In voice-over, Jeff pointed out the fact that Kim hadn’t chosen Kat and that Alicia had also gone on the last reward.
Kat explained that she wanted to hang out with the two girls for a long time.
Kim didn’t look too happy.

As the loved ones walked away, Sabrina quietly said: “She should have picked you, Tarzan. Tarzan and Christina should have been the ones to go.”

Kim: “I felt that was a very selfish decision for Kat who should have picked Christina and Tarzan. I don’t know how angry they are going to be but I am going to have to do major damage control back at camp.”

Once more, the editors felt the need to separate Kim from the decision, to show that she is aware of the pitfalls of these rewards. You don’t do that to a player that you are setting up for a fall.


The Reward

Kat: “I feel like I won the best reward… I won something. I deserved to win…I wanted to spend time with Kim and Alicia on a genuine friendship level. Maybe I shouldn’t have picked those two, strategically, but I did and you can’t go back…I’ll get drunk and deal with them later.”

At the table, Alicia said the three of them had been together since day 1.
Kat explained they had started out on a girl tribe and had beaten all the guys.
Kat proposed to eliminate Sabrina before Christina.

Kat, in confessional: “This is the one time we can talk about our Final 3. Do I want to jinx it? No.”

Stepping away, Kim told her sister that this could be her best option for the end game: “I don’t think Alicia will get many votes. She’s not well liked but she’s delusional about that…I tell them that they would whip my ##### in the end but I would be really surprised.”

Kim had a confessional: “With 8 days left in this game, talk of Final 3 is happening all over the place. I feel that this may be my best option; to go with Kat and Alicia who I feel I can beat. They both want to vote out Sabrina but I have been in an alliance with Sabrina since the beginning so I would be voting out somebody that I had been in the top three with but, at the end of the day, I don’t think I can beat Sabrina so it would be stupid to take her to the final 3 with me.”

With Kat’s mention of jinxing that Final 3 and how it turned out for her, one can wander if Kim jinxed herself by talking with her sister. All we can say for sure is that Kim’s words about Alicia were right. But, if this was her best option, can she win with Plan B?

In camp, Sabrina was saying she would have given up her spot to Tarzan.

Sabrina: “I would have picked Tarzan; that was just the obvious choice…and then Christina, her dad…may only have a couple of years left so that really pissed me off. Kat is a bratty 22 year old who doesn’t deserve to go to the end.”

To the group, Sabrina said it was up to them to get rid of Kat.
Chelsea agreed and asked Tarzan what he thought about it.
He said it would be an error because she isn’t a thinker, therefore she wasn’t dangerous.
Chelsea said she was worried about Kat’s social game with the guys.

In confessional, Chelsea said: “Kat screwed up, now the target’s on her back. No one wants to go to the end with Kat because, at the last Tribal, Troyzan whispered in her ear that she can do it. That made us all a little nervous. I’m looking forward to talking with Kim when she gets back to see if we can agree that Kat is a smart person to take out next.”

The next day, Chelsea told Kim that people were pissed and wanted Kat eliminated.
Kim countered that Alicia and Kat didn’t see them as threat because they were dumb but that Sab wasn’t dumb, echoing Tarzan’s words of eliminating the thinkers.

Kim: “It’s immunity today and we’ve decided it’s Sabrina going home for sure. She has a good shot to get a lot of jury votes because she can be persuasive. It’s so important who wins because we have a plan and if someone wins immunity that was supposed to go home then it’s going to be chaos. At some point in this game, I started thinking that it’s not smart to win immunity but I don’t know if I will ever feel safe. I”ve decided that if I can win every immunity from here on out, I will.”

Will she win all the immunities from here on out? It’s doubtful so what happens when she loses one? The viewers will expect that she’ll be in danger. Maybe that’s why we have heard no reminders that she has an idol.


The Immunity Challenge

Funny that Jeff said they would draw for spots because the names of the contestants were already in place before they arrived.


Someone is lying to us but we knew that already!

It was an endurance challenge in which Sabrina was the first one out, barely making it passed 10 minutes.
Alicia smiled, Kat did a few dance steps.
Tarzan, Alicia and Chelsea were the next ones eliminated. Chelsea jumped off right after Jeff had said “Dig deep”, suggesting she doesn’t have what it takes.
Kat was shown on screen when Jeff said you would be crazy to think you are safe, proving that sometimes the screenshots mean something.
Once they hit the hour mark, it was down to Kat and Kim and, while Alicia and Sab said they were impressed, Kat started pleading with Kim to let her win.
Kim didn’t say a word, she just won.
That frustrated Kat who didn’t congratulate Kim and didn’t even look up when Jeff handed the necklace to the winner.

Chelsea: “I am happy that Kim won but I am not sure that Sabrina should be the next to go. I think Kat, just her selfishness thoughout this whole game; she should be next. There’s still a lot of talking that needs to go on.”

Kat: “I’m really upset about the challenge. I mean, lose to someone that is 28 years old, who is 6 years older than me, how embarrassing is that? Don’t get me wrong: I love her more than anything in the world but I don’t know if I will ever be able to beat her in a challenge.”

Alicia and Kat talked, wanting to know if Kim had said anything.
Kat went on to say: “Sabrina doesn’t know that her ##### is on the line. That’s why a blindside is so great.We control the show. This game is our game.”

If the audience hadn’t caught on yet, this was an indication that the rest of the episode would be a joke played on Kat.

