Board 8 > Reality TV Discussion Topic: Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother, etc.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Why didn't they sit out Matthew?

I'm gonna predict Claire goes home tonight.

I'm thinking Josh.

At least Matt and Franny seem in the clear.

God, please let Claire survive here. We don't need Josh.

Josh got done dirty by the edit if he goes here, but I think he does.

Seeing how defeated Claire was during that whole tribal sequence should've clued me in that she was going.

Lame. Claire was my favorite on that tribe.

It's not like Claire was a big favorite of mine but it kinda sucked to watch the least-entertaining (for better or worse) person of the season be saved by the indecision of the second-least-entertaining.

Inviso posted...

Lame. Claire was my favorite on that tribe.

Matt > Franny > Danny > (Claire) > Josh > Heidi

Carolyn > Yam Yam > (Bruce) > Carson > (Helen) > Sarah

Lauren > Jaime > (Maddy) > Kane > Brandon > Matthew

Inviso posted...

I was so happy for a second when Jaime found the idol, only to immediately turn sour when it turned out it was just some Matthew superfan bullshit. It's even worse when Danny was so much more engaging and entertaining in doing the same exact thing a scene prior.

Danny was smart. He planted an idol to bus whoever found it to take any attention off of him. He then used it to force Matt to trust him. All this worked well. He won't take any heat for it because he was clever and subtle.

Matthew was dumb. Jaime already trusted him. And when she realizes she was duped, she can shoot daggers at him on his way out and blow up his game. Nobody will trust him after that. After all, he basically led her there.

Plant your fake idol for an enemy to find. Don't lead an ally there.

Frannie > Danny > (Claire) > Matt > Heidi > Josh

Carolyn > Sarah > Yam-Yam > (Bruce) > Carson > (Helen, because edit)

Jaime > Lauren > (Maddy) > Brandon > Kane > Matthew

Purple is easily my favorite tribe. It's not close. Carson is somebody to root against, as he's interesting for a cocky superfan. Helen should have been higher than #12 but we were deprived of her in the edit. Probably was deliberate, to protect the fandom from themselves.

Orange is lame. Nobody in my top five, four in my bottom six. That tribe is greater than the sum of its parts. You'd think that the episode 1 shitshow would have produced more interesting individuals.

This episode was an episode. Got some nice character scenes and fun stuff but I'm not really excited by this show like I used to be. It's not the show, it's me.

Call me as crazy as her, but my winner pick so far is Carolyn. She's not a slam dunk but I do think her winner's edit is the strongest. She's underestimated by everyone and she gives off this facade of not knowing what's going on, sometimes even to the audience and hell even to herself, but secretly she's the most aware and astute player in the game. Plus she fits the trend of unconventional winners we've had lately.

In fact, I feel like I know where this purple tribe is going. Sarah is pre-merge. Carson is betrayed/blindsided as an early juror. Yam-Yam is a late juror (maybe the pre-finale boot with the "Humane" music) and Carolyn wins.

I also think either Matt or Franny will be the merge boot or second-from-the-merge, blindsided by literally everyone else Brendan/Sierra style.

all i can say about today's nonsense is i hate admitting that anyone else is right

but y'all were very very right

fuck nick wilson, absolute buffoon and loser

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to by "today's nonsense"

https://twitter.com/Brian_Scally/status/1636772021651611650

Underleveled posted...

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to by "today's nonsense"

Nick Wilson, winner of Survivor David vs. Goliath and whiny pissbaby about his edit in Winners at War, is now a state representative in Kentucky, and cast a vote in favor of anti-trans legislation.

Ricard posted a brutal twitter post about Nick's egregious sociopathy that really hit home. These pricks will pretend to be friends to our faces and then vote to strip us of everything behind our backs. Hoping Nick finds a brick through his windows many days in his future.

Naye745 posted...

Hoping Nick finds a brick through his windows many days in his future.

So... Kentucky Brick Wilson? It fits. He's a smarmy jackass.

Man, why did Mike have to throw that FTC?

Oh hell, fuck that

In terms of hiding fake idols...

Carolyn's weird Red X > Danny's goofy fake idol hunt > Matthew being a dick to Jaime.

UGHHHHH.

You're going to align Matthew and Carson? Of ALL people?

No way Josh is dumb enough to not play his idol so hopefully he votes for Sarah.

Underleveled posted...

No way Josh is dumb enough to not play his idol

This post aged poorly

Well, it sucks that we lost our fourth woman in a row...but I also don't give a shit about Sarah.

Inviso posted...

Well, it sucks that we lost our fourth woman in a row...but I also don't give a shit about Sarah.

My thoughts exactly

The amount of amazing irony in Sarah's final words has been the best thing about her on the season.

She left with a really fake idol and that inheritance advantage that nothing came of, right?

If myself as a huge fan can't say for sure what all she had how in the world do casual fans have a chance at remembering all of this.

Cody11533 posted...

that inheritance advantage that nothing came of, right?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/2/AAaSYmAAETj-.jpg

Don't worry, they're definitely throwing that and whatever Matt didn't pull from his bag back into the season.

Sarah got an advantage from shipwheel island in episode 1, darkx. And then she got voted out with it and a fake idol in her pocket.

Yeah I knew about the fake idol of course but I had no idea she had another advantage or what the heck it was.

I'm glad to see Sarah go just so her overpowered advantage doesn't become a factor this season. Though you guys are probably right and they'll just rehide it like they did with Knowledge is Power last season.

I'm really disappointed, honestly. This feels like a fun and interesting cast (especially compared to last season's bullshit), and aside from Carolyn, they're largely getting drowned out by the advantages.

