Board 8 > Survivor: Winners at War Topic 2: Kill It With Fire (Tokens)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Big ol' sigh at how this season keeps finding new ways to be terrible.

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Wendell, Adam, Kim

My desired boot on each tribe for tonight

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Wow Adam just got thrown under the fucking bus by the editors lol

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How is Adam STILL IN?! He's TERRIBLE.

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HOPING Wendell goes out, because somehow, Yara wins another challenge when ideally, they would've lost all the way to the merge so it'd just be Sophie/Sarah left by now.

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wtf was that music? >_>

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I am deriving so much joy from Michele being a major character this season so far.

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I seriously just went "well if it's not Wendell at least Michele and Nick are both safe."

Yeah.

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Inviso posted...

wtf was that music? >_>

It was in the trailer for the season.

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Yul cracks me up, but his attitude to the game encapsulates everything I hate about modern Survivor.

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i was actually really liking this season up until this episode

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Well fuck that.

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And you all know Jeff is gonna use this in his new school > old school arguments from now on.

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Ranking so far:

1. Tony

2. Parvati
3. Sandra
4. Ethan

5. Natalie
6. Tyson
7. Michele
8. Sophie
9. Denise

10. Nick
11. Jeremy
12. Sarah
13. Yul
14. Amber
15. Danni
16. Kim
17. Ben

18. Rob
19. Adam
20. Wendell

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This episode was fine. Sandra quitting was the right move for her and it only took like 2 minutes and doesnt waste the whole week by sticking around and making the house vote her out instead. Rob flashback was great, but still would've preferred these as secret scenes. I enjoyed the Tony/Kim/Denise/Jeremy scene as we got into the heads of everyone in that tribe. Adam getting a "hes so wrong" edit is fun, I guess. Love Sophie. Love Jeff poking at Nick at the challenge. I hate how they're trying to say Wendell is cocky (like seriously https://twitter.com/survivorcbs/status/1242972856058707968). Still wish it was Wendell out but the way they're editing him is ridiculous. Wished it wasn't Yul ;(

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Dom, why did you have to play the legacy advantage at 13? If he still has it at 6, he never torpedoes his game to survive and probably gets Kellyn or Chelsea's vote and we don't have to deal with this awful Wendell and Michele storyline. Or even bring Angela to the final 3 and hopefully get her tiebreaker vote. Just having Dom here instead of Wendell would make this season so much better.

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argh. god damn it

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Wendell sucks, I'm glad the edit is tearing him a new one this time. His vote confessional... oof.

Seeing Yul out is kinda sad, he was considerably better here than in Cook Islands. Adam getting buried by the edit is hilarious too, that's the most I've liked him since he was a mess in the Taylor drama during MvGX. Sandra definitely made the right choice and we all know she got paid big bucks to even play, and even if by some miracle she returned, her exit was so damning that she never stood a chance. She has nothing to prove.

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sandra literally had no chance to return, if the challenge is anything like the ones in s38 (which i can only assume it will be)
so no blame for her calling it a day

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I wouldn't say it was impossible. She could've pulled a Kass and come back on a potential puzzle. Nobody would've said Tina would be the second Redemption Island returnee in BvW, and yet she was. Was it likely? No, but there was a chance. But I think it moreso had to do with Sandra's thoughts on EoE. Apparently she went on a huge anti-EoE rant before she left. It's like what she said last season. I vote you out and that's it. She got voted out, so that's it.

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yeah it's not impossible. still very unlikely with 7 other people and with her odds she thought it was not worth the suffering that EoE seems to be

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and from what we saw, EoE and the reentry challenge seem a lot more grueling than RI (of course, again, it's not impossible that part of the format has changed though)

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Yeah, on Redemption Island, they weren't clambering up a mountain for a scoop of rice.

And Yul is the last old school Survivor out. He is the All-Stars Ethan Zohn of Winners at War, the last of his kind before the game goes to hell.

I'm still enjoying the game. Sophie is love, Sarah is life. Tony's fun. Michele's been amazing. But... yeah, now that MY guy is gone... I'm not really... looking forward to who's left? Like, the double elimination last week kind of masked it, and with the big HvV personalities of Rob/Parv/Sandra now gone, ...yeah. This final 11 is rough. Sophie and Denise are great, no doubt, but the rest...

Kim's got a One World edit, as in Kim's got the edit of nearly every other player on her season where she just comes out of nowhere with plot stuff after being in the background the rest of the game.