Alicia: “This game is so funny! Yesterday, I was thinking: Sabrina, you are going home. Then, today, at the challenge, did you see Sabrina? She was the first one done. I could beat her so, there’s no reason why Sabrina needs to go. Kat, she just brought it. Home girl was giving it her all and that is not somebody I want to go up against if that’s how she is going to play these challenges.”

Kim: “Alicia came up to me and, I don’t know how we got in this position but she was like “Kat has to go immediately.” I was totally shocked.” After Alicia and Kim told Sabrina that the vote was for Kat, Kim had another confessional: “Kat could get a lot of jury votes just because she hasn’t pissed a lot of people off but I think that Sabrina is a bigger threat. She is smart enough to sway the jury and totally screw me over in the end. I would rather see Sabrina go first before we kick Kat out. So, Kat is going to vote Sabrina and I think Tarzan would be willing to get rid of Sabrina so it looks like Chelsea and I are going to be the swing votes.”

Kim told Chelsea of the latest development, wondering if it benefitted them.

Chelsea: “All of a sudden, Alicia and I are both thinking on the same page: We both want Kat out next. She is selfish and doesn’t deserve to be in the final 3 but Kim still wants to vote out Sabrina. I understand where she is coming from but Sabrina has been on Kim and I’s side since day 1. Kim and I are going to agree 100% on what we need to do but I think that from here on out, it’s going to be a cat fight.”

The most noteworthy part of this confessional is the obvious implication that Chelsea and Alicia don’t talk about strategy together. Kim is the bridge between them.

Chelsea told Kim they should go with Alicia’s desire to eliminate Kat before she changes her mind.
Tarzan talked with Kim, saying he had heard it was Kat but Kim replied she wasn’t so sure.

Kim in confessional while we saw her talking to Tarzan: “I still have some options for tonight but Chelsea and I have had an alliance with Sabrina since day 1 and Kat, I think she looks at me like a big sister so, this is not a fun vote tonight.”

Tarzan told Kim “that’s smart.” He added: “All right, boss lady.”

Kim: “This is a game changing decision and it’s going to be a blindside either way. But, it is a game and there is no way to keep everybody happy at this point. It’s just going to go to hell from here on out.”

Tribal Council (or a Kat roast)

Kat explained her dilemma at the reward saying the decision hurt her feelings.
Jeff had trouble following that logic but he was more interested in knowing why she picked Kim.
Kat said it wasn’t done “strategically”. She was thinking of having a good time outside the game.
Sabrina said it was about a 22 year old wanting to have fun and Kat’s smile didn’t contradict her. Sab added that Kat will regret that choice. The smile faded.
Kat said that she was indeed naïve.
Chelsea said that being 22 was Kat’s way out every time she screws up.
Kat wanted to know if the whole TC was about her.
Tarzan said he wasn’t bothered by the decision because he understood it.
Jeff asked Alicia about Sabrina’s poor challenge performance.
Alicia said she was surprised that Tarzan outlasted Sab, that maybe it was her game to hide her stength. Alicia added that she expected Kim to bring it during the challenge but that Kat shocked her. Alicia said that the respect Kat earned for hanging on was lost by her reaction, being upset with Kim.
Kat said she was upset with herself.

Jeff turned the discussion to camplife now that they had decimated the guys.
That gave us an exchange of glances between Kim and Troy.


"You decimated...

...the guys."


Sabrina said it was getting testy.
Asked about honesty, Kim said that people win because they were honest and the jury liked them, something that made her nervous.
Sabrina said she valued honesty and that the best player in the game may not get her vote if they pissed her off.
Kat said that blindsides are always fun and exciting.

Kat realized that it was happening to her when Jeff read the 4th vote.
Kat then turned to Kim who didn’t look back.
We saw the jury’s surprise and again the camera turned to Kim first, then Chelsea.

Kat’s tears were clearly heard as she walked off the stage.
Jeff’s message was simple: “If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone.”

The Story

Just when Kat had become a threat to Kim, she was voted out and a new threat appeared: Sabrina. For the first time, Kim wasn’t the one in control, the one making the decision. The closing chapters will concentrate on how this decision turns out: Did Kim lose the game by relenting and letting Sab have a second life? What if Sabrina was hiding her challenge skills? What if she makes it to the end and sways the jury?
Those are all questions that the story has raised as obstacles in Kim’s road to victory.

This was not a fun vote for anyone but, of those involved in making the decision, the one that was most spared was Kim. Chelsea, with all her talk about selfishness, looked like she was making the right decision for the wrong reason: You want people with flaws to go to the end, not the most deserving, if you want to win and we know Chelsea wants to win because she loves money. Which is kind of a selfish position in itself! It is strange though that no one mentions how much of a jury threat Chelsea would be. Is it because she’ll never face the jury so the editors don’t waste time showing confessionals where people worry about it or is it to make us forget she will get a lot of votes?

The most interesting quote of the episode came from Tarzan: “That would be an error because Kat isn’t a thinker.” Who does he see as the thinker that should be eliminated? His “boss lady” comment made it evident to everyone that he considers Kim as someone that is thinking. Will everyone join him and target the thinkers? If so, Kim is the real thinker here but, the funny thing is that Tarzan was probably talking of someone else when he wanted to eliminate the thinkers. He was probably already on board with going after Sabrina.

