LAST EDITED ON 11-03-01 AT 04:03 AM (EST)

dabo,
>>particularly the bit about voting out the weakest instead of strongest (which is garbage, that's week 6 not week 5;
I think there might be a mix up here (maybe mine!), so, to clarify:
1) we have a preview that says one will get dismissed in Ep 5, and that rules and alliances change, etc.
2) Sue's piece is for the following episode, #6, for which we don't yet have a preview (far as I know). As I think you're saying, #6 is the last team competition so the tribe might want to vote out its biggest individual immunity threat (although this didn't happen on S2 due to the Michael burn).

Sue is saying things have changed and now they will continue to look to the weak players as bootees even in Episode 6. I have suggested that this intimates that team competitions continue into Ep 7, the traditional merge time.

The advantage would be that no alliance can hold the power over the whole merged tribe, only their own team. IMHO the individual challenges start too early in the game and produce predictable dynamics. If they merged first but still had team competitions for a bit, there would be more interaction to mix up original tribal loyalties and allow more interesting alliances to form--particularly if the teams have swapped a player.

I disagree with those who feel Burnett had no reason to anticipate a ratings drop if he didn't freshen the game dynamics. MANY viewers stopped watching S2 after Varner got booted, because they thought it too boring and similar to S1 to watch one tribe pick off another. I absolutely think MB knew it was time for alliances to play out in new patterns in order to keep viewers throughout S3. I believe he made plans to tweak it prior to production and not in direct response to any crises of resources or the Samburu fracture.

I also do not think the twist gets initiated by the players, but by the producers. At this point we have a preview which shows them getting mail with instructions that surprise them, so this part seems definite to me.

To address the popular idea of 3 teams competing--I think that would work for no more than 2 episodes. You can't have a good competition between a 2-person team and a 4-person team (worst case where same team loses twice). Or 4-4-1? Doesn't work.

In any case, Burnett likes head-to-head opposition in team competition, which means two teams in any one challenge. Of course I am ready to be wrong about this, but that's what I think from observing Burnett's patterns.

My question is whether Burnett is ready to try a situation where two teams compete within one tribe and not stay wedded to the idea that only separate tribes can compete in team challenges.
Response anyone?