Okay, sorry about the other screw up! UGH! I will not be around during show time to post or comment, so I thought I would post this early. Please post all comments in regard to the episode tonight in this thread, until the show has aired in it's entirety. Thanks so much and no siggies, please.

• Ill be watchin'...,tribephyl, 04:57 PM, 03-16-16
• two minute warning,tribephyl, 07:58 PM, 03-16-16
• Part 1...,tribephyl, 08:06 PM, 03-16-16
• Part 2...,tribephyl, 08:19 PM, 03-16-16
• Part 3...,tribephyl, 08:29 PM, 03-16-16
• Part 4...,tribephyl, 08:39 PM, 03-16-16
• Part 5...,tribephyl, 08:54 PM, 03-16-16
  • RE: Part 5...,Sheldor, 08:58 PM, 03-16-16
• Next time on...,tribephyl, 08:58 PM, 03-16-16
• Wow, incredibly bad luck!,Jims03, 09:29 PM, 03-16-16
  • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,michel2, 10:15 PM, 03-16-16
    • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,PepeLePew13, 10:24 PM, 03-16-16
    • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,Jims03, 10:52 PM, 03-16-16
      • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,SquidProQuo, 11:05 PM, 03-16-16
        • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,michel2, 00:05 AM, 03-17-16
          • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,SquidProQuo, 02:30 AM, 03-17-16
            • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,kingfish, 01:40 PM, 03-17-16
              • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,SquidProQuo, 06:28 PM, 03-17-16
                • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,Bebo, 07:17 PM, 03-17-16
                  • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,kingfish, 08:59 AM, 03-18-16
      • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,michel2, 00:04 AM, 03-17-16
        • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,Jims03, 00:21 AM, 03-17-16
        • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,PepeLePew13, 00:23 AM, 03-17-16
          • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,SquidProQuo, 02:25 AM, 03-17-16
            • RE: Wow, incredibly bad luck!,Sheldor, 12:17 PM, 03-17-16

...and roasting weenies!

the following 42 minutes will be uncomfortable to watch...

recap highlights:
Caleb falls victim to Mother Nature.
Scot, Jason and Cydney did what was right.

The day after @ Chanloh:

Joe has a hurt finger.
Peter feels like a neutered dog. But gives advise/panders to his tribemates.

Peter starts lancing Joes finger. Magic doctor fingers.

Neal is determined to find the idol and keep it out of Peter's hands.

Neal finds clue...
then box...
Then tool plus clue to key...
Then finds key, returns to box and gets idol.

Neal has the third idol.

Then JP gets straight to the swap...

Last look at Brwan tribe, drop buffs.

Aubry looks distressed, Tai looks distressed. Julia and Anna are laughing.

when we left we were about to hear about the new twist to the swap...

Just one twist; 6 blue, 6 yellow, 1 red. Back to Brawn beach alone. You will not participate in next challenge, you will not be allowed to mingle with others. You will join the losing tribe at TC.

Blue/Chanloh: Debbie, Nick, Cydney, Jason, Neal and Michele

Yellow/Gondol: Aubry, Tai, Scot, Anna, Peter and Joe

Red: Julia (all alone)

Scot and Peter have commentary.
Tai explains the camp features.
Aubry doesn't want to trust Peter and siding with him to get out a beauty is logical but she doesn't want to.

@ Chanloh:
Michele is nervous because the trifecta has been split up.

Debbie shows off her pull-up bar.

Cydney and Debbie bond, while holding coconuts.

Debbie wants 2 brawn and 2 brain to get together. Now she's going to Jason and she's "already" talked to Neal.
Debbie is the mastermind behind the scenes.

Day 13 @ Gondol...

Tai is charming everyone.
Joe appreciates him.
Scot loves him.

Tai uses Scot to climb trees.

Scot has a man-crush on Tai.

Anna and Aubry bond.
Anna is very nervous about her future and is now throwing Tai under the bus for seeking out the idol. (Setting herself up?)
Now she's telling Joe about it too.

@ Chanloh...
Nick is verry happy with the new arrangment. He is with Michele and wants to bond with another one of the pairs.
He goes to Jason.
Jason says he'll welcome Nick, to Nick.
Jason admits it's nice to be in control, knowing that both pairs want him and Cydney to align.

uh-oh, @ Totang...

Julia is dehydrated, she's shivering and achy. Suffering from loneliness and dehydration, Julia is having a hard time.
She admits, the longer she's out there the more paranoid she gets.
Mwahahaha...

Challenge time!!!

Michele accidentally walks straight to yellow mat. Jason corrects her, "we're blue". Oh right. oops...

Nick/Jason and Scot/Aubry run out into the water to retrieve the fish. Aubry is a slow swimmer.

Nick is sucking. Scot is doing amazing.
Scot basically doing everything himself. Aubry walking behind.

Joe and Tai working to unlatch the fish from the net.
Michele and Cydney also undoing the fish from the net.

Cydney and Michele leading but Tai and Joe overtake them.