With all the doubts centered around Kim’s chances of winning and with the editors focusing our attention on her actions and thoughts, we are almost certain that Kim will be the Sole Survivor. She will have her hands full convincing the jury has shown by Troy and Jay's reactions but she will do it.


"RE: Episode 12 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by Belle Book on 05-05-12 at 09:03 PM
Well, considering that ever since the merge, the editing has shown people being possible threats to Kim winning only for said threats to be eliminated, I also would agree that Kim will be the Sole Survivor. It's true that she didn't get her way with ousting Sabrina and keeping one of her planned goats in Kat around, but she's still got Alicia around and Plan B could well involve Christina as the replacement goat, as I doubt she'd want Tarzan beside her.


"RE: Episode 12 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by parathor on 05-06-12 at 04:17 PM
"Asked about honesty, Kim said that people win because they were honest and the jury liked them, something that made her nervous."
-- we don't have to go back too far to see that this is often true. Bad sign for Kim.

"Sabrina said she valued honesty and that the best player in the game may not get her vote if they pissed her off."
-- foreshadowing? She did say "may" - but still... That can't be good either.

"...but it turned out to be very straightforward. Once more, the editing didn’t trick us, we tricked ourselves!"
-- oh, wait... Yeah, Kim probably wins. It's been more than telegraphed to us. I'm giving one or two last-gasp tries to predict a Chelsea victory, but it's probably Kim.

"Episode 13 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by michel on 05-12-12 at 01:24 PM
With the women <shot of Kim> picking off the men one by one, it seemed obvious that Tarzan would go next.
But an emotional visit from the Survivors loved ones set a different ball in motion…
In an intense reward challenge, Kat won a trip away from camp with her loved one
Kat’s decision not to take Tarzan and his wife of 30 years or Christina and her ailing father did not sit well with Sabrina.
<we see Sabrina saying “she should have picked you” to Tarzan>

Back at camp, Sabrina vented about Kat’s selfishness.
In a grueling immunity challenge, Kat fought to the bitter end but it was Kim who prevailed.

After the challenge, Alicia joined in a swelling tide to take out Kat.
Kim, wanting to keep her options open, wasn’t so sure.
<We hear Kim saying that Kat could get some jury votes but that Sabrina could sway the jury and screw her in the end.>

At Tribal Council, Kat felt very confident but Kim opted to side with Sabrina and Alicia, devastating Kat and shaking up the game.
Will the women continue to take out their own or will Tarzan be the next to go?

Quite a few interesting thigs to note in this recap.
- Chelsea’s role was totally neglected. Like Sabrina, Chelsea had played a roll in creating the tide against Kat and she played a bigger role in convincing Kim but the recap only talked about Kim siding with Sabrina and Alicia. Also, Chelsea was the only woman shown falling off during the “grueling immunity challenge” even if Sabrina had stepped off much sooner.
- Sabrina’s potential to screw Kim in the end was recalled, we saw that she was kind to Tarzan and it wasn’t even mentioned that she was the alternate boot. Sabrina continues to serve as Kim’s biggest obstacle which breaks the trend of having each challenger fall. It forces us to ask if Kim isn’t the big obstacle, the doubt, in Sabrina’s path instead of it being the other way around?
- Sabrina’s fans will hang on to that possibility but the story remains Kim’s. She was the one that the camera showed when Jeff talked about picking off the men and the vote discussion was all about keeping her options open and her final say when, last week, it had looked as if she had been forced to join the “swelling tide”.

To me, the theme of this episode was:

It Just Takes One Conversation

Night 33

The women, Chelsea and Sabrina in particular, were laughing at the irony of Kat’s last words.

Tarzan had a confessional: “If I were the girls, I would have voted me off before Kat. That would have been the smartest thing…I have a subplot…raise myself to the top 3.”

Tarzan then had a conversation with Kim, saying her ideal Final 3 was with Alicia and Christina, promising he would sway the jury to vote for her if she lets him get 4th.

Kim: “…Tarzan pulled me aside and just wanted to tell me what the best plan for me was; which was to get rid of Chelsea and Sabrina…As crazy as Tarzan is, it’s what I know to be true but if I send Chelsea home that would be my worse night here.”

Alicia joined them and was informed of the discussion but, when Kim left, Tarzan told Alicia that he would talk her up to the jury because they felt betrayed by her.

Tarzan: “I’ve been doing this in segments: Don’t be the first one voted out, make it to the merge, make it to see my wife, make it to 4 and maybe make it to final 3…”

Now Tarzan talks like Parvati! But he won’t be able to wiggle his way out of this hot pickle!

The next scene opened up to a scorpion being attacked by an army of ants, symbolizing Tarzan’s exit.

Chelsea in confessional: “Right now, I feel the game is 3 versus three. I genuinely think that Christina, Alicia and Tarzan feel that they have Kim in their alliance which is great because I know that she’s got my back.”

The scorpion was seen again so maybe it was hinting that Chelsea could also be a victim of Kim’s army.

Chelsea and Christina talked about food as they went to get tree mail.
Chelsea promised that she would take Christina if she won the reward.

Chelsea: “I am trying to reel Christina in a little bit. I know Christina is Alicia’s puppet and I am trying to help her see the big picture. If I can get Chritina to see that Tarzan can’t go to the Final 3 maybe she will fall in with Kim and I.”