Adam feels like a really depressing, whiny James Miller.

Jeremy's from my town, but he is such a non-factor it's disappointing. Natalie, who got voted out in the first episode, has had more character development and stronger presence than Jeremy.

Ben's faded into the background after being a weird source of chaos the first few episodes.

The less said about Wendell, the better. Wow.

...Sarah, Tony, Denise, Sophie, Michele... there's 11 left right? Who the hell am I missing?

It literally took me two minutes since typing that to remember Nick was even in the game.

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Mega Mana posted...

And Yul is the last old school Survivor out. He is the All-Stars Ethan Zohn of Winners at War, the last of his kind before the game goes to hell.

The only way this boot order could have been worse is if the entire pre-merge was flipped backwards (Yul first, Nat last). This is why I have a love/hate feeling towards all-stars seasons. I initially get excited to see my favorites return, they all get voted off immediately, and the C- and D-listers play the back half.

The one redeeming thing is that I've grown to love all the winners of these types of seasons. Boston Rob was a nobody going into All-Stars but became a legend (bending the rule here, I know... he was the runner-up). Parvati was one of the most random picks for FvF/Micronesia but she earned the win and became one of my favorites. I thought Sandra was a weak winner heading into HvV but then distinguished herself by becoming a two-time winner.

Winners at War will probably feel better in retrospect once we know the winner and are presented with the full story of how they won.

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https://i.imgur.com/flJMcSa.png

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Mewtwo59 posted...

Dom, why did you have to play the legacy advantage at 13? If he still has it at 6, he never torpedoes his game to survive and probably gets Kellyn or Chelsea's vote and we don't have to deal with this awful Wendell and Michele storyline. Or even bring Angela to the final 3 and hopefully get her tiebreaker vote. Just having Dom here instead of Wendell would make this season so much better.

They could always have just not cast Wendell. It's not like anybody actually liked that season, and even though he and Michele weren't super public with their relationship, casting had to have known, and to put them both on the same season like that where there was sure to be this kind of uncomfortable drama was really irresponsible on their part.

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Honestly, after this episode, I'm actually turning around to enjoying Wendell. He's the kind of villain we're supposed to hate, which is delightful. I'd much rather have him than Adam's "I'm wrong about everything, but I still get to talk about my thoughts constantly" edit, or the other "I'm playing super hard, therefore I'm important and you should like me" edits we're seeing.

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Underleveled posted...

Mewtwo59 posted...

Dom, why did you have to play the legacy advantage at 13? If he still has it at 6, he never torpedoes his game to survive and probably gets Kellyn or Chelsea's vote and we don't have to deal with this awful Wendell and Michele storyline. Or even bring Angela to the final 3 and hopefully get her tiebreaker vote. Just having Dom here instead of Wendell would make this season so much better.

They could always have just not cast Wendell. It's not like anybody actually liked that season, and even though he and Michele weren't super public with their relationship, casting had to have known, and to put them both on the same season like that where there was sure to be this kind of uncomfortable drama was really irresponsible on their part.

Well yeah, the best thing would be if they cast Fabio instead. But they seemed to insist on having all the winners from Cambodia on, except for the two who didn't logistically work out (Chris U. and Tommy)
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Mewtwo59 posted...

except for the two who didn't logistically work out (Chris U. and Tommy)

Speaking of this, something's been on my mind - has anybody else considered the possibility that these two got crap edits specifically to dissuade people from wishing they had been on this season?

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So this is the first season I've followed since Redemption Island. I'm pleasantly surprised that Survivor is still going but disappointed that gimmicks have become the default and they've stopped going to different locations.

I feel like the tribe swap is the worst one of the twists because it harms strategy and there is no real way to strategize around it. It's just random.

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i dont really have any problem with wendell being cast, and its clear to me that he and michele are working together, even if there is awkwardness surrounding their relationship

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I dont have a problem with the Tribe Swap, I'm more against Tribe Mitosis. It was fine the first few times but it's gone really stale.

And the edit doesnt make me hate wendell, I feel sorry for him and the edit he's getting.

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Also relating to Tribe Mitosis, I feel like I'd still be fine with 3 starting tribes, it was a better way to help identify people and get to know them early on.

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I think I'd want Earl over Fabio, if Earl wanted in/could be convinced

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Earl was considered/heavily-rumored for this season (as has been the case for pretty much every all-star season since his season) but his wife had a premature baby shortly before filming and it's suspected that that's why he wasn't on.

Did we ever get confirmation as to why Todd dropped out?

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I wouldn't be surprised if it's because they loved the champagne idea and they couldn't cast Todd if they were going to do that.
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Oh, they could have given him sparkling cider or something. They have people under 21 on the show and add non-alcoholic options to rewards with alcohol. Jeff even called someone out one time, like, "___, you know you can't drink beer, right?" I think it might have been Will in MvGX.

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I feel like Jenna, Todd, Mike and Fabio were all cut because of potential substance abuse issues, and the stresses of Survivor trigger relapses.

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They'd probably have to give everyone sparkling cider in that case. It's not a good idea to put him around alcohol, even if he isn't drinking it. Plus, I think they said the original plan was to stick an advantage somewhere, so it wouldn't be fair if Todd had a different drink.
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I'm pretty sure Probst said in his interview with Dean at Google that the champagne idea was a last minute decision, so I'm not sure that's why they didn't cast someone like Todd.

It was also supposed to originally have a twist involved but Probst decided to cut it and just celebrate the cast instead, thankfully.

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Inviso posted...

I feel like Jenna, Todd, Mike and Fabio were all cut because of potential substance abuse issues, and the stresses of Survivor trigger relapses.

I'd buy it.

But by all accounts Todd was packed and ready to go and they replaced him with Adam last-second so I wonder why the other three were all hard stops but Todd was a last-second cut.

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I had heard that Mike was cut because of some controversial stuff that he said on Twitter. This is the first I'm hearing of any substance abuse issues.

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Late to the party but re: last night...

Spoilers.

Michelle is clearly still in love with Wendell. Not only did she give him a fire token (um, what?) but she proceeded to not vote him out. She is a puppy in love whereas Nick is just a lost puppy. Man, that guy has no brain. Its clear to me that in order to win these shows you have to either never speak up OR be a leader amongst followers. In this season, since almost everyone is a leader, you need the former.

Furthermore, their justification for voting out Yul was speculation that he was too calculating. Yet, Wendell has voluntarily, proudly, and adamantly vocalized how calculating he is, both during tribal council and throughout camp. How does not voting for him make ANY sense?

Oh, and Sandra is a weak punk. Way to call it quits when the going gets tough. It was pathetic enough she so proudly abstained from all the challenges, but now she one-upped herself by quitting the entire show because shed have to perform some physicality. Truly degenerative.

More on how lost Michelle is, she kept saying during her cameos how badly she wanted to vote out Wendell for revenge. Clearly her brain works, which is more than I can say for Nick, but she was too busy listening to heart. It took some emotional gymnastics but she was able to convince herself of a reason why voting Yul made sense (it didnt). Wendell might as well ask for her remaining fire tokens, or better yet, the $2,000,000 if she wins. Theres a significant chance shed adhere and I am not joking. Shed certainly at least give him a portion of it

The Michelle / Wendell dynamic is icky, but I don't think it's a case of Michelle being lost-- I think they're both playing up the drama surrounding the break-up and it wasn't nearly as bad as they've made it out to be. All four of them pre-gamed together and I think the edit really struggled to explain the outcome in the context of the game... but I suspect Michelle and Wendell are on much friendlier terms than they're letting on, and in returning-player seasons we often see players fall back on the relationships they formed before the game.

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There's a new school pre-game alliance and Yul had no room in it, that's all.

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just popping in to say i'm loving this season

It's sad all these awesome players are going out but eh, that's the thing about reality tv. it can't go the way you want.

Wendell is so villainous right now that he HAS to be getting his come uppance soon. Can't wait!

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I don't know how you can both say that Michele would never vote against Wendell and blame Nick for it. The most Nick could've done was force a tie, which gives him a 50% chance of picking a rock that would send him to the edge. He didn't force a tie for Lyrsa in his first season, and forcing a tie there would've been way more beneficial to him than forcing a tie here. If Michele was adamant on saving Wendell, there was really nothing NIck could do.

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https://i.imgur.com/sYSzeF6.png

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Two things.

First, I'm beginning to wonder if there is only one EoE returnee this season, be it at the merge or endgame. The reason is that with two returnees, we'd still have to have 7 boots in the next 5 episodes, which would just be nuts, especially since we've already had one double boot episode. Also the preview didn't tease a return challenge, and since y'all like to consider that evidence that it isn't happening I guess it's not.

Second, I'd say it's pretty likely that social distancing will still be happening to some degree when the finale airs, so it'll be interesting to see how they handle the reunion.

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