Board 8 > CBS Reality Topic 3.5: Purge-free through BB24, Survivor SA9, and Challenge USA

(+) Yeah! (+)

Underleveled posted...

JESUS this season is a disaster

This could mean two very different things. One is that it's an awful, unwatchable mess. The other is a beautiful train wreck of Gabonese proportions.

Sounds like the former, though. In part because of dumb twists getting scrapped already.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

This could mean two very different things. One is that it's an awful, unwatchable mess. The other is a beautiful train wreck of Gabonese proportions.

Sounds like the former, though. In part because of dumb twists getting scrapped already.

Basically what went down is, Paloma, the person who had been both the strategic and dramatic driving force of the season so far, and who had already blown up someone else's game probably beyond repair for the absolute pettiest reason, decided to quit for reasons that I'm not unsympathetic to (basically she decided that her mental health was not okay enough to be in the house and playing the game). So consequently, the week 1 twist was cancelled, the eviction was cancelled (effectively wasting Daniel's HoH), she escapes all the drama she started, we loose the only remotely interesting character so far and somebody who could have been a great villain for the season, and Taylor, arguably the nicest person of the season, has an uphill (possibly even futile) battle ahead of her through no fault of her own. But what prompted me to make the post you quoted was that after all this went down, somebody got injured during the live HoH comp (and by the time the episode went off the air still had not stood up on her own).

Geez, that's all nuts. Sucks that we lost the most interesting person, but mental health is always a justifiable reason if it's not just an excuse someone uses when they can't take the slightest shred of abuse. Doesn't sound like that's the case here. From what little I read, it sounds like Paloma was having ethical questions about what she was doing and that she was having anxiety about being watched all the time, which made her unable to sleep at night, which in turn caused her sanity to slip. All of that makes sense to me, and I am not unsympathetic, either.

Underleveled posted...

somebody got injured during the live HoH comp

Merry Christmas

Underleveled posted...

the week 1 twist was cancelled

is this good and/or what was it?

GTM posted...

is this good and/or what was it?

Basically, in addition to the two noms, there were three other people eligible to be evicted who could NOT be saved with the Veto, and rather than a traditional vote, the house would pick one of the HoH's noms and one of the other three to go head to head in a challenge for elimination. Since Paloma was one of the five people eligible to be eliminated, they just called it a day when she quit and counted that as the elimination.

Honestly, I think the whole thing just comes out as a net Zero, which is almost worse than it being a straight up negative because it was a big deal that amounted to literally nothing.

Sounds needlessly convoluted.

When is Grodner going to realize that these twists encourage players to be conservative instead of fostering gameplay? Yes, I get that having twists is an expectation, but you know what else is an expectation of Big Brother every year? Disappointment. I'm pretty sure those two expectations are related.

I love Taylor, and Pooch going now would make him a fairly early-boot villain, so I hope that's what happens.

Watching last night's Survivor SA premiere... (apparently it's on four days a week as a "spectacle" and there may not be Tribals every time... that's weird)

Masu: By far the more interesting tribe. If I were Meryl/Dante, Shane/Marian, and PK/Toni, I'd unite as "power pairs" so nobody gets ideas to split the pairs up. That said, the matching Mindanao tribal tattoos... definitely a reason for the other two pairs to want to split up PK/Toni/Tevin, since I don't think Meryl/Dante are particularly close to Tania or Shane/Marian are close to any of those S5 pre-mergers. And thus The Breakfast Club was formed. This PK/Marian drama is... intriguing. So this was before either of them was on the show? LOVE that. But PK bussing Palesa... are they even aligned with her? (Why is Steffi here if she tore her ACL? Even so, she still can walk on water. She's a badass... and I'm actually enjoying her this time.) Also, WTF happened to Marian's complexion? Some kind of skin disease? I get that she's biracial but that does not look normal.

Yontau: Seamus learned his lesson. He goes from "Every Villain Needs a Minion" to going with the flow. Most of this tribe is pretty whatever to me. Tonia is Tonia. Tevin is trying to shatter conceptions. Meh.