Chelsea asked Christina to keep this between them but Christina soon told Alicia, Tarzan and Kim about the conversation. That worried Kim.

Kim: “...Christina came up to the tent and immediately told Alicia, Tarzan and me everything that Chelsea had said on their walk. My first question…was: Did Chelsea blow my cover? Because I have been playing both sides.” Kim soon told Chelsea about Christina’s indiscretion which infuriated the southern girl. Kim’s confessional continued: “To put yourself in a position to play both sides is brilliant but it’s also one of the scarier places to be in this game because it just takes one conversation between two people on opposite sides for them to put it all together and then you’re the first person gone because no one trusts you anymore.”

The Reward Challenge

Showing their cruelty once more, the editors focused on Christina’s reaction when Jeff gave the details of the reward.

Chelsea was the first to solve the puzzle.
Wanting to be fair, she picked Sabrina and…Kim!

Chelsea: “I’ve never been on a sailboat…Whenever you step out of the game and go on these rewards, it’s as if you feel human again. I kinda know what’s going on at camp so, since I do, I can relax knowing that the three of us are going to work it out and try to make it to the end together.”

Chelsea and Kim exchanged “I love you”.

Kim: “You start feeling like animals out here…I started to remember who I was and what I am about and what I am doing here. I feel like my head is so much clearer today than it was yesterday so the reward was huge for me.”

Quite a nice confessional to explain why she had been such a cold calculator but that isn’t what she was about.

In camp, the women were livid.
Led by Alicia, they agreed to vote against Chelsea.

Alicia: “Kim and I trust each other but I will not pass it by her that she is not thinking of other options. I am not stupid and think she would want to sit next to Sabrina and Chelsea. Christina and myself and Tarzan are solid and, if they want to be solid, cool, let them draw rocks, let them be stupid.”

Tarzan intervened, saying he’d be the better option for Alicia and Christina to take to the end because Chelsea and Kim were tight.

Tarzan: “It’s almost a blessing in disguise…”

Alicia: “I’m actually leaning towards taking Tarzan to the top three…Kim better come back with the right story…After Chelsea’s gone, Tarzan has a great point: We need to take Kim out.”

Back on the yatch, the three women were talking strategy.

Sabrina: “Somebody has to make a big move. Kim has that ability to look at you, almost look through you, and say: “I am with you” and it’s believable.”

Kim told the girls that she was scaring herself.

Kim: “The reward cleared the line for me a little bit. I feel better about the option of going with Chelsea and Sabrina. I’m trying to figure out some way possible that we can somehow win this next vote with just 3 votes.”

The scene ended with Chelsea saying: “We got to win tomorrow.”
They wouldn’t win the challenge but would win the vote

Day 36

It started with Tarzan deciding he would cook the rice his way, something that didn’t sit well with Alicia,

Chelsea: “…The minute we walk in, there is an argument. Ah! We are back in it again.”

Kim took the occasion to talk to Alicia about Tarzan.
It was a demonstration of how to manipulate someone:
She started by saying it would make her cringe if he was playing them all and win in the end because it would be like the men beating the women.

Kim in confessional, explained her tactic: “I think the only reason that Alicia would give up Tarzan who has appeared to be one of her minion, is if she was convinced that he wasn’t a minion afterall but that he is a mastermind that is trying to take out her mastermind and she was going to look like a fool.”

Kim then told Alicia about the conversation she had with Tarzan at the start of the episode and how he was going to convince the jury to vote for her.
Alicia was shocked that Tarzan had said the same thing to her: “He told that to me.”
Kim acted all surprised, as if it was actually Alicia who had just then made her realize that he was playing them:

“He’s playing us” Kim exclaimed. “We were gonna get Tarzaned and look like friggin’ morons…He’s gonna take Christina and Sabrina.”
Brilliant move and amazing scene!

Alicia: “When Kim came back today, I had to confide in her and we crossed-reference each other’s stories and we are being fed the same BS. Tarzan wants to take Kim out and then secure his spot with Christina and Sabrina and take me out and make me look like a fool. Hell No! If I hadn’t realized this, I would have been Tarzaned. I would have looked like an idiot in front of everybody. Now you are being paranoid? Now you are trying to play the game? Now you are trying to work the social game? I am the queen of the social game. If Chelsea wins immunity, we are taking Tarzan out. If Chelsea doesn’t win immunity then she goes home and I don’t feel bad about that decision either because home girl has been trying to run the game on me and no one runs the game on me. That’s the Ghetto Porto Rican coming out but I don’t care because you don’t try to make me look like a fool and take me out in the end. I am the most powerful player and I will remain the most powerful player.”

I laughed at this scene because, while Alicia was vowing that no one would make her look like a fool, we had Kim’s face on screen!

The Challenge

Despite the irony of her confessional, Alicia did manage to win immunity, putting herself in powerful postion…for the moment.

Alicia: “I am probably the most surprised by my win today. It’s awesome! If I was back at home, I’d be with my girls saying: Look at me now! I have the choice between keeping Chelsea around or Tarzan. Do I get rid of my power? I control 3 votes: My vote, Tarzan’s vote and Christina’s vote. Why should I give up power now but, at the same time, I am afraid he is going to backstab me.”

Kim talked to Sabrina about the seed she had planted with Alicia.

Sabrina: “Somehow Kim has finaggled her way into Alicia’s mindset that Tarzan is gunning for Alicia. Before, Alicia was gunning for Chelsea first but, what I just heard from Kim, if it’s true, we can get the sucker Tarzan out of here. But Alicia… We don’t know if she is telling the truth.”

