Episode Eight

“Sleeping with the Enemy”

Greetings to all my fellow spoilers and Survivor junkies. It seems to me that we have precious little solid spoiling evidence to go on this week. Most of the threads tend to be quite speculative. Even the vidcaps offer few really good clues. That being said, there are still quite a few interesting threads, so let’s get on with the State of the Spoiling!

SeeBS Misdirection for Episode 8

A good discussion is found in J Slice’s thread which quotes:

ON THE NEXT SURVIVOR
Matthew fixates on sharpening the machetes and creeps out his tribemates.

As Heidi and Jenna bathe each other, Rob voices his concern that they are using their sexuality to manipulate their fellow Survivors.

One Survivor embarks on a highly strategic relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

The general feelings expressed by the posters on this thread is that the first two parts are probably red herrings and that the last part probably refers to Dave, although it could possibly be Deena. Dawg, Brownroach, and VerucaSalt revisit the last comment with further discussion on who this might involve…Dave/Hiedi, Dave/Christy, Butch/Christy, or ???

Bungler provided vidcaps of the first Episode 8 previews with his usual speed. However, other than confirming that Matt goes machete mad and that Dave and Heidi get cozy, little was revealed.

Reward Challenge

We finally got some Reward Challenge vidcaps to look at when VanQ1 brought them over from SurvivorFever in this thread. The reward challenge appears to be some sort of tug-of-war or pulling challenge. The survivors are seen wearing a belt-like harness and straining against some heavy ropes. There is a possibility that they may be working in teams of two or perhaps three, but we have no clear evidence. If they work in teams of two, then with 9 players, one may be left dangling behind when the survivors are told to pair up (just like when a similar challenge occurred in Thailand). Butch is shown with mouth agape, hinting that he is left out, but this could easily have been part of the IC or even taken in camp since his clothing does not seem to be appropriate for a water challenge.

The reward challenge appears to be taking place in a large mud-pit, although Heidi seems to be standing on dry land. Deena and Alex are clearly seen struggling in the muddy water, but whether they are being dragged through it, or whether they are dragging someone/something has yet to be determined. Likewise, no one has yet came up with a good explanation for the “wall” with “feathers” that can be seen behind Jenna and Matt. You are encouraged to take a look and give us your best guess. Two other vidcaps in this series appear to be a different challenge, probably the Immunity Challenge (see below).

Immunity Challenge commingled with Final Four Discussions

Thaibeach started a thread here that discussed how Deena’s braggadocio in her confessionals in Episode 7 could be foreshadowing of a boot…i.e. “strategies revealed do not succeed”. Before the thread was over, Rob got caught in the same web of discussion. Many posters enjoy the antics of these two, but fear their demise due to heavy focus and foreshadowing. Some posters speculate that Deena in particular might be a boot candidate this episode based on her editing, comments, and threat potential.

This conversation was continued on a slightly different tangent in SurvivinDawg’s thread on MB’s Theme of Irony. Several scenarios depicting opportunities for irony were noted, including Deena’s “Alpha Female” claim, Rob “expert on Survivor” vs Matt “knows nothing about Survivor”, and poor isolated Christy learning to “Believe in Yourself” at the expense of those who taught her.

Snoocharoo, Bebo, and others tried to make sense out of the Joint Confessionals which appeared for the first time in the history of Survivor during Episode 7. Some of the posters thought it was typical MB trickery to hopefully convince us of rock-solid alliances or something. Others used the thread to spin more ideas of backstabbing, hidden alliances, secret strategies, etc. Several posters suspect that Dave may be the next target, followed by some combination of Deena, Rob, and Heidi, with a final four of Butch, Christy, Jenna, and Matt.

I found it interesting that a goodly portion of this week’s spoiling resulted from analysis of the potential boot order and who would make the final four. Lacking any really good vidcap evidence, most posters attempted to back into the Episode 8 bootee by working the final four theories and various alliances.

PepeLePew13 started a thread here to further discuss ChillOne’s final four. In the posting on this thread, speculation ran rampant on how the final four would play out, with almost everyone mentioned in one post or another. Only Jenna seemed to be present in all final four scenarios.

