Australian Survivor – When 3 tribes become 2

It’s a shame the previews told us straight out there’s a tribe shuffle tonight, rather than teasing us, but there you go.
Nick had better hope he doesn’t wind up on the tribe with his old yellow nemeses in it.
Will JLap don gloves again just to stare at Kate’s wound?
No recap from me tonight as it’s 22C here and we’re off to the show later with Master 4.



Facebooktwitterredditmail

68 Comments

  1. Part of me wants to believe that the producers are taking desperate measures, this episode, by shuffling the teams … purely to prevent the blue team from voting themselves into oblivion.

    • Blue’s lack of physical strength (besides Kylie) probably forced the shuffle even if it wasn’t planned until later.

  2. Brooke – “I think we’re gonna play with Matt for a while longer.”

    Good plan, Brooke. Dibs on playing with Lee. Or Conner. Or Sam, I’m not choosy.

    Kat – “I’m not really sure where the alliances stand, right now…”

    OTOH, Kat, sweety? That’s a bad thing.

    • I’m not sure I’d be willing to give up Lee that easily, and I may be tempted to arm-wrestle you for him :).

      Actually, I think he’s got more than one pair of clingy black trunks, because the pair he was wearing today were Jockeys, and I haven’t seen those before (I also own a pair of those, but that’s neither here nor there).

      • Although I gotta tell you, when one of the blue team told JLap that, “We want Lee”, I couldn’t stop myself from shouting at the television, “Who doesn’t?!” Heh. Anyway. Enough hormones from me.

        I liked that the blue tribe immediately got Sam back (and abandoned Conner to his fate on the yellow tribe. No Conner, they love you, really).

        With 18 players left, I suppose the game will continue until there’s 12 castaways left (which will only be another couple of weeks), and then they’ll merge into a single tribe.

          • Matt’s smart, which is a huge thing going for him. But it seems like he completely trusts Flick and Brooke, which would be a *huge* mistake, because they’re far tighter with each other than they are with him. And he knows that.

            If Matt is as smart as he appears, he should damn well already be planning on having a chat with Sam, either today or tomorrow, about making a contingency plan to take out either Flick or Brooke. You know, I really want him to be that smart. Because trusting Flick is a mistake, at this point.

  3. I heard a radio interview today that Nick is apparently considered the series vilain. I’m sorry, for a villain to be a villain on Survivor, they have to at least be good at their job. He’s so identifiable as a villain that he’s already been blind-sided by his own tribe once already.

    But his revenge-fueled rage (against Jenna) was so glorious to watch, I kind of hope he sticks around so we get to see it.

    Nick – “I’m not bitter!”

    Nick, sweety? You just spent five minutes telling the camera that you have a revenge list of your former tribe-mates. That seems kind of bitter.

    And if Jenna has an ounce of common sense, she’s already realised that everyone thinks Nick is a snake, and is trying to turn everybody against him (which wouldn’t be that hard).

    • The $unrise Cash Cow would make a better villlain than Nick.

      Reminded me of Jamie bleating “I’m not crying!” on Big Brother while his tear ducts were gushing like Niagara Falls.

      Oh well, here comes the encore.

    • I’ve actually GOT high school kids. Definitely wouldn’t want Nick teaching them. So your thinking totally chimes with me JayBlossom 🙂

    • Nick is playing a game. I am also not a fan of his PLAY. He is not OUTWITTING any with his PLAY. But he has outlasted a few already. And no I am not Nick or a relative or friend 😁

        • Although it does lend itself to some funny mental pictures, doesn’t it?

          “You took the last chocolate tim-tam? I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU!”
          ” … seriously Nick?”

    • Nick is very entertaining and does a good job as the “narrator”. As a fan of the show he obviously knows what kind of comments will get camera time. Yes, he’s over the top but among a modern day US cast he’d be less noticeable. The producers must be glad to film people like Nick, Kat and Craig who can verbalise their strategy to camera in terms other than “he’s a honest guy/a snake”.