Next, Kim talked to Chelsea, telling her that Alicia was freaking out and wanted to get Tarzan out but was still after Chelsea first. Kim said she pushed as hard as she could without making it too obvious and getting voted out herself.
Chelsea said she could play her idol.
The music during this scene was quite sad, suggesting it could be the end of the road for this friendship.

Kim: “If Alicia doesn’t vote out Tarzan, I will probably vote with Alicia, Christina and Tarzan to pick Chelsea out. I feel that my struggling at this point to keep Chelsea in this game and to use an idol that gets me to the Final 4 no matter what, seems like an unwise decision since I have put everything on the line for Chelsea and Sabrina with 6 people left in the game when I know for a fact that I could be sitting in the final 4.”

This confessional could have told us that Kim would have indeed ended her journey at Final 4 if she had picked out Chelsea but, since she stayed through to her friend, it seems it was included to show her wisdom.

Like Kat before her, Chelsea said it would infuriate her to leave before “people like that” meaning Christina.

Sabrina: “This plan tonight all hinges on two people: Kim if she can sway Alicia’s mind into saying: We are all in this together, we want that sucker Tarzan gone and he’s out to get you but it also hinges on Alicia believing every morsel of what comes out of Kim’s mouth. Kim bats her baby-blue eyes and she looks right at you and it’s really hard not to believe Kim.”

Tarzan: “I helped them get rid of the boys…There’s no way for (Alicia) to really trust me so she could be influenced by Kim. Kim, with her angelic eyes, fooled Troyzan and Jaybird so she can probably fool Alicia.”

Alicia: “I might have to blindside Tarzan tonight. It’s hard because we have a Father-Daughter like relationship. At the same time, he could reunite with Sabrina and Christina and persuade her and that is what I want to avoid. I want to trust Kim…but there’s doubt in my mind that she could be playing me. I don’t know…”

Tribal Council

Sabrina was heard saying Oh Boy! just as the jury walked in but when Kat was introduced as the latest juror, the camera established once more a connection between a bitter looking juror and Kim, the first one seen after Jeff said Kat’s name.
Jeff first went to Sabrina, asking if she was surprised to still be there.
She said no, that you have to picture yourself making it to the end.
Tarzan said he was still there only by the Grace of God.
He added that he helped the ladies get rid of the guys and the rest of the TC was mostly Tarzan blowing his chances at getting votes in the end in the hopes of showing Alicia that he wasn’t a threat.
Sabrina countered his point by saying the guys on the jury could vote for a guy.
Alicia went back to Chelsea’s choosing Kim for reward, an unfair choice much like Kat.
When Jeff pointed out that Kat was voted out after making her choices, we saw Kat’s bitterness when she said “bitches”.
Christina said she was disappointed because Chelsea had told her she’d take her.
Chelsea replied that Christina broke her word first.

Even if Kat felt certain that Chelsea would leave, Tarzan was voted out.
He received the finger from Mike when he turned back for final words.

Jeff congratulated the women on getting rid of all the men, adding: “May the best woman win.”
Sabrina was the one shown as he said that.

The Story

Kim knew so well that a single conversation could ruin the game of someone playing both sides that she used it against Tarzan. He wasn’t walking quite the same tightrope that Kim had mastered but she still managed to trip him up in much the same way she got Troy to eliminate Michael.

This showed once again that the story of the season is Kim’s brilliant game. The recap showed that it wasn’t Chelsea’s story when Jeff didn’t even mention her role in eliminating Kat. Sabrina had a strong story throughout the season but it was mostly as narrator and, in this episode, she served to underline Kim’s abilities, not her own game. Alicia, who had applied for the role a long time ago, was confirmed as this season’s “Dumb Player”. Christina has been neglected like so many other insignificant long term players.

The Case for Chelsea: The loyal player could receive some votes during Tribal Council. For one, she could get Kat’s vote because she wasn’t blamed for Kat’s elimination. In fact, Kat was certain that Chelsea would receive the same treatment from those “bitches” that she did. But we have constantly been shown that Chelsea’s game was inferior in quality to Kim’s: She was the one that needed assistance from the guys when Kim said she was happy that the women stuck to their guns. Chelsea’s talk with Jay before Mike’s elimination was termed assinine and several players said she couldn’t make decisions. Again, in this episode where she came close to leaving, Chelsea’s attempt to change things by talking to Christina failed. In the end, she had to rely on Kim to stay safe. We also know that Chelsea has trouble looking people in the eyes when she isn’t being truthful. That hints to problems during Tribal Council when the jury will ask her for accountability.

The Case for Sabrina: Always a likable member of the cast, Sabrina has been playing for jury votes and she could get quite a few. Is she the best woman as the camera suggested when Jeff said “May the best woman win”? It certainly is possible even if we heard that she did the least around camp. She is Kim’s blindspot: A feared rival that managed to get back under her radar to the point where Kim is thinking of going to the end with her. Could Alicia’s fear about Kat’s better challenge abilities turn against the women when Sabrina comes up with an immunity win in the clutch? Possible but, as explained in previous entries, Sabrina is the player that is being used to make us doubt Kim’s chances, not the other way around.