Another similar thread by Markopolo100 speculated on treachery plotted by Heidi and Dave against Deena and Rob while ”sleeping with the enemy”. This thread again brings ChillOne’s final four into play and presents a couple of theories on boot order.

The award for the most intricate thinking and longest posts goes to this thread started by I_AM_HE. Dawg, Brownroach, munson, mavsfan, VerucaSalt, and other heavy thinkers get in on the act, as do two newbies, jcalvin22 and speedstr24, who both vie for the longest post by a newbie. I tried to summarize this thread, but got bogged down. Once again, there are many theories regarding the Episode 8 Bootee and the pecking order down to the final four, and although Dave seemed to be the favorite to get the next boot, Alex and Deena were being closely scrutinized. Heidi and Rob also play prominent roles in the multiple theories. There is some really good stuff here, but best you read it for yourself!

I will urge the same scrutiny for this thread started by newcomer barrymore who asks how Jenna makes it to the final four with Matt, Butch, and Christy. Many are the explanations and theories espoused by the cognoscenti of the SB Community. Again, there is some really great thinking going on here…you just need to sort through it for yourself.

The closest thing we have to IC vidcap evidence is probably in a couple of vidcaps located in this thread by VanQ1. It appears that survivors will have to break some clay heads, probably those assigned to their competitors, in order to win immunity, much like they did in Australia when Colby won immunity by breaking the clay targets. Again, we have no real confirmation of this, it is strictly speculation. Dabo initiated a thread to speculate on possible targeting preferences of each survivor. Dabo’s analysis seems to indicate that many players will target Dave first and it will be very difficult for him to win Immunity. However, the SeeBS Opinion Poll offers Deena, Rob, and Dave as possible tribal leaders…which Dawg, Dabo, and others feel might be misdirection and could mean Dave is safe this week per the hollow theory.

Christy and Deena also appear prominently in the Popularity Poll thread by SurvivinDawg. SeeBS features these two women in the poll and Dawg notes that this is often the KOD (Kiss of Death).

Brownroach began an interesting discussion thread on how Dave and Butch might succumb to another snow job by their male cronies. This line of reasoning led to speculation that Rob and Deena might be in more danger than it might appear since Alex and Matt can say that they decided to go along with booting the annoying Roger when the women targeted him just to make camp more pleasant. It might not even be a snow job…it could be strategy. Alex and Matt could reveal Rob conspiring with Deena and all they would need would be Christy or one of the Big Boobie Alliance to gain a 5-4 control. This would satisfy MB’s lust for irony big time! Once again, very interesting, but for now, speculation.

Adding to the Confusion…

S man opened a thread on ”Assignable Immunity”. Most posters believe transferring immunity is completely absurd and will probably never happen…at least to anyone with common sense. Others doubt that MB and Jiffy would bring it back up and include it in the editing unless someone actually uses it in the Amazon.

A new poster, SurvivorJoel, started a thread on how Christy might be feeling and how she might be doing following the last vote when she received three votes…from guys that she thought were her buddies. Most posters believe that she may have hidden alliances with Deena and/or Butch. She is definitely UTR most of the time, and, since ChillOne places her in the final four, many people are trying to figure out just how that happens. Sign language may be a clue to her true alliance(s), so keep a close eye on her hands…and perhaps Deena’s and Butch’s as well.

Now to sum all this up and get it posted. As you can see, virtually everyone (with the exception of Jenna) has been looked at as a possible bootee and the situation looks like a game of musical chairs. Right now, we have only one possible, but risky, way of making the final determination…yes!...it’s the…

Magic 8 Ball

Oh Magic 8 Ball, tell us straight,
Who gets the boot in Council 8?

Hmmm…it says “You might be surprised.” Oh well, darned if I can figure it out. I may have to go out and buy me a dart board!

Good luck to all of you in your deliberations.

"Onward Thru the Fog"

SOTS is provided by SurvivorBlows.com as a service to our readers. The purpose of this post is to consolidate the threads in the Spoiler Forum pertaining to this week's episode. Feel free to reply to this post if you feel that a theory you support was not adequately represented in this message. Please use this thread for unified discussion of all topics as we approach the next episode.