      • Looking forward to the Cesternino and Fishbach podcast. Never heard anything derogatory from them about profession / job / appearance or anything outside the game. As it should be. Just about the play.

        • I’m interested to hear what they say about no tribal council last night as they weren’t happy when Peter quit but no tribal council.

        • I love that they are covering Australian Survivor. They ARE the knowingest Know-It-Alls of all time. And seem like such good blokes.

      • The difference between an honest guy and a snake can be just a couple of beers.

        Note: Like “guy” can now mean male or female.

    • Yeah, I’m not sure I’d like to play the game alongside him, but he’s making for a damned entertaining viewing experience, that’s for sure. Every reality show needs a snake in the grass (who thinks he’s a master player, but he’s actually as transparent as glass), and I think Nick fulfils that niche nicely.

  4. Aye carumba with Nick’s whiny gloat filled argument – this is the guy teaching high school kids how to navigate the world ?

    Yikes

  5. Ah that was a bit of a shite episode over one hour of talking heads and no vote. That’s the problem with starting off with more contestants the normal – you end up with a lot of filler giving them all some air time

    • It was a little boring, in terms of typical Survivor action … but I liked how the episode focused more on the game mechanics (that is, how to make friends quickly and manipulate people stealthily). Mixing the two tribes has given itself to instant scrambling and drama and personality clashes, so I liked that aspect very much.

      But we could’ve at least gotten an update on Kate’s boil.

    • And now I couldn’t help noticing how many times they said 100% and then think of you Bolders. I counted at least 4 100% and a lot of “me and…”.

      • I think Fijane has an annoyance with that 100% blather, too.

        What irks me more is when a deludee spouts that they’ll give it 110%!

        They never do.

        • Because it’s impossible to give 110% when the kitty only holds 100%

          Didn’t Bogan Sam from the Aussie Bachelor respond to her proposal of marriage with a romantic “100%”?

          Hahahaahaha – classic. I suppose at least she didn’t yell out 110% then we would have known she really didn’t mean it.

          I’m bored

        • Yep. I’m not a drinker but I’m almost tempted to down one every time it is said. just to numb the pain. I thought it might ease off over time, but last night was actually worse.

      • Ah Daisy, my shitlist is ever growing.

        I’ll add the 100% to Like and Guys and every other inane thing people do to fill up time while they’re thinking of what to say next.

    • I was worried when they increased to 3 nights a week, they might muck about with the format of episodes. We already have more players, and days as it is, i don’t think they needed to extend it even more with episodes that don’t have tribal council. i would much prefer quality over quantity.

  6. Meanwhile, on the yellow tribe, every single one of Kat’s tribe-mates has said to the camera (and each other) that they’re worried about Kat. We immediately cut to Kat, spilling the beans to Kate about every single little thing that’s happened in the old red team (including Rohan having the idol).

    What I loved was Craig’s immediate reaction to hearing that, immediately grinning like the Cheshire cat. I wasn’t a huge fan of Craig to begin with, but the further we go, the more I’m liking him (purely in terms of sneaky bastardness).

    Also, the note that he found in is napkin … did the production crew throw in a clue to another idol (or the same idol, given that the yellow tribe never did find theirs)? And counted on one of the castaways to just randomly find it? That’s kind of brilliant, I like that. And of course Craig got it, which is even better. Can’t wait until next week.

    • The thing is that Kat had problems at her old tribe because she is weak at challenges and her social game is nonexistent. As soon as her new tribe have been through a challenge Kat is likely to be back she was before.

      • My thoughts too, Alan. When I saw her enthusiasm at the switch I thought she would soon slide down to the bottom of the pile again, for the same reasons she was there on her last tribe. There is something whiny and not endearing about Kat.

      • Kat seems to think that on a tribe of nine, she is now in the power position because everyone knows she will break off from the original tribe.

        I think it is more likely that the other eight will gang up against her.