Debbie and Neal at puzzle.
Anna and Peter now at puzzle.

Neal and Debbie are ahead.
Anna and Peter are falling behind.

Neal and Debbie win!

Nu-Gondol going to tribal council!

One of Anna, Tai, Scot, Aubry, Peter or Joe is leaving tonight.

Peter takes the blame for losing the challenge.
Anna thought they were doing well but the other tribe just swooped up from behind and won.
Aubry wants to vote out Tai.
Peter wants to get out Anna.

Joe tries to convince Aubry to vote out Anna.
Tai doesn't like Peter.
Tai admits he has the idol, then shows it to Anna and Scot.

Scot knows that Jason and Tai both have idols.

Scot wants him to save the idol.
Tai does NOT want to go home with an idol in his pocket.

Is it Anna?
Is it Peter?
Will Tai play his idol for a bounce?
Or will he regret this move forever?

Anna and Tai get their torches, finally and light them in the fire.

Aubry... 3 brains are sticking together?
Yes, they are the devils we know, best to stick together.

Tai and Anna both say they feel in great danger.
Tai plays straight forward and is an amazing provider, he hates to be forced into battling against Anna, but he'll talk well about himself.

Aubry says she has a tough decision to make.
Joe thinks there is no idol this season.

Tai says he thinks there is no idol either. (Playing the game well...boy that kid can lie well.)

Peter says he is in a position of power.
The irony of tribal council is that most people don't tell the truth.

Anna goes first.
Tai does NOT play an idol.

Anna is puzzled.

Peter
Anna
Anna
Anna
Anna (that's 4 that's enough.)

CONGRATULATIONS tribephyl!
The only one to get the Anna Vote Off correct!

Strange confessional history though

Anna      Go   | 1 | 3 | . | 1 | . | 5

And so much for the No Intro Confessional boots!

Debbie courts Nick (at a reward.)
Joe investigates Peter.

Anna feels duped by Tai. (call the whaambulance)

LAST EDITED ON 03-16-16 AT 09:30 PM (EST)

We've all seen people in majorities screwed over by swaps. It happens every year. But I think there is a case to be made that Anna got one of the worst runs of luck in Survivor history.

Caleb gets medevac'd, causing a 6/6/1 Tribal Swap.
The 1 person who gets exiled is from her tribe, and is part of her alliance.
Her core alliance of 3 all end up in 3 different places.
The other tribe is physically stronger than hers.
She is with 3 Brains, who each know that keeping the 2 Beauties will cause a 3rd to show up for the next vote.
The only other Beauty on her tribe is Tai, who has an idol.
When working out an idol play, she has to rely on Scot, who is one of the few who knows about Jason's idol.
Idols can be merged, which gives Scot incentive to keep Tai.

She's a poker player, so she's used to variance... But what a ridiculously bad run of cards. Like, her only possible play was to get the Brains to turn on each other. Might be doable, but having Julia waiting to return makes it so much harder to get them to do it. The moment Peter decided in his head he would stick it out with them for awhile longer, her game was basically over.

But not just bad luck. Anna played the swap as poorly as Alexis did in the previous BBB version. Why did she immediately try throwing Tai under the bus? It would have been smart to look for cracks in Brains first. If she had found the division between Peter and the others, she should have gone to Aubry and Joe to try aligning with them and reassuring them that Julia coming back would only benefit them further. The merger will require a big alliance of 6 or 7 so it would have been smart for Aubry, Joe, Anna and Julia to make it together, get rid of Peter and then add Neal, Michelle and Debbie = possible easy ride to Final 7.

If Brains sticks together then use Scot and Tai to break them up but throwing Tai under the bus gave her the "Playing too Hard" label.

LAST EDITED ON 03-16-16 AT 10:26 PM (EST)

Aye, she could have developed a friendship with Tai earlier and then convinced him that playing his idol on either of them was the best play to save them, idol-bounce Peter and then have a Beauty majority once Julia joins the new tribe.

All we saw were the three girls hanging out together and occasionally reaching out to Caleb to see if he'd be a fourth if they went to TC. We never saw any of the girls actively doing anything with Tai the whole time so there was little relationship to fall back upon.

Anna's biggest mistake was assuming that Tai would play his idol as she had to know that it would get out to Tai eventually that he was being thrown under the bus by his own original tribemate.

LAST EDITED ON 03-16-16 AT 11:07 PM (EST)

Nah, Anna was more in a bad position. I think it's easy to look at the situation from the meta view and figure out the one possible scenario with perfect information that could've gotten her out of that situation. But that's ultimately fan fiction. I think you're very strongly overestimating Anna's value from the point of view of the rest of them.

