Board 8 > Survivor Offseason Topic #1: Prelude to the War

(+) Yeah! (+)

I really hope they stop these fast-paced everybody throwing out everyone else's names sequences now that both tribes will have at least tentative plans.

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Of course my three favourite on that tribe are on the outs. So typical.

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Literally letting a woman who's one twice, is savvy, and does nothing in challenges stay in the game. What value does she bring to anyone's individual game?

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Surprise, Poke bitching about Sandra

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I actually have warmed up to Sandra, but logically, she still needs to go. She'd throw you under the bus in a heartbeat to save her own skin, and will always be a liability in challenges.

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that was fun. to see my two pre-season favorites enter into a power alliance together is a treat, regardless of how it goes from here.

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(spoilers: my two preseason favorites aren't parvati and rob. though they've been fun enough too)

also regardless of how people felt about cambodia and voting blocs, they definitely appear to already be a big part of the show this season, just 2 votes in.

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EoE still sucks eggs but otherwise I enjoyed the premier a lot. Everyone got a little screen time over the course of the two hours, it was fun to see someone like Kim kinda have to scramble for the first time, and Yul was great.

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it's funny, given the hate from inviso and other people from this board, i kind of forgot why i loved yul so much the first time after 14 or whatever years. and then he speaks for like 3 seconds tonight, and it all comes flooding back

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I'm gonna have to watch Criminal Minds again. I was super tired and half-conscious through most of it.

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Haaaaaaaaaaa

I really need to start getting into shape because I have been out of breath since Rob Mariano showed off his Amazing Race TWoP-coined 'man-strength' in that challenge. My god, Jeremy in that clutch!! Wow!!! Wow, my body is on fire, lolol.

That was.... really great. I haven't felt this impassioned during a television program in a long time. I don't even know about what really. Everything? Like, don't get me wrong, there have been better premieres and better games being played in other seasons, but it's insane how... ahh. Brain is all over the place. Thoughts as they bounce forward:

• I rewound one moment like ten times over and that was the scene with Parvati and Rob right before Tribal. It's just absolutely insane how magical that was. Like, I don't even know how to describe it. It's before Tribal, and you can see Rob is visibly in game mode, is guarded, is just caught up with this whirlwind going on with his hard game mode voice on and Parvati sits next to him and it's, like... the game left! Parvati just straight up asks this complete armor-piercing question. Like, Rob is ready to strategize with her or talk shop and Parvati's all, "Are they all dumb?" and he pauses on what he's about to say and like his whole aura just changes imperceptibly. He's just loose and chill and like normal, and they just have a normal conversation. Like, Marquesas morning radio loose and there's a pitch in his voice that wasn't there a second ago and they just laugh and it's so freaking amazing and charming and fun. The wavelengths just matched so perfectly, and it was old school charisma magic.
• I mean, it can easily be compared to Sandra/Rob chats on the beach betting a dollar on Coach shimmying up the palm, but honestly, the way Rob's face just changed but didn't change in just a few frames... it was The Second Coming of Fafaru. #11. on the first Funny 115 where in a couple of seconds you can see Boston Rob's entire body shift from happy to miserable, but THIS TIME IN REVERSE!
• And Parvati's confessional was amazing too and I've dearly missed Parvati. "Am I being punked?" God, that minute was just the best thing in Survivor. They're the two biggest threats out there, and they're weirded out because they're so freaking relaxed and they share that absurd feeling together and it's hilarious!
• I don't think or expect the rest of the season to be like that though. That second tribal had a lot of faces change and get serious, realizing the game is truly afoot with Tyson, Kim, and Amber looking shellshocked with how the day played out, and notes about being cutthroat and lots of talk about TWO MILLION DOLLARS. I'm enjoying this a lot now, but I know my guard is going to be up like Rob's going forward because it feels like All-Stars destruction might rear its ugly head in the proceedings. There could be some Lex or Jenna Lewis clashes. Everyone here is a winner, everyone here is super competitive, everyone here is playing to win no matter what, and we don't have the hate sponge of Russell Hantz playing that can be the unquestioned bad guy. It's all up in the air.
• I cannot believe blue team won that challenge. My god, I can't believe Rob got over the barrel after all he did. He carried that team to the beach!
• I'm a terrible person. I love Natalie, but I couldn't help but let out a few chuckles when she got voted out. I'm sure she at some point, probably more than once in the half-decade since, casually joked to her twin sister being first one out, and I'm certain Nadiya is hurting to see her sister Natalie gone from the tribal part of the game already, but there's got to be some part of her that feels something schadenfreude. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe Nadiya is above all that. I know she's proud of Natalie's strength and resolve on EoE though.
• For all the alliances forming and unforming and strategy and everything, my favorite alliance is Yul & Sophie. I love Yul, and I love Sophie, and I love that their the awkward brainy nerd alliance together and Ahh~! I want so much more. I just want a show of these two having conversations. I want Rob C. to interview both and just not talk the entire time after introductions. And we only had like a minute of them forming an alliance. I don't care.
• Speaking of Yul, I love that we instantly got one of his weird but perfect metaphors. "We're like dinosaurs who traveled forward in time" just hit me with all the "That's why elephants can't run up trees" nostalgic warm feelings. Yul is a treasure and I know Cook Islands is a terrible season with a really touchy premise and obvious rigs and some really bad recruits, but we had Penner, we had Ozzy, we had Cao Boi, we had Flicka, and WE HAVE BOTH YUL AND PARVATI AND THEY ARE AMAZING AND STRATEGIC BRIGHT RAYS OF SUNSHINE.
• Like Ethan and Yul are wonderfully adorkable and if they go before the merge, I will be very sad. Ethan's presence in All-Stars was like the final rays of sunshine before dark clouds took over at the merge until the proposal.
• When Sandra noted that in the 36 days they were out there together, Rob said he'd never play against her again, that he wasn't coming back out, and that no one expected Amber out there too. Sandra's visible emotions of betrayal hit and were real. Combine that with Rob charming information out of Ben (maybe the RI players weren't as stupid as we thought and Rob's just that good), and then going right to Danni with it and playing the Robfather role seamlessly... with Rob talking about lies and trust... and Sandra knowing those tricks and pretty damn immune to those charm attempts... and that they know each other well after 36 days together...... there will be blood. And Rob won't know it's coming until he's already dead.