Twist: Outpost is okay. Outpost Idol is EPIC, especially since that person can infiltrate the other tribe's Tribal and be immune.

Today's episode will be in its own post. This is just the premiere.

Survivor SA episode 2....

As a clarification to the above, I mean no disrespect to Marian; I'm just curious and I feel bad for her if there's anything problematic. Apologies if that was not clear. I really like Marian - she was a compelling villain last time and seems to be shaping up to be a hero this time.

Palesa thinking more transpired at the Outpost is oddly incorrect. Nico will confirm the validity at the challenge of the Outpost Idol part, but the next duos won't have supplies to get - there will be something else there. It's probably gonna be like that twist from NZ in that it's different every time. This will make it so each tribe still thinks "Oh, they really got three things, one of which was an advantage for themselves."

Reading votes at a challenge is kind of hilarious, actually. And both tribes voted for someone at Yontau. Seamus got his way. Steffi and Shane trying to disrupt by picking clear first boot Tania makes a lot of sense. Tevin being disruptive to Masu given PK/Toni... yeah.

Yontau: This tribe is so boring compared to Masu, which makes for a fascinating contrast. These pre-mergers are deliberately playing more conservatively to avoid repeating the same mistakes as last time, and they also aren't as ingratiated with each other so there hasn't been as much drama between them. None of them want to go home pre-merge again. And yet some of them have to. Tevin looks to be in charge, which makes him a target, especially because Mindanao tattoos.

Masu: Those symbols on the tree are causing a LOT of drama, and I started to wonder if they were a whole lot of hooey JUST for that sake, because there hasn't been any of that at the other camp. Lots of little nuggets of drama on this tribe. That's a big reason for their challenge disaster, alongside probable overconfidence. They were right to go padlocks, but PK got unlucky with that last one.

The Breakfast Club bussing Chappies makes sense in the situation. Dante is stubborn as fuck and that cost him last time, since he was inflexible. Shane suggesting voting Dante to Meryl was... almost... as stupid as what cost HIM last time. And this is all because they didn't want to chance Tevin giving PK the idol. No vote split talks because nobody trusts each other xD

Tribal: I loved Nico's "You get so wrapped up in 2.0 that you forget about 101" spiel. All because these players are too aggressive. Too paranoid. They need to slow down, because by attempting to overcorrect their prior mistakes, they make different ones. Like Shane and Steffi not telling the tribe that they asked Seamus and Thoriso to vote for Tejan was a mistake. The voting booth looks seriously low-budget, like it's just a tarp with some decor from the woods, a contrast to the good design of the rest of Tribal. And that result was such a mess. Chappies being first out has nothing to do with his play here and everything to do with his play last time; him digging for buried treasure in camp just jogged people's memories of last season. It was too fresh in people's heads. Steffi and Shane are in trouble. Pinty is blowing herself up and will probably be 2nd out again.

so this week the feeds have been pretty good on big brother. right now the players are gaming hard but no one seems particularly good at the game outside of possibly michael. i think the season has potential to be entertaining for sure from here and am cautiously optimistic

This week's broadcast schedule is going to be bizarre due to major stories being covered in primetime in both the US and Canada. Wednesday's episode will air as usual. The eviction episode will air Friday in Canada and Sunday in the US as a back-to-back with Sunday's regularly-scheduled episode. I'm not sure when the actual eviction will take place (my guess is that it will actually happen on Thursday).

I checked. Marian's Twitter bio explains her skin: "I have the coolest skin - It's called Vitiligo." That's that. The show finally explained it, too. She probably gets asked about it a lot, or gets jerks judging her. I'd probably ask out of curiosity since it expands my worldview and express my sympathy as to what she's gone through.

Survivor SA Episode 3...