Kim will own One World

"RE: Episode 13 - Editing Thoughts:"
Posted by Belle Book on 05-12-12 at 09:52 PM
Yeah, Chelsea and Sabrina seem to be more the people who are being used to make us doubt that Kim will win, but Kim's been the true mastermind of One World. I tip my hat to her.


"Final Episode thoughts"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 05-15-12 at 04:21 AM
I finally got to watch the final episode of One World earlier. Figured I'd share a few thoughts here, as the editing thread is mainly where I contributed my posts this season. (Although kudos to those in the East Coast thread - always a good read )

Personally, I found this season to be very satisfying. Yes, it was not a big surprise that Kim would be the winner, but it was nice to pick up on the earlier editing nuances for her. As well as viewing the moments of doubt that were supplied for us from the merge onward (although few that pegged her a potential winner would waiver here based on these attempts). Kim was a great player, a great edit, and a great winner - so if that doesn't make for a great season, I don't know what does. She played a superb strategic game and gave us insight on practically every move she made at each stage of the game. And fortunately they were able to catch many of her great scenes, like telling Jay to hush before warning Mike, or getting Alicia to suspect that she was being "Tarzan"ed, to all her private pow-wows with Chelsea - it was lots of fun to watch her in action. Combine her strategic acumen with an amazing social game, 4 II wins, and not needing to use her HII - she was a true triple threat. This last sentence sounds as if I could be talking about Boston Rob himself - the only thing is that Kim did this in her first run (but I won't go there ;) IMO, she is the best edited female winner Survivor has ever showcased and she will go down as one of the best players this game has seen. She deserved the win, and I enjoyed watching every minute of her doing it!

Loved that I was able to be part of the discussion here that it was looking like Chelsea would indeed reach the FTC - and may even likely receive no votes. The editing was kind to her (like they were with Stephen of Tocintins, who the viewing audience knew actually deserved a vote or two). The editing showed us enough of the likeable, emotional side of Chelsea - the side that she confessed at FTC was what she withheld from most of the players on the jury. Not only did this help her edit, but it also gave viewers an inkling of hope that she could pull of the win, let alone a vote or two. I'm glad she made it to the end, and I agree with her standing at game's end. I almost waivered from thinking she'd make it, particularly with her scene with Kim (and the sentimental music used) when she questioned about the HII before the Tarzan boot. But the doubt (due to good editing ) was brief and I was shortly back to seeing her as one of the final three. She really didn't have a chance against Kim, bitter jury or not - 'cause if they were bitter, she would have felt the wrath too, maybe even more. She played a good game though.

I was psyched to see that Sabrina made it to the FTC. I'm not sure there has ever been a narrator that was used so heavily throughout the season, like she was, that had made it to the end. Good for her! Due to all that airtime, I thought she'd have to fizzle out just shy of the last episode or two, and someone like Kat would sneak into her place (in fact her and Kat's positioning were the two I guessed wrong when making predictions at how the F8 would go out - I had their positions switched - not that I'm boasting, just happy to have gotten this much right ;) We now know why the doubt cast around Kim came a few times from the direction of her needing to get rid of Sabrina, as it helped add to the possibility of a Sabrina win.
Whereas the continued lack of Kim speaking of Sabrina as highly as Sabrina speaking of Kim, was clue enough to how their standings would play out. And while Sabrina did get 2 votes, she wasn't nearly as well spoken at the FTC as she was at other TCs. In her opening statement she even seemed a bit flustered and unfocused, but she managed to get in some clear sympathy statements, which was smart for her in her position. Easily, Sabrina is one of my favorite castaways from all seasons. Love that they showed her scene on the last day with the sun rising!

I was also very happily surprised to see Christina make it to Final 4. I thought she'd be gone the episode Colton got evac'd (and she likely would've been otherwise) But editing took enough time and care to give her and Alicia a nice side-story that lasted till the final episode. Who woulda thought that the "shut up" Christina blurted out during the first TC would carry a story arc that would last through the whole season with her and Alicia. Once these ladies survived their confessional bumps from the tribe-swap and made it to merge, it looked really good for the both of them to last a long time. I enjoyed that we were given bits of their hot/cold relationship. From Alicia trash-talking to her with Colton to lending Christina her dress to calling her "special needs" and then calling her like-a-sister - these ladies had a roller-coaster ride the whole season. And yes, Christina had things to say about Alicia, but they were far more accurate. Which made her placing higher than Alicia all the more special (not an easy task to make of a non-strategic 4th place finish) I found their interactions at the Reunion very endearing too, and was glad we got to hear from them in the way Jeff directed. I think their showings at the Reunion also proved to us that certain aspects of both Alicia and Christina were left on the editing room floor. I think Christina should be proud of her standing in the game (as she had a very tough road being on the outside of that alliance from day one) and I think Alicia was redeemed at the Reunion as she seemed genuinely apologetic for her comments and likely learned a thing or two from watching herself.