Ugh, I'm gushing over nostalgia, and I don't care. Everyone post-Cook Islands (except Jeremy, Denise, Sophie, and Natalie) can go away because I don't care about you. Even you Tyson. I don't care that you've grown up and are still awesome and have a really good face for emotions.

I'd say my preseason favorites (not to win, just in general) were Yul, Sandra, Jeremy, Denise, and Sophie.

Week #1

1. Boston Rob
2. Parvati
3. Yul
4. Sophie
5. Natalie

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Naye745 posted...

it's funny, given the hate from inviso and other people from this board, i kind of forgot why i loved yul so much the first time after 14 or whatever years. and then he speaks for like 3 seconds tonight, and it all comes flooding back

<3 <3 <3

AWWWW NAYE!!!! DON'T YOU DARE BE SOUR! CLAP FOR YOUR FAMOUS COOK ISLANDS CHAMP, AND FEEEEL THE POWAAAAHHHHH!

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Mega Mana posted...

I'd say my preseason favorites (not to win, just in general) were Yul, Sandra, Jeremy, Denise, and Sophie.

i had kim and ethan in mine instead of jeremy and denise but that's basically #6 and 7 on my list

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Don't think I could've been more pleased with that first boot. Now if only it'd actually been Kim in the second hour...

I'm still flabbergasted because, for some reason (edit magic?) the obvious-elimination powerhouses on both tribes appear to be running the game, lol. Though understanding that that can all change in a heartbeat, of course, but still... good start!

Edit: Survivor twitter is also great tonight, glad I stayed up later to watch it. Randy is still Randy. https://twitter.com/RandyBailey1720/status/1227756988496535553

was watching/listening to the live know-it-alls from last night and enjoying it for the most part (dan lue surprise appearance!)

and then brenchel shows up out of the blue and i immediately shut it off
yikes, what an unfortunate surprise

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im very behind but my preseason winner pick is michele pls

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> I rewound one moment like ten times over and that was the scene with Parvati and Rob right before Tribal. It's just absolutely insane how magical that was. Like, I don't even know how to describe it. It's before Tribal, and you can see Rob is visibly in game mode, is guarded, is just caught up with this whirlwind going on with his hard game mode voice on and Parvati sits next to him and it's, like... the game left! Parvati just straight up asks this complete armor-piercing question. Like, Rob is ready to strategize with her or talk shop and Parvati's all, "Are they all dumb?" and he pauses on what he's about to say and like his whole aura just changes imperceptibly. He's just loose and chill and like normal, and they just have a normal conversation. Like, Marquesas morning radio loose and there's a pitch in his voice that wasn't there a second ago and they just laugh and it's so freaking amazing and charming and fun. The wavelengths just matched so perfectly, and it was old school charisma magic.