Yontau is no longer boring, since Pinty is losing her mind and Thoriso told a stupid lie about Tevin having an idol. Like... did she not realize that could blow up in her face if Tevin found out? Which he would 100% of the time on Day 4. They haven't been to Tribal yet. People want allies. Telling Tevin builds trust since he's more level-headed than loose cannon Thoriso. Tevin calling it out in public definitely took that heat off of him. Tania shouldering responsibility is dumb. She should bus Thoriso. And then they saw the symbols finally. Idol's only good for one more Tribal. AND since Masu can't fucking dig correctly, Yontau dominates yet again. The only issue they have is Pinty. Running off to hoard food is a great way to paint a bullseye on your back.

Yontau winning the challenge is since 1) they have better communication, 2) they have something to prove, 3) they have momentum, and 4) Masu is a disaster.

Masu... still a shitshow. Toni trying to take a charge against Marian is stupid, because who's the one with other friends? Toni let Marian overhear her... sloppy play. Marian has nothing to lose by targeting Toni/PK openly after this. And Steffi... is actually likable this time. None of that entitlement from SA7 that she and Nicole just reeked of. The entitlement here is reeking out of Toni - and that's nothing new. Meryl saying "Plead the Fifth" surprised me - that's an Americanism! The edit had me rooting hardcore for Marian to stage her coup. I was so happy when she succeeded - against her ex-boyfriend, no less! Toni's Karening following the vote-off was hilarious. She's not helping herself.

Another episode tomorrow. I hope this season doesn't just blow by, going at this rate. I hope there are more non-elimination two-parters because this is Survivor SA. They can make it work. Tomorrow has Tania going off the rails because of Pinty, and it's going to be glorious.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

I checked. Marian's Twitter bio explains her skin: "I have the coolest skin - It's called Vitiligo." That's that. The show finally explained it, too. She probably gets asked about it a lot, or gets jerks judging her. I'd probably ask out of curiosity since it expands my worldview and express my sympathy as to what she's gone through.

Never heard the term before but I looked it up and I've definitely seen this before.

Can vouch for these guys. The first time I put contacts in it took me over an hour. Of course, it's second nature to me now, but the struggle was real.

Underleveled posted...

Can vouch for these guys. The first time I put contacts in it took me over an hour. Of course, it's second nature to me now, but the struggle was real.

Big Brother had a segment about contacts? Weird.

Catching up on The Challenge from last night, if anyone else here still cares:

• For starters, it's so hard to keep track of partners - who's been paired with who before and who's with who now. And since they're only paired for one challenge, they don't get to develop bonds with one another unless they just click.
• Understanding the Love Island drama is proving difficult, because I never cared to watch that show. Cashay/Cinco or whatever their names were have that drama and that's about all I know. I'm with Dom - he's right that it's a distraction from what one should be focused on.
• Can't disagree with Shan that Tyson and Angela aren't very subtle. It's very hard to hide with 24 people still there. Someone is gonna see you. It's no different than when there are 6 or fewer, because in that case there's no escape route.
• Keeping track of 23 other people is also hard for players, as Tyson's snarky comments about Alyssa's "warm-up" for biking ended up irking her. But Tyson doesn't miss a beat, and knew to immediately be directly snarky to her. He's consistent.
• Shan talking about the "Survivor Winner's Edit" is... a bad sign, in my mind. The Shanthem resurfacing is build-up to her as a character who's lasting a long time... or going home in this episode. Hopefully it's the latter. (Sadly, it wasn't, but at least other people I hate went home)
• Hey, the Wheel of Fortune strategy for this was smart. RSTLNE... and add A in there too. I'd be solving the puzzle. Once you get enough vowels, you start figuring out the consonants. The puzzles are different, but thematic. And then Tasha and James end up finishing last. Good riddance, as I hate them both. Tasha for her entitlement complex in response to Chaos Kass and James (and Will) for being obnoxious cliquey bullies.
• Angela' has the right idea to put up people she doesn't want to be partnered with. Domenick isn't the strongest - he certainly feels out of place here - but he's smart and crafty, and definitely able to do endurance.
• Noticed that the edit was building up for "Survivor Strong" to fall apart in some fashion, with one person leaving. Domenick saying "My body is ready" to go into the fray made it obvious that he was going in... and probably losing. Him insisting on going into the tank was also not a good look, especially once he ignored plugging the drain. That was an intense ending. Cashay won it by ONE second. Kind of expected it since Tasha sounded so defeated. And this is the first time the nominated team won, and it's because they weren't blindsided. Thank goodness.