I have a strong suspicion that Aubry and Joe are going to regret this vote. That being said, being able to see that problem in advance is a hard narrative for Anna to spin. If they boot Peter, they basically risk letting the 3 Beauties re-form again. That tribe had never gone to Tribal Council, there isn't any evidence they've really splintered in a significant way. They would just have Tai's word for it. Letting Julia link up with Anna next week basically means the next vote is controlled by Scot and Tai, two wildcards they don't actually know anything about yet. Or, if the plan is to get Scot out next and use the Beauties, they're basically risking their entire game on Tai/Julia/Anna not being a thing. If they are, they have no leverage in the next vote. Without perfect information, the next vote is a gamble either way for them.

If Anna's going to convince Aubry and Joe, it is all about constructing a narrative. And the narrative that taking out one of their own, who is maybe with them, in order to let the 3 Beauties arrive... Is a tougher one to sell than locking down Scot and Peter, who have already made it clear how dangerous the Beauties are. Anna is the "easy" play, and that's always going to be attractive to people playing from the top. I personally think they made a mistake, but I can see how they would fall into that knowledge trap.

If the alliance were Aubry/Peter and you would be pitching this idea to Peter (or if Debbie were there), I think it's more doable. It's just a much much much harder sell to players like Aubry and Joe.

Trying to pitch a counter-alliance against the Aubry/Joe would also be hard because if they could do it this week with Anna, there's very little stopping them from doing it next week with Julia. Anna is an extra number no one really needs. Especially for Peter who is trying to maneuver himself into the middle of an alliance.

No, throwing Tai under the bus is the "Taking the Obvious Answer" label, not the "Playing too Hard" label. Any brain-dead contestant would be able to see a simple 3/2/1 split and see where the votes might go to. Running to the 3 is the obvious answer that takes no absolutely no thought.

Agreed, the Beauty girls got screwed by bad luck. Kudos to Scott for playing his position well.

Peter is still arrogant and hasn't learned his lesson.

Gotta love Tai. And I think Julia still has some game. But overall great swap episode / edit for Debbie, Neal, Cydney, and Jason. That's a very interesting foursome who appear to have long-term prospects.

What I found even more interesting is the the editors let us see that Jason and Cydney could go either way. They could choose Nick and Michelle.

Agreed. Very interesting how all the Brawns fared well, when they were down in the numbers.

Jason's cool-down this episode seems to bode well for him. He wasn't as OTT or negative now that Alecia is gone.

And Scott came across surprisingly well tonight. Plus he was the one who thought of the super power idol potential.

LAST EDITED ON 03-17-16 AT 01:43 PM (EST)

How does Scot knowing that Tai and Jason each have HIs help him, other than being aware of how he might try and direct a vote to force out one of them? He seemed to think that the super power of having two HIs would help him even though he himself didn't have either one, and he seemed to think that having exclusive possession of that knowledge gave him an edge.

Is he thinking that somehow they will give him the HIs so that he can have the superpower? Does he think he has the kind of ability or gift of gab sufficient to get both of them to hand over their HIs?

Both Tai and Jason are aware of the extra potential of 2 HIs.

Unless I'm missing something there (as often happens), his possession of the knowledge that Tai and Jason have HIs, or of the extra strength of 2 HIs aren't really anything that helps him. So that seems like a particularly moronic observation, and not something that helps him in the game unless forcing out a HI becomes a vital move.

.

If it helps his alliance at the merge vote, when he could possibly regroup with Cydney and Jason, that could save him since he must know that he'll be a huge target at the merge. Or something along those lines.

But agree with you that he doesn't own either of those HIs so it's an influence / indirect power. And it obviously could backfire.

LAST EDITED ON 03-17-16 AT 07:18 PM (EST)

And it obviously could backfire.

Tai's HI is the one I'm worried would backfire. During this episode, I felt like we were getting hit over the head with the idea of Tai going home with an idol in his pocket.

Bebo!

I'm not denying that she faced bad luck but working with your former tribe mate usually works better than throwing them under the bus. Besides Alexis, you can also look at Micronesia: Joel threw Chet under the bus and what did that get him? In China, Aaron threw James under the bus while James played it much more relaxed. Who went home first?

On the other hand, Malcolm and Denise stayed together at the merge and look how far they went.

LAST EDITED ON 03-17-16 AT 00:22 AM (EST)

Yeah, definitely agree with you there.

I think it was one of those situations where Anna was presented with a lot of bad scenarios, and she just picked what seemed like the easier narrative to sell to people. It was a weird situation where both the Brains and the Beauties had the option to kiss and make up, and only the Brains ended up doing it. It would've been interesting to see what would've happened if both Anna/Tai and Aubry/Joe/Peter stayed strong, and who would break first. I kinda suspect it would still go the wrong way for Anna numbers-wise (Peter is a huge problem for her), but it would've been a more interesting scramble.

Should be interesting to see what happens to Michelle and Nick if the Beauty numbers start dwindling. Just getting past this one vote and the Julia thing gives them both way more leverage to make deals now (either individually or as a pair).

>Joel threw Chet under the bus

... and over the obstacles and under the logs and through pretty much everything else...

LOL great flashback, Pepe!

The Funny 115 - version 2.0
#61. I hit my head. I don't care. I know.
http://funny115.com/v2/61.htm