I loved this scene too

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Naye745 posted...

was watching/listening to the live know-it-alls from last night and enjoying it for the most part (dan lue surprise appearance!)

Wow, what a coincidence! I decided on a whim to watch the first episode of WWF's Tough Enough earlier this week and also had a Dan Lue surprise appearance!!

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So I dunno if anybody realized this, but in the first two episodes, nobody was eliminated from a CBS reality show for the first time, as Natalie has been eliminated from TAR (twice).

Speaking of which, this season includes four TAR alumni.

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GTM posted...

> I rewound one moment like ten times over and that was the scene with Parvati and Rob right before Tribal. It's just absolutely insane how magical that was. Like, I don't even know how to describe it. It's before Tribal, and you can see Rob is visibly in game mode, is guarded, is just caught up with this whirlwind going on with his hard game mode voice on and Parvati sits next to him and it's, like... the game left! Parvati just straight up asks this complete armor-piercing question. Like, Rob is ready to strategize with her or talk shop and Parvati's all, "Are they all dumb?" and he pauses on what he's about to say and like his whole aura just changes imperceptibly. He's just loose and chill and like normal, and they just have a normal conversation. Like, Marquesas morning radio loose and there's a pitch in his voice that wasn't there a second ago and they just laugh and it's so freaking amazing and charming and fun. The wavelengths just matched so perfectly, and it was old school charisma magic.

I loved this scene too

<3 love this analysis GTM. I miss you the most buddy!
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That was meant to be a quote from mega mana!

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Unless you meant me saying "yup" as analysis

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GTM posted...

Unless you meant me saying "yup" as analysis

I thought it was you but nevertheless you're still my favorite!
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Tag

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Bleh, this season.

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My rankings from the premiere, off the top of my head (by how much I liked them, not by game):

Parvati
Tony
Tyson
Sandra
Natalie
Amber
Ethan
Denise
Kim
Sophie
Rob
Michele
Yul
Danni
Jeremy
Wendell
Adam
Sarah
Nick
Ben

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I'm sorry to hear that Inviso :(

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Inviso posted...

Bleh, this season.

Lol

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I am glad that they actually gave us some emotional background on many of the players. It was very similar to the DvG premiere in that regard. Especially impressive given that they don't do that kind of premiere much anymore, and on a season like this they could have easily gone "They know all these guys, they don't need to hear this from them." So props to them for that. But the pacing of the episodes was a mess and I hope they find a groove soon. These fast-paced scenes of everyone throwing every other name out right before tribal are annoying and an illusion of high-level strategizing, when in actuality it's probably a pretty good representation of what actually goes on out there most seasons. But it's driving further and further away from a cohesive narrative for the season, so if it keeps up it really could tank the season. Honestly, overall, it was a mid tier premiere at best.

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I thought it was a cohesive narrative in the sense that they were trying to push that it was chaotic, complex, and not cohesive.

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One of the top articles in my Google suggested news feed for the past few days has been "Why isn't Ozzy Lusth on 'Survivor 40: Winners at War?'" and now it's "Why isn't Russell Hantz on 'Survivor 40: Winners at War?'"

Yeah, I'm puzzled. Totally baffling omissions. Rupert, Coach, and Amanda too. Geez, where the hell are all these great winners?

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Well, Rupert did win a million dollars from Survivor.

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Now there's one about JT, who is at least a winner.

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where are these articles from

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Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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So, we're just at the beginning of episode 2 and there are already three idols in play? I hate modern Survivor.

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This has really become about Out-idoling and Out-advantaging everyone else.

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This scene, with Tony, is finally a good, character-driven scene.

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Inviso posted...

This scene, with Tony, is finally a good, character-driven scene.

Tony is truly an anomaly among modern Survivor. He's such a game player and yet he's also such a fucking cartoon character.

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i dont even know what danni is doing

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Watching it now

lol he thinks sandras still on his side D:

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yes deniseeeee

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kim yeeeessssss

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(too many idols though)

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lol ladder clause

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17 mins in

my winner pick michele, is she on this season

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iconic purple goddess michele

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MICHELE SIGHTING with jeremy's confession :(

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OMG adam's torch

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Tony is so damn good

He's too pure for this world (of modern-day Survivor)

and the preview for next week... I need a gif of the Tony/Nick/Yul reaction sequence