This show is pretty okay. Too much focus on physical challenges, not enough on the drama. This episode was pretty whatever. Not enough Tyson, Danny, or Cayla. Way too many generic confessionals. Not much interesting happening. Ultra-physical challenges get old after a while and I think I've seen enough on Australian Survivor.

Is the MTV Challenge better in terms of drama? Though I don't know how much this format interests me. It seems like the type of show that quickly gets redundant and episodic, kinda like the Bachelor.

Survivor SA9 episode 4... (guys, you should be watching this!!!!)

Seriously, fuck you, Toni. Acting like a child because you didn't get your way. Acting like Marian doesn't deserve to be here because she's "weak." Toni's showing her true self. I do recall her, PK, and Tevin being dicks to Marthunis in SA6 and since he's on the spectrum that didn't sit right with me either - but Marthunis did not tell people. Big difference. Marian was open about it because people ask questions anyway, so it's best to not hide it. And Toni is showing that she's a terrible person. Meryl seems to agree. Emotional victim-playing as manipulation isn't cool, either.

Dino almost got redacted, but thankfully it's just minor damage to his hands. Nico joking about the damage to his ego was great - Jeff would never. In the challenge, Masu made a mistake ganging up on Felix for too long instead of tiring Thoriso out. Masu still won because one, they were more accurate shooters, two, it was more individualistic, and three, Steffi's as strong as the guys. I also find her more likable than last time, probably because no Nicole but I'm not sure which of them was the bad influence on the other. We'll see if Steffi overreacts to someone saying "MFer" again though.

Masu's reward was hilarious because they were ALL so open about treasure hunting. And yet nobody found anything. I think because Leroux and Handrie WANTED that scene.

Shona's fake idol ploy is genius. Make it when nobody's looking, hide it at Tribal when nobody's expecting, and retrieve it later toward the end of a Tribal so nobody can think. It's brilliant, because Leroux is known for hiding idols at Tribal and people will assume she needed a clue to find it, so if they only have a few minutes to think, they won't go "Wait a minute..." about her grabbing it before they vote (whether it's real or not doesn't matter - people may think "she grabbed it to save it for next time"). Shona hiding that idol in front of Nico at the end was cute. It will come into play later, but since this is Survivor SA, it may just be Shona saying "If I have to retrieve my decoy at Tribal, I will" before being blindsided.

Tania probably shouldn't have shouldered responsibility for Thoriso's rumours last episode. She did no favours to rectify her image. Pinty hoarding food and prime real estate was worse until Tania went off like a time bomb. And then Pinty didn't want to lose that title, so she started calling names instead of just shaking her head. And Tania said it well: "If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be appreciated, shut the fuck up." The Spy-Shacking was great, but her confronting the other ladies went against that STFU strategy and pretty much damned her. Pinty asking Seamus for the idol was stupid. He's 100% playing for himself since he was first out last time and doesn't want to get Franchesqua'd. This tribe went from being boring in the two-night premiere to being dynamite: Pretty much everyone except Killarney and Phil added something (Dino only because of his hands).

big brother feeds last night were so amazing with the leftovers alliance forming and a potential great blindside coming at the veto meeting today

andel posted...

big brother feeds last night were so amazing with the leftovers alliance forming and a potential great blindside coming at the veto meeting today

I saw something about all hell breaking loose and the house being divided. Will have to watch Wednesday's episode and, if it's any good, will get caught up.

Is this season lining up to be like BB15, in that it's a constantly amusing drama-fest where a bunch of assholes are giving each other comeuppances? If so... man, did BBUS need a season like that.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Is this season lining up to be like BB15, in that it's a constantly amusing drama-fest where a bunch of assholes are giving each other comeuppances? If so... man, did BBUS need a season like that.