    • Totally agree Windsong – Craig is a MUCH more competent villain than Nick. Nick is way too obvious & telegraphs his every move five steps in advance. I do dislike Craig, but in a slightly reverential way! Nick I straight out can’t stand because he is a petulant brat who can’t read people and has no self-awareness so he’s playing it all wrong. And whoever said Craig probably stacked on weight before coming on the game is probably dead right and shows there is at least ONE person capable of playing a long game.

      • I’m not sure what the qualifiers are to be a villain on Survivor … but I’m not sure Craig has that yet, since the only thing he’s done at the moment is play an intelligent game (including blind-siding Nick, which – given Nick’s end-goal of REVENGE – may or may not have been a smart move, but will certainly make the rest of the show entertaining to the viewers).

        Craig’s personality turned me off a little, at first, but he’s being smart about the gameplay, and he’s clearly having fun with it, so I like him for that.

  7. I thought Lee and Rohan might have copied the pole balance strategy used by James way back when (Micronesia?). He was super muscular so just carried lightweight Eliza the whole distance on one pole. Surprised yellow put the girl whose foot was stung atop a pole. I think pretty girl alliance will absorb Jenna do they can target Nick and then Matt.

  8. Damn, I was hoping the girls would be split up. Wanted to see how they’d cope.
    How hilarious would it have been if no one else had joined Nick?
    That was a weird way of re-shuffling the tribes. The US have never done it that way.

    • In Rupert’s first season (Pearl Islands?) he spent a lot of time in an improvised frock because he’d lost his clothes. A US series would probably just let Lee go barefoot for the rest of the season but my feeling is this series is a bit more flexible.

      • Didn’t he have terrible chafing because the producers made him wear denim jeans? Poor bloke would have suffered terribly after swimming in them, hence the makeshift skirt. Rupert stole the other team’s shoes that season – should have snaffled a pair for Lee. I’m thinking JLap will throw a pair of spares at Lee because they don’t want to be the people who crippled a retired professional sportsman by making him run barefoot on coral.

  9. Two questions:
    1. Why was Nick so down on Jennah in particular? He seemed to blame her as the instigator of his blindside, but I didn’t see her as anything more than going with the group.
    2. Are they ever going to forage/fish/hunt for their food? They are obviously way too well-fed, they may as well be on Cockatoo Island, instead of Samoa.

    • It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Australian audiences just don’t really take with “Survivor”. I think this has been – so far – not a bad season. But the first one way back on channel 9 was dismal, and the ratings are sinking even on this one (which I think far out-classes the first). I mean, I’m still gonna be watching either way (I’m invested in this now), but it’s still interesting.

      • Fans of the U.S. show seem generally impressed with the production values, if a little frustrated with them casting so many non-strategic people. Watching the chat on Facebook from Aussies who have never seen the U.S. show is fascinating, because they hate the strategisers (they think it’s dishonest) and love the “honest” physical threats like Lee and Kylie. Would Australia like it more if it was just about people winning challenges? I’d like to see what the demographics are on the ratings, to see if enough people are watching in the age group Ten targets to satisfy advertisers.

        • I am old school, Juz. I like the heroes who can survive the jungle, win challenges and demonstate good character. But we know that in the US, that makes you tribal fodder. You just about have to be horrible to win in the US.

        • I did read somewhere, possibly tvtonight, that Survivor did “win the demographics” but not overall. Not sure which demos they were referring to.

          Everywhere I read online, people are loving Survivor and slamming The Block as boring, yet the ratings don’t show it. I can only presume that people who are not active digitally are more likely to be happy with a tired format. Maybe they prefer their competition shows to be bland advertisements.

  10. Why bother having it in the jungle if it’s just about who is sneakiest and who is so awful that everyone wants to save them for the final 3 opponent. But over the years, that’s how the US competitors have discovered you can win. Maybe if they could have two people win immunity each tribal it might make it more in keeping with the Survivor theme.

    • I suppose I would like to see more reward for showing actual survival skills. A person should be given some sort of advantage for their contribution to tribal life. I don’t know how, though.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *