LAST EDITED ON 09-24-08 AT 09:39 AM (EST)

Welcome to another season of Survivor, the 17th to be exact. Were glad you stopped by the State of the Spoiling thread where we try to one-up EPMB and accurately predict the results of his show before it airs...sometimes we are right, and sometimes we are not. But, we will eternally try!

I would like to use kingfish’s words to explain what SOTS is.

“With SOTS we try and figure out who will be kicked off, who will win the immunity challenge, and who will win the reward challenge. We also try our hand at guessing who will be sent to Exile Island, if the hidden immunity idol will be found, and if so by whom. Might even take a stab at what kind of challenges the EPMB and his junior P in training, JP, devise for the surviving survivors on Survivor.
We use the information freely available and anything we can steal. Including Viccaps (formerly VidCaps) provided from Survivor Fever..., the survivor quotes and clues from CBS..., and just about anything else we can lay our hands, fins, claws and tentacles on...
We use the editing clues from VerucaSalt's thread. She scrutinizes EPMB's Survivor editing. She won't be reading these SOTS because she insulates herself from the opinions and spoilerings of others so that her conclusions are pure and uninfluenced. Yet somehow she and her helpers manage to nail the long term trends each Survivor season.
The collective intelligence in this Spoilers Forum sifts and sorts this data and comes up with opinions as to who's gonna do whut to who, and why, and how. These detectives all work hard, and selflessly share their opinions... These results are definitely a community product. Lurkers contribute by just being there.”

If you’re new to our site, please check out our Community Guidelines that are located here.
They keep Blows running smoothly and remind us that it is nice to be civil!

OK! Let’s get to it:

Survivor: Gabon ~ Earth's Last Eden

The 17th season begins with castaways marooned in Gabon, Africa.

UNCLERICH1 posted on 6-23-08 the Survivor 17 TV airdate.

Check out the current time and weather for Libreville, Gabon.

Corvis posted on 8-27-08 that the date was later changed to September 25, 2008 with a two hour premiere.

PepeLePew13 started a thread for the next location and reminded us that UncleRich1 spoiled the location of Gabon on March 10, 2008.

Map of Africa. Gabon is on the west coast of the continent at the equator.

Gabon:

Since we know when and where it’s time to find out who are the castaways.

To start you on your way here are the contestants divided into their tribes.

Fang Tribe – red

Crystal Cox (29)
Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
Occupation: Former Olympic Athlete
Cox currently lives with her daughter, Destiny, her boyfriend Harry and his son in Durham, North Carolina. Her birth date is March 28, 1979.

Dan Kay (32)
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation: Lawyer
Dan is single and lives in Boston. His birth date is June 30, 1976.

GC Danny Brown (26)
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Occupation: Maintenance Man
Brown lives in Portland, Oregon with his girlfriend, Shannan. He shares his home with his dog Chica, a cat named Scout and five snakes. His birth date is July 13, 1982.

Gillian Larson (61)
Hometown: Temecula, California
Occupation: Retired Nurse
Married 37 years to her husband, Ron, Gillian's birthday is February 24, 1947.

Ken Hoang (22)
Hometown: Westminster, California
Occupation: Professional Gamer
Ken is single and currently resides in Westminster, Calif. His birth date is October 10, 1985.

Matty Whitmore (29)
Hometown: Pacific Palisades, California
Occupation: Personal Trainer
He currently lives with his girlfriend in Pacific Palisades, Calif. His birth date is December 18, 1978.

Michelle Chase (24)
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Music Producer
Chase is single and currently lives in Los Angeles. Her birth date is March 7, 1984.

Randy Bailey (49)
Hometown: Eagle Rock, Missouri
Occupation: Wedding Videographer
Bailey is currently single and lives on a lake in rural southwest Missouri. His birth date is March 31, 1959.

Susie Smith (47)
Hometown: Charles City, Iowa
Occupation: Hairdresser
Smith currently lives in Charles City, Iowa with her husband, Todd, son, Trent, and two dogs. Her birth date is October 24, 1960.

Kota Tribe – yellow

Ace Gordon (27)
Hometown: Naples, Florida
Occupation: Jewelry Sales
Ace is single and currently resides in Naples, Florida. His birth date is September 3, 1980.

Bob Robert Crowley (58)
Hometown: Portland, Maine
Occupation: Physics Teacher
Robert and his wife Peggy reside in Portland, Maine. They have two sons, David and John, one daughter, Page, and a high maintenance cat named William. Robert's birth date is February 25, 1951.