I haven't seen BB15 so I have no idea what that was like, but so far this is just kind of mildly dislikable people not playing very well. The guy who has been set up to be booted in tonight's episode (which already aired in Canada, I believe... as I said, the broadcasts were thrown off by coverage of the Jan 6 hearings) is basically a diet version of Brent from last year, for example. Even the circumstances surrounding his inevitable boot are similar, albeit not quite as cartoony.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

I saw something about all hell breaking loose and the house being divided. Will have to watch Wednesday's episode and, if it's any good, will get caught up.

Is this season lining up to be like BB15, in that it's a constantly amusing drama-fest where a bunch of assholes are giving each other comeuppances? If so... man, did BBUS need a season like that.

in the last day or so it has lined up more to be like bb6 or bb20 imo with a split house very likely after the next vote. the house has been very fluid so far which is always fun and now it seems to be settling into a two sided affair. none of the players are great at the game but bb6 was like that and easily one of the best seasons ever. it has great potential and there are a lot of interesting people on the feeds with only a couple outright duds

This is why BB editing sucks sometimes. All this drama for a unanimous vote and we don't even know how guys like Turner and Jouseph caught wind of the vote. And we can only assume Pooch knows so it's a fake blindside.

Julie telling pre-jurors about alliances = no battle back.

I'm not sure how I feel about this twist.

I LOVE Nicole's hair

Uh did Nicole not just see a voluntary pawn go home?

Survivor SA Episode 5...

Yeah, Masu definitely has the stronger collection of individuals. This challenge proved that. The reason they lost the first few challenges was because they don't have the teamwork. I knew Pinty was a goner right away, as there's really no reason to keep someone who is drama. I mean... look at how unsurprised Masu was when they saw that Tania had been voted out. They HAD to figure it was going to be one of those two.

Steffi's treasure hunt juxtaposed with the Yontau camp drama was great. And this is a long-term idol. She has certainly grown on me a lot - I didn't like her attitude last time, and I find her to have done some self-reflecting after the holier-than-thou rant against Jacques. She's... oddly one of my favorites? Alongside Shona (who looks great with the pigtail braids + Tevin's baseball hat). Phil also had a coming out party with him targeting Tevin - he was who Pinty wanted too. And then Tevin found an idol too.

Seamus came up with the same thing Shona had already done, which is hilarious. I doubt there will be a real idol hidden at Tribal this season. I think Leroux needs to take a break from that because of how people are meta-ing it. And then we had a FANTASTIC blindside.

This season is great. Why aren't you guys watching it?

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Why aren't you guys watching it?

I've never been particularly interested in the international versions and at this point I barely have time to keep up with the shows I already watch AND do everything else in my life.

Underleveled posted...

I've never been particularly interested in the international versions and at this point I barely have time to keep up with the shows I already watch AND do everything else in my life.

Understandable. I need to catch up on BB24 because it's apparently the best season in a long time but I only have so much time. I doubt I'll be able to catch up. Can always ditch the Challenge if I gotta. It's not like I particularly care that much for what it's offering. In fact, I had to look above at my notes just to make sure that the two people I hate did indeed go home.

Survivor SA9 episode 6...

Not much to say here. Toni is obnoxious. Seamus can't help himself, can he? He felt backed into a corner and, instead of just saying they can get rid of Pinty, he thought BIG MOVEZ. Shona didn't like it. Shona turned on him. And now people will see Shona as loyal to Yontau, and probably won't vote her out. This makes me happy since she's my favorite right now. Quirky, cute, funny, and smart, all at once. Seamus was yet another classic example of playing too far in advance - you plan for a few rounds past the merge and there are still 16 people left, you won't make it there. So much for him having changed as a player - eventually, your spots come out.

Easily the most "bleh" episode of the season so far, and I blame that on having two challenges. It's still a dang good season.