The final TC was okay, it won't go down as memorable as other seasons, but I was simply happy to see the 3 players I liked most from the preseason interviews in the top 3 (first time for that) And while Colton did bring some drama, I was glad he had to bow out early, and I'm glad Alicia fell short of the FTC too.
Quick thoughts on the FTC jurors.:
Jonas - ok, nothing memorable
Mike - ok, nothing memorable
Jay - ok, nothing memorable
Leif - wow, can't even remember
Troyzan - terrible, the only bitter pill (makes him dip in my popularity)
Tarzan - terrible, 1, 2, what was number 3... and how about 4: completely self-absorbed
Christina - good, I actually liked the question to Chelsea about being so mean, ha! And Chelsea answered it!
Alicia - good, refreshingly, uncharacteristic to see her rather positive (although still delusional)
Kat - very good, I have to admit I'm a softy for a sentiment like this, and I thought Kat delivered it well
SO, once again the guys provided little to show. So glad a woman one - they deserved final five, and Kim the win

"RE: Final Episode thoughts"
Posted by suzzee on 05-15-12 at 09:21 AM
Hi Aaron,

Nice assessment of the season, I've popped in here frequently and read everyone's contributions to this wonderful thresd and have been entertained and frankly amazed at the abilities to figure out some of these edits.

I did enjoy the final TC, it seemed for once the final 3 were in charge of TC rather then looking like they'd rather be anywhere else. Kim chose wisely in Chelsea & Sabrina. I got the impression that Sabrina wasn't really comfortable, Chelsea knew her best game move was to hook up with Kim and Kim, she did an excellent job of maneuvering herself through the game. Bravo and well deserved Kim.


Of course I'm not running things, now go do what I told you to or else. humph

"RE: Final Episode thoughts"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 05-15-12 at 06:40 PM
Thanks Suzzee!

Yes, there were so many great assessments this season by everyone in this thread and others. Each week I'm continually amazed how so many posters here put it all together. Even more kudos to the effort in a season that little or no source spoilers.

It was a satisfying final TC and I agree these 3 ladies were in it and very reflective of their games. Good for them!

PS - love your Kim sig

"RE: Final Episode thoughts"
Posted by Belle Book on 05-15-12 at 09:34 AM
LAST EDITED ON 05-16-12 AT 09:42 AM (EST)

I haven't been watching this season due to American Idol -- until the finale, and I'm glad I watched it! That said, during the week after Jessica was saved on AI, I chose to catch up on what was going on on One World. I'm glad I did so as well, because it enabled me to see and appreciate a master strategist at work -- Kim.

No, I wasn't surprised that Kim won. In fact, I would have been shocked if she didn't! As you said, she was a triple threat -- she was a flawless strategist, had a great social game and even won 4 Immunity Challenges to boot! And unlike Boston Rob, Kim did all this on her first try! I agree that she got the best edit for a female winner -- and she sure deserved the edit, and the win of course. Heck, I hear Jeff said that she was one of the best winners, so that's high praise!

Chelsea and Sabrina also did well to get to the Final 3, but neither one had much of a chance against Kim, if only because Kim was so good! In fact, all the women who made the Final 5 did well to get there, although I wish Christina had fought a little more to get rid of Sabrina at the end. Not that I think she would have succeeded, but it would have been better than her just lying down and "dying".

The only sore spot was Troyzan. I have to wonder if he was sore that he was outwitted by a girl or sore that he was just outwitted, period. I don't think he planned to vote for Kim and his question was a trick one. Still, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things -- none of the other jurors were even so much as bitter towards Kim, especialy Kat. And Tarzan was -- Tarzan.

All in all, I loved seeing a very satisfying player win.


"RE: Final Episode thoughts"
Posted by AaronLittleton on 05-15-12 at 06:48 PM
Yes, Belle, it was very satisfying watching a player like Kim win!

Good that you got to catch up on the season, I really enjoyed it and felt it was one of the better. I like that those toward the end liked and respected each other (even Alicia, I think they just liked to show us the worst of her) Yes, it would've been interesting to see Christina make a case for herself. But I didn't see it as her laying down to die, like others may have. I think we just saw the scene where Kim was upfront with her, and she respected the honesty. We all knew at that point in the game, those 3 were gonna stick together.

"RE: Final Episode thoughts"
Posted by Belle Book on 05-15-12 at 08:07 PM
LAST EDITED ON 05-15-12 AT 08:07 PM (EST)

True, which is why I said that I doubt that Christina would have succeeded even if she tried to make a case for herself. Still, it's best to make a case for yourself even if you have a good idea it's not going to work out. At least you can say that you tried your hardest and it just didn't work.


"Posy Mortem"
Posted by michel on 05-19-12 at 01:12 PM
LAST EDITED ON 05-19-12 AT 01:23 PM (EST)

Post Mortem (Damn typos!)

Another season's over so it's time to look back on it. First, I want to thank everyone that participated in this thread and those that took time to read it. I think we had fun once again analysing the style of story-telling of Burnett's team.

I will look back mostly fondly on this season where we had a full cast of new people, a new concept and the direct way of showing the thoughts and decisions of our winner. In itself, it created some doubts but we have experienced enough of Survivor's tricks that we saw through it very quickly.

So let's look at a list of early questions that the edit brought to mind. I think it’s interesting to see how they were answered:

After E01, I wrote:
-> Since One World is the imposed theme of the season, we should note that cross-tribal alliances are described somewhat negatively. Jeff didn’t need to use the word “enemy” when he asked; "Who will stay loyal to their tribe and who will form alliances with the enemy?" He could have gone for the more neutral “other tribe”. If these words were recorded in post-production then are we to expect that the loyal players will be more successful?

Indeed, the women sticking together was the key.

-> Since Kourtney left without being backstabbed, one can wonder why include her confessional ("I’m a girl, I know and I’m crazy, we’re all crazy. Women can be warm and accepting and compassionate and then, before you know it...”)
Could it be to prepare us for some big moves by the women? Or is it to warn us that they will be crazy?