Really late to this topic, haven't watched the latest episode yet tho but I'm liking the season so far

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Last season's cast is lesser than the sum of its parts; they didn't develop interesting chemistry or "pop" as a group, even though there were a handful of individuals who were fantastic.

I thought the final 6 or so worked really well, but it was super bland until then

Naye745 posted...

https://twitter.com/Brian_Scally/status/1636772021651611650

Easily worst winner in the seasons I've watched. Worst part is the season was great too

Inviso posted...

I'm really disappointed, honestly. This feels like a fun and interesting cast (especially compared to last season's bullshit), and aside from Carolyn, they're largely getting drowned out by the advantages.

Funny enough, last night's episode would have been MORE exciting without the swap/idol. The result probably doesn't change. Purple probably still loses and Sarah gets voted out. But she gets cleanly voted out by Carson/Carolyn/Yam-Yam and embarrasses herself with the fake idol and gives the episode a full-circle story.

Carolyn is TV gold and I love her and need her to win

Caught up. It thought it was a fine result and the surprise swap was cool. Would've liked to see the fake idol get played, but it's kinda more dramatic for her to go home and not know it was fake until like 9 months later when this airs.

I'm in the top 50 of the lesu three's draft - doing super super well but just giving a range for anonymity. outside of a couple things being slightly out of order i've been nailing things so far.

i will win this zoom call :o

and *my pregame winner pick* the one and only carolyn. go big or go home

i guess i did my order after ep 1 technically but yeah

@Chaeix have you read my winner pick stuff?

n show me

Post #112, and my feelings on that have only gotten stronger with this past episode.

Finally got around to watching it

The swap was a nifty twist - we needed a deviation from the formulaic nature of the last three seasons, something we hardly got in the 30s - though giving each an idol was over-the-top. This means:
Real, full Idols: Matthew, Carolyn, Danny
Fake idols: Jaime, Sarah, Matt
Temporary idols: Jaime, Carson, Josh

That is NINE and that's just idols! Mix that with the other crap and how the hell does anyone keep track of it?

It sucks to lose Sarah, who is nice to look at and very good at articulating her thoughts. I also think Josh picked her over Yam-Yam out of sexism, but we got virtually no time in the pre-Tribal scramble due to two boring challenges and a bunch of twist/advtanage bloat. This cast is great but they're not being allowed to shine. We're most certainly getting a male winner if it's not Carolyn.

Oh yeah, everyone complaining about way too many idols/advantages are right that it's bad for the game, but wrong that it's bad for the show.

The fact is, pre-merge is a mess in this show, and it will almost never be good or strategic to watch. The best you can get is some enjoyable chaos, and that's what they design it for. Post merge is more strategic and has almost no advantages. Of course, pre-merge stuff greatly affects post-merge strategy, but that's more of a player concern. For viewers it's pretty good to watch.

I would love this style if we had longer episodes where more got explained tbh, I think it's more the short episodes in conjunction with the new format and advantages

I'd much rather get to know these people as opposed to getting to know their advantages. If that makes the early goings slower, that's fine so long as it pays off later. Having advantages overshadowing the players is bad for the show - and it's really boring to watch if you're emotionally detached.

Let's go over several things the show can do to improve things:

1. Make episodes longer. Give us a better balance of strategy and personality, without doing the garbage AU does.
2. Allow contestants more freedom to choose their wardrobe, including a swimsuit and hat if they want one. Giving them outfits they wouldn't ordinarily wear makes them feel more like actors.
3. Fewer advantages. This is ridiculous to keep track of and that makes it hard to follow along.
4. Increase challenge diversity. I'm on my phone during challenges now because they're boring. Even simpler things would be nice. They retire good ones too hastily, without doing easy modifications like no advantage in the auction or a max weight in Shoulder the Load.
5. Have more diverse casts. The recent casts are sated with Millennial influencer types who have "made it" in their chosen walk of life. We don't have many who are struggling or many who might say something that sets others off. We don't have many villains anymore. The end result is we get too many people who are too similar at their point of casting. Thank the Survivor Gods for Carolyn.

Just a few things...

The pre-merge/tribal portion of the game SHOULD be when the players are more intimate, and when we get to see them in that tribal setting, we get to know them as characters. We learn about what makes them tick and that informs the post-merge, as things heat up. But instead, the show is so concerned with bolstering the two portions of each episode that Jeff is involved with: "MAKE THE CHALLENGES BIGGER AND HARDER!" or "EVERY TRIBAL COUNCIL NEEDS TO END WITH A BLINDSIDE!" that we end up with just a series of twists and advantages that take precedence over actual character development.

Seriously, last season SUCKED, but they tried their hardest to develop the cast instead of focusing on advantages. It just happened that 43's cast was dull as dishwasher. This feels like the producers were unhappy with 43 and are determined to make sure it's as chaotic and "exciting" as possible.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Allow contestants more freedom to choose their wardrobe, including a swimsuit and hat if they want one.

Given how many women have spoken publicly about getting severe UTIs from wearing the same underwear the whole game and having to wear it as a bathing suit, I can't believe they STILL won't give them to them.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

I'd much rather get to know these people as opposed to getting to know their advantages. If that makes the early goings slower, that's fine so long as it pays off later.

It doesn't pay off though. There's always lots of stinkers in the cast, especially now that everyone is a gamebot superfan. You can't just hope that personalities and drama will magically come out. You don't get genuine psychos like Coach or Carolyn every season.

With the advantages you guarantee that there's SOME drama to latch onto at least. Can you really say the birdcage was worse for getting to know people than sitting around the fire eating coconuts?

And again, you're talking about premerge with 18 people. Do you really need to to intimately love all 18 people in a season, instead of just the 10 post merge ones? It's greedy and unrealistic. 3-4 strong storylines a season is pretty good.