This is why the Festie Bestie twist sucks. Someone can literally sabotage someone else's ability to save themselves.

That was a nice segment between Taylor and Monte.

So like, what the actual fuck did Taylor do to inspire this degree of vitriol from Nicole? Like I know a lot of people dislike her for really stupid reasons but this is something else.

Underleveled posted...

So like, what the actual fuck did Taylor do to inspire this degree of vitriol from Nicole? Like I know a lot of people dislike her for really stupid reasons but this is something else.

Basically, Taylor was singled out week one by Psycho Paloma, and the whole house has just let that infect her ever since then...and it's just easier to hate Taylor and pretend everything she does is evil, to justify their hatred.

This is so horrible...and what makes it worse is how they're largely pinning everything on Nicole/Daniel, when the whole house contributed to this, prior to this week.

Taylor is too fucking sweet for these people.

Like literally fuck them all. Because the ones that are saying she wasn't in the wrong aren't being loud enough (quite literally, they are whispering it)

Yeah I really hate how they're treating Taylor. I'm glad some of the other houseguests are starting to see that these are personal attacks as opposed to game moves.

Ok I'm convinced this season is cursed.

Finally we have a season where the underdogs actually start trying to turn the game around.

BetrayedTangy posted...

Finally we have a season where the underdogs actually start trying to turn the game around.

It's weird because if you look at this group of underdogs, with the sole exception of Brittany, they look like they would be the over dogs in any other season.

It was 7:21 by the time I realized that Big Brother was on and I was like "I'll watch it later." Had to finish what I was doing in Zestiria.

Challenge: I already am getting the sense that Xavier and Shan are being set up for trouble. I like Xavier quite a bit, but fuck Shan.

And, is it just me, or does Alyssa look even prettier than normal tonight?

Shan: "Big Brother people are shady."
Me: "...and you're not?"

Talk about unintended irony, a self-admitted con artist calling somebody else shady for playing a game about deception with less cutthroat gameplay than she did!

Seriously, fuck Shan.

Underleveled posted...

It's weird because if you look at this group of underdogs, with the sole exception of Brittany, they look like they would be the over dogs in any other season.

3/7 of them WERE overdogs, in at least one majority alliance.

Why would you tell Xavier that you want revenge for him backstabbing you? You want to blindside him! Maybe they told him to see if he'd reply with an offer of full trust.

And he didn't backstab either of them before he had to. That's why he won: He didn't make moves for the sake of making them or try to blindside people for fun. Alyssa is very aware of this and is applying the same strategy. She's not as dumb as she seems. I gotta wonder if this was a plan to throw his name out there to see if a chain reaction could occur, and then she would just put in Shannon and Cinco and let someone else get rid of X next time.

We will see shortly.

Gotta say, Alyssa (and Kyland especially) are really dumb for taking out one of their allies this early. Shannon/Cinco would've been easy targets...or hell, target Desi/Leo or Tyson/Cayla.

I am so happy right now. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Fuck Shan.

Sucks for Xavier, but if he's saying "y'all bitches are petty" while he's... being petty about being eliminated... for having backstabbed them before. He does understand that they didn't see an endgame with him because of last time, yes? And he DOES understand that Shan is a Survivor number, and this is a blow to that, yes? Both of them were whining that they didn't get their way.

David and Justine were much more intelligent with how they smashed stuff and that advantage they had on starting the puzzle was huge. If Shan had actually taken her turn to break stuff, she and Xavier would've won. That's on him for insisting.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Challenge: I already am getting the sense that Xavier and Shan are being set up for trouble.

I also said this after only the recap. It honestly feels like the editing of this program is extraordinarily straightforward, and that in turn makes it inherently predictable, and thus boring. As much as I am glad that my least favorite went home, I can't really say I enjoyed the episode in full. And, again, even though two other people I hate (James and Tasha) went home last week, I barely remembered the episode a week later. I think the predictable editing stems from both the game's setup and the number of contestants, and that leads to an ultimately forgettable narrative that's no longer fun if you know what transpires. It doesn't have the nuances of the good Survivor seasons or the sheer amount of footage like Big Brother.