Although some women were crazy, they did make the big moves.

-> I took special note of Jeff saying: The single biggest mistake in this game is making decisions early on that nobody will forgive you in the end.”

The ones that were shown making the questionable decisions(Matt arguing, Mike stealing, Troyzan keeping immunity, Chelsea keeping the chicken) didn’t win.

-> By including Kim’s confessional right after Matt’s, it suggests the idea that the men made the “bad choice” when they ended the challenge. We saw how it affected her so will she make someone pay later on?

Did she ever!

E02:
-> Nearly 10 minutes into the episode and practically no sight of the men so, despite the new set-up, it still is possible to see which is the Tribe of Interest!

Indeed, the women were the important tribe.

-> Sabrina in confessional: “We lost the damn challenge and that hurt my soul. We needed a tarp like a fat kid needs cake…We were seconds away from winning. It wasn’t a horrible lost but, at the end of the day, it was a lost. No one remembers second place.”
Interesting! Was that a hint that Sabrina will finish second?

Scary!

->In TC, Kim said she was a good communicator but she didn’t think there was a place for her voice yet.

That voice was heard


-> After listening to the E03 recap, we saw two possibilities for Kat: Either she won’t make it far or she is in for a redemption edit, a Journey to prove herself.

Although her journey ended abruptly, I think that we were shown that Kat redeemed herself: She became a good player, so much that her exit was due to being a challenge and jury threat! And her FTC intervention showed she learned things also, became more mature.

-> Will something happen to Chelsea, forcing her out of the game?

Chelsea had a very nice edit, receiving a lot of care for someone that wouldn’t get a single vote in the end. Maybe they are considering asking her back somewhere down the line.

-> As we wrote back then the E03’s reward challenge, the one with the montage between Kat and Troyzan, was important.

It really pointed to the way Troyzan's game would go: He would try to play the game but the women would beat him in the end. Kat wound up being the one vote he couldn’t get when he tried to boot Christina.

-> E03’s Immunity challenge was edited as representing the first 3 episodes in a nutshell: Under Sabrina’s direction, Salani struggled, falling far behind the men who thrived under the directions of one of their Frat Boys. When it came to the puzzle part, Sabrina was shown following Kim’s directions and the women came from behind for a huge win. The editors really focused on Kim’s voice. Could this challenge also reflect the whole season?

Indeed, it did! Listening to Kim’s voice would lead to both the women’s triumph as a group but their undoing as individuals.



"RE: Posy Mortem"
Posted by PepeLePew13 on 05-19-12 at 03:41 PM
Good post-mortem, michel...

Yeah, the pre-show previews made it clear that this was going to be a female-dominated season, and I felt that the trio of Kim, Kat and Alicia could be the players to watch for the season. They were, in different ways, as Kim dominated while Alicia controlled a different part of the alliance that helped Kim/Sabrina/Chelsea get to the end and Kat was a major character who helped Kim with the numbers until it was time for her to go.

After episode one, it seemed to me that Kim and Sabrina would be 1 and 2, while Kat seemed like a perfect 3rd person -- indeed, in most seasons, Kat probably would have been taken to the end as a goat and some of us spoilers went along with that line of thinking, but Kim surprised some people by taking the two strongest with her instead of the more obvious goats. It was easy to think that way based on past seasons with goats frequently taken to the end. It was unmistakable to me with the heavy-handed editing (as you noted, michel) that it was going to be an all-female F3.

Yeah, I did stray away from Sabrina as a #2 by about episode 8 or 9, because I figured Kim would do what most winners had done - take out the strong players in favour of Alicia and/or Kat. My mistake there...

"RE: Posy Mortem"
Posted by Belle Book on 05-19-12 at 08:24 PM
Yeah, the women sticking together proved to be the key to their ultimate success -- especially since the men fell apart. And the women proved to be the important tribe -- not the men.

As for Sabrina finishing second -- when I checked the earlier thread on the pre-merge activities and antics, I realized her comment did predict her second-place finish accurately!

Kat redeemed herself. And Kim sure destroyed the men -- or maybe Colton began the process of destroying the men and Kim simply finished the job. Either way, she proved to be the force behind the triumph of the women -- and her own triumph at the end!


"RE: Posy Mortem"
Posted by Zeek on 05-19-12 at 11:54 PM
Just wanted to say thanks for your insight into the editing.
This has been my favorite thread for many years and I have enjoyed all who have contributed here.
"RE: Post Mortem"
Posted by michel on 05-20-12 at 01:47 AM
Thanks Zeek and you simply must let us know what you think next time.
"RE: Posy Mortem"
Posted by suzzee on 05-25-12 at 02:15 PM
Hi ya michel, hey you summed up the season edit nicely

Listening to Kim’s voice would lead to both the women’s triumph as a group but their undoing as individuals.

It must have been soothing, everyone seemed to be convinced by whatever she told them. Oh, that's right, bridal shop owner, she's had tons of practice maneuvering women and telling them they look awesome all the while counting the cash they've given her.

same old, same old



A Tribe masterpiece


"RE: Posy Mortem"
Posted by Belle Book on 05-25-12 at 04:39 PM
Kim certainly had plenty of practice in telling people what they wanted to hear. Ask not only the other women but Jay, Michael and even Troyzan.