Charlie Herschel (29)
Hometown: New York, New York
Occupation: Lawyer
Charlie is a gay, single man and currently resides in New York City. His birth date is May 12, 1979.

Corinne Kaplan (29)
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Pharmaceutical Sales
Corinne is single and currently resides in Los Angeles. Her birth date is January 17, 1979.

Jacque Berg (25)
Hometown: Santa Barbara, California
Occupation: Medical Sales
Berg is currently single and lives in Santa Barbara, California. Her birth date is September 10, 1982.

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper (29)
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Occupation: Pin-Up Model
She currently lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her dog, "Major P. Pants. Jessica was born on February 22, 1979.

Kelly Czarnecki (22)
Hometown: Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Occupation: Retail Sales
Kelly resides in Buffalo Grove, Ill. and her birth date is April 4, 1986.

Marcus Lehman (28)
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation: Doctor
Lehman's birthday is October 3 1997 He currently lives in Jacksonville, Fla.

Paloma Soto-Castillo (24)
Hometown: Downey, California
Occupation: Student
Soto-Castillo is single. She currently lives in Downey, California with her Shitzu, Sam. Her birth date is August 24, 1984.

UNCLERICH1 posted this thread, Possible contestant-Survivor 17-Gabon and gave us our first Survivor, Crystal Cox, a gold medal winner in the 2004 Olympics. In his next post, Survivor 17-Gabon Cast, my favorite uncle gave us the entire cast.

In the last thread there was a comparison of current and past Survivors. Do you agree? Do you see more?

Bob - Dan Barry
Charlie - Todd
Crystal - Jolanda
Corinne - Stephenie
Dan - Boston Rob
Danny - Dreamz
Gillian - Scout
Jacque - Candice - Stephenie
Jessica - Courtney
Randy - Judd
Paloma – Liliana
Susie - Sandra - Lydia

Estee brought us the division of the tribes in the thread, Jeff wants us to know: the Entertainment Weekly preview.

We also learned:
1. The tribe selection would be a playground pick-'em with the first challenge happening right after.
2. The hidden idol comes from an Exile clue again. The exiled castaway will have a choice between a clue or personal Reward (comfort items). We know at least one person will take the Reward at a bad time.
3. We will see the difference between Good & Evil.
4. The season is mostly romance-free.
5. There will be a wildlife incident.

SpotTheDifference brought over from Sucks Survivor Gabon videos on CNET
It is worth your time.

The Title, S17 EP #1: "Want to See the Elephant Dung?"was brought to us by tribephyl.

The Theme: Good verses Evil in Earth’s Last Eden

Arrival:

Tribe Pick-em: It looks like the two oldest members start the picking. Bob picks for Kota and Gillian picks for Fang.

Here are your tribes:

Kota –Ace ~ Bob ~ Charlie ~ Corrine ~ Jacque ~ Jessica "Sugar" ~ Kelly ~ Marcus ~ Paloma

Fang - Crystal ~ Dan ~ Danny "GC" ~ Gillian ~ Ken ~ Matty ~ Michelle ~ Randy ~ Susie

Exile:

Exile offers a choice this season. Take a personal reward or look for the Immunity Idol.

Flwerpower brings us our own VidCap Thread, "Episode One Vidcap Thread"

Challenges: Reward: The first tribe up the hill wins the reward. The first member of each team wins an Immunity Necklace. They can be seen behind the pots.

Reward: Koto

Immunity: Dalton Ross tells us about the challenge.
6 new tribemates are tied together. They run through a course, through the swamp, over the A-frame, dig under the gate to retrieve puzzle pieces. The last 3 members put the long puzzle together to wins reward. The first member of each tribe will win Immunity.

The Immunity Idol was brought to us by Scarlett O Hara

It’s then seen at camp Kota

This means that Kota tribe members should be safe.
Ace, Bob, Charlie, Corrine, Jacque, Jessica "Sugar", Kelly, Marcus, & Paloma

Our first look at Tribal Council

The Fang Tribe consist of:

Crystal Jeff says: "I think Crystal's big dilemma is going to be, 'What does she say that she does? Who does she say she is?' Because it's obvious she's an athlete. Crystal has a mouth on her. She does not edit. That makes her great at Tribal Council, but a liability in the game."

Do strong, opinionated women do well in this game?

Dan Jeff says: "He's earnest, but he is his own worst enemy. He means well and does not know when to shut up. He's like a cocker spaniel, charming and annoying at the same time."

Danny "GC" Jeff says: "G.C. is a fish out of water. Does he have the fortitude to really do this? Because when I talked to him before the show it seemed like a lot of nervous energy masquerading as confidence. But it was, really, I felt, fear, like 'What am I getting into?' And that's not a good place to be because what you're getting into is a big ol' headache."