Favorites are still Tyson, Danny, Alyssa, and Angela, but add Azah now as well. Azah's confessionals during the elimination challenge were amazing. The "spicy" comment about Alyssa and Kyland sending X in... and then "X has left the chat" for the Cookout group text. Just great stuff. Desi, of course, is always nice to look at also, and I am liking Derek's honesty about his strengths and weaknesses (I'm willing to bet that Lacina told him what to say for the hockey question).

Blaziken posted...

Gotta say, Alyssa (and Kyland especially) are really dumb for taking out one of their allies this early. Shannon/Cinco would've been easy targets...or hell, target Desi/Leo or Tyson/Cayla.

I don't think it was stupid for Alyssa at all, but it certainly was for Kyland. Alyssa gets revenge and gets rid of a Survivor player in the upcoming war. Kyland... gets rid of a fellow Cookout member that would have been a perfect meat shield for him. The fact that he went along with Alyssa's idea shows that he's not thinking with his head on straight. Alyssa doesn't have that "meat shield" to the same extent given the game structure here, and she feels like she's toward the bottom of the Big Brother group anyway because there were still three Cookout present. Totally valid.

That said, it is a matter of timing, so wanting to get rid of an undesirable partner like Leo or a mega-threat like Tyson when they're not attached to someone else from Big Brother would have been a smarter move at this juncture. And then she could easily bus Xavier to whoever won the next one so they'd have that blood on their hands if he won his way back in.

Just watched the premiere of Snake in the Grass, featuring Yul, Earl, and Malcolm. Anyone else see it? I won't discuss it if nobody else did, but I gotta say the Snake has a huge advantage here, and will probably win 90% of the time given the setup.

I also have a lot of Big Brother to catch up on AFIAK. And a bunch of other things. I need to take a day for me soon where I don't have to deal with anything. And THEN I can get back to doing shit.

Right now, however, I think I need a nap.

>_>

This season of BB isn't as good as a few people in this topic are making it out to be. It has the POTENTIAL to be strategically interesting a la BB18 with no one dominant alliance steamrolling and constantly shifting power/voting blocks, but unfortunately there is literally one unequivocally likable person, and maybe a small handful of others that aren't completely awful.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Survivor SA9 E7...

Shona did NOT look good in choosing red. She also didn't look good saying she was on the bottom of the people on the other side since Dino and Phil were right there to hear every word of it. Would have been safer to go to Masu and figure things out. Marian would've used Diplomatic Immunity to save Steffi, though, and... who would have been cut loose? Toni and Tejan were on the bottom of OG Masu so they were free agents waiting to be picked up. I presume that went into Shona's decision given the cross-tribe reward meal. Not that it ended up mattering.

Honestly, either Tejan or Dante should've lied to the tribe and said "We each got to pick a parchment. One had a clue on it. The other was blank. I drew the blank one, and he didn't share the clue with me." Of course, this would require preparation, so if you could have a blank piece of parchment that looked legit enough, they'd buy it. If not, and you went through your bag and went "Whoops, I could've sworn I put it in there." If you could act it right, they might buy it. (Also, Tejan climbing in that tree was epic.)

Did Steffi tear her ACL? If so... yikes. I don't want her to go. Glad the medics said she can stay in the game. And that they canceled the third round, because of how crazy long the first round went. This is why this challenge was retired in the US - the Mexican Standoff in Survivor: Philippines. It's too easy to have stalemates in this. Which is why you don't do it in the mud, you do it in an ankle-deep pool of water. Easy enough to fix.

And then Shona got fucking MedEvac'd. Just great. I enjoyed the heck out of her and I'm so sad to see her go out like that. Especially with Pinty... sitting on her? Freak thing, not just Pinty being Pinty, which is weird. Her reaction is another thing, of course. But since it ended on a cliffhanger... I'd be shocked if Shona bounced back from that quickly enough to keep playing. You never know with Survivor SA, though. They're unpredictable with their editing tricks. Would they really make it a cliffhanger for an obvious MedEvac, or would they have ended the episode then and there?

Yeah that challenge is stupid and savage. Watching people get injured is one of the worst parts of survivor and then to have not one but TWO potentially serious and game-threatening injuries is just awful. Feel terrible for Shona, she was just having a good time. Fingers crossed she's somehow able to stay in the game.

V curious to see what happens in ep8

Chaeix posted...

Yeah that challenge is stupid and savage. Watching people get injured is one of the worst parts of survivor and then to have not one but TWO potentially serious and game-threatening injuries is just awful. Feel terrible for Shona, she was just having a good time. Fingers crossed she's somehow able to stay in the game.

Yeah, they should make it more like Basketbrawl or Water Slaughter - two challenges where there's physical contact but there's water and sand to prevent any serious injuries. Mud or dry land just does not work. Watching physical challenges like that is only fun if done in a way where people don't get hurt. Sumo at Sea and Kicking and Screaming are both examples of such challenges done right.

I am also glad that I am not the only person here watching this. So I can keep talking!

SA9 Episode 8...

They actually continued the challenge after this? What the hell were they thinking? High chance somebody else would get hurt. They need to fix it before even thinking about running it again. People who are thirsty to win a challenge to better their odds at a life-changing sum of money will do anything, even if it means hurting somebody else. They don't hold back even if they're told to.

Dino finding a long-term idol is nice. Dante has Tejan's idol; Tejan hasn't found Dante's yet, and Dante probably wouldn't know who to play his for if they vote smart.

Everyone was clearly waiting for Nico at camp. Like they were told "wait here" so they could get the shot, but... he still walked up and surprised them. AND THEY WERE TROLLING US XD - Shona's doing okay! I love it. US Survivor makes it too obvious, so they changed a lot. That said, Meryl and Marian are fucking hypocrites, saying "I feel bad writing Dino's name down because he's such a nice guy" yet... they have no problem writing Shona's name down right after she got the biggest scare of her life. I don't follow. At least production gave Yontau the night off.

Masu suddenly shifting alliances is so fascinating. I like this extra airtime, since it gives us things we wouldn't be privy to otherwise. Two-parter episodes do that. US Survivor really needs to make episodes longer on the regular. That 90-minute 2nd episode for S43 is gonna be nice.

And then we get the sheer stupidity of Dante telling Dino and Phil to vote for Shona. Like... hello? Dante has no reason to feel that Dino and Phil will vote for who they tell them because they've yet to go to Tribal together. Do the math, guys. If these guys switch their votes and Dino plays his idol on himself, bye Dante. Your idol is Tejan's. Establish a baseline of trust before splitting a vote. You don't have that. Dino, meanwhile, is smart - he recognized that Palesa was firmly on the bottom, because Steffi's fifth with those pairs (and may get targeted by Dante/Meryl later because Steffi's close to Marian). Since blindsiding Steffi would put an end to The Breakfast Club, and Palesa would be low on connections, she didn't really have a way of making endgame with that group.

Surprised Shona didn't grab her fake idol. And WTF was that about!? WHY did Phil betray Dino and Shona? That was a fucking awful ending. He had no reason to do that. Even after Palesa changed her vote! That just pisses me off. I went from perked up that Shona was okay to being devastated by that ending. Just... yeah, this season has all the feels tbh. That makes it great if there are people I can root for. And now, I don't know if there are enough of them. So I'm just gonna be "Team Trainwreck" and hope the drama spills over again.

On the one hand, I don't want to see the Leftovers steamroll, because Monte/Kyle still suck and are getting way too much credit when they've never really been outside of power. But on the other hand...the Girls Girls group is just so petty and needs to get the fuck over their Taylor hatred. Jesus Christ.

Holy shit, these girls are STILL obsessed with Taylor.

I kinda hate how Nicole feels entitled to having gotten to say goodbye to Ameerah after how she acted last week.