Could he be the Journey character for the season?

Gillian Jeff says: "Charm is her strength because she's likable in doses, and that's her liability. Does she know when enough is enough? You can only hear someone say 'I'm from South Africa' so many times before you want to say, 'Why don't you go back to South Africa!"

Will she be the annoying one to be voted off first?

Ken Jeff says "Ken the gamer is one of my favorite people who has been on the show in a long time. He is convinced his gaming expertise is absolutely in line with what it takes to win, that he knows this game backward and forward simply because he's a gamer. But Ken is a true nerd. I think when the show began he weighed less than Courtney did."

Will he fly under the radar?

Matty Jeff says "I think Matty will be one of the favorites this season, someone people will absolutely love. I find him to be one of the most endearing guys we've ever had on the show to the point where it could work against him because he can't hide anything. If he's confused, he says 'I'm confused.' If he's happy, he's smiling. If he's sad, he's crying.

Jeff is usually correct about long lasting contestants.

Michelle Jeff says "Michelle is a wild card for me because I actually thought that Michelle had a good solid energy coming into the game. But she's very small and very young. I think her life experience is the big question mark. What will she do when the going gets tough?"

Is she here long enough to hit a crossroad?

Randy Jeff says "Randy is crotchety and clever. He's the guy who will come to Tribal Council and try to challenge me, which is a huge mistake, because I'm not playing for a million dollars. But I don't think he's as evil as he wants you to think he is."

Is he the “evil character” for the season?

Susie Jeff says "Susie is a mom, and she likes to talk. That's definitely her biggest obstacle to overcome, that she can't shut up. If I went in and played this game and got teamed up with Susie, I would be wary of her hanging in there with me, because she seems to go with the wind and doesn't even seem like she's paying attention at times."

Is she the annoying one that is voted of first?

They vote out the old: Gillian, Randy, Susie

They vote out the loud and obnoxious: Randy, Susie, Gillian

They vote out the sick: ?

I made my decision after reading VerucaSalt’s thread that has become required reading. The Players, The Game, The Editing - Survivor Gabon

I believe Randy will be around for a while but Gillian might be next.

First to have their flame extinguished:

Next week?

A giantball roll challenge that was similar to the Sisyphus challenge in Survivor Africa S3.

The tribes raced with an eight-foot boulder through a natural obstacle course. Tribe members tried to navigate the boulder through obstacles across this difficult terrain. The first tribe to roll their boulder into the winner's circle won.

Keep an eye out for Dabo’s voting thread, SurvivorBlows Tribe, It's Time To Vote located in the Spoilers Forum. Post your vote and let us know who you think will be the first to be voted out.

If you’re on line during Survivor check out the East Coast Update Thread, also in the Spoilers Forum. All talk of the show is kept in this thread.

Bebo will be writing the first Summary for Gabon Earth’s Last Eden.

CTgirl will be posting the next SOTS for the October 2nd show.

You can check out what CBS has to offer here.

TrueDorkTimes says, “We’ll see don’t hold your breath.”

And if you still want more please check out the Survivor Forums we have at RTVW.

The Survivor Fanatic Forum has no spoiling in it. Just postings for those who love the show, the contestants, Jeff, EPMB, or anything Survivor.

Now if you are not happy with the show or a castaway, check out the Survivor Basher Forum. Bash and snark all you want, but remember we’re PG 13. Molaholic’s, Be The Survivor, a roll-playing thread, is found here.

The Survivor Spoilers Forum is exclusively for the discussion of possible Survivor spoilers and their speculation. The SOTS is located here along with VerucaSalt’s, The Players, The Game, The Editing thread, and any video or still shot for the coming week.

The Survivor Game Forum has several games for your enjoyment. Scarlett O Hara’s Office Pool (OP), MJewel’s Luck Of the Draw (LOD), kircon’s Picks To The End (PTTE), tribephyl’s Anti-Vote Game (AVG), dreamerbeliever’s Pick the Booty (PTB), and for all losers tribephyl’s LoserLodge9 (LL9).

Feel free to discuss any of the items above, add to them or take them home with you. Amaze your co-workers, family and friends with your knowledge of:

Survivor: Gabon ~ Earth's Last Eden

Thank you, Sir Tribephyl for the wonderful SOTS Logo. Your work is legend.
Another legend is SurvivorFever. Thanks for all the hard work you do obtaining pictures for us.
Enjoy the show and see you back here next week!

PTTE for Fun!