42 Comments

  1. I feel like the show’s got a nice rhythm going, by this point. Episode starts. David talks about how clever he is. John goes swimming. Casey immediately volunteers to sit out of challenges. Like, there’s a certain pattern to this.

    So essentially, everyone on the Contenders tribe has finally figured out that David is public enemy number one. Problem is, they’re on the wrong tribe to do anything about it. So they let Shaun know about the fake idol. Interesting point, I’d forgotten that Shaun would’ve had a genuine immunity idol in his hand (the one he gave to Dave), so he knew what an idol is *supposed* to look like. It’s just a pity it took him this long to realise he’d been screwed.

    I think it was smart play, telling Daisy what had happened after the reward challenge, but what Daisy does now is anybody’s guess. Plus, I feel like the edit is leading us towards the Contenders finally going to tribal.

    Naturally-falling rain doesn’t show up easily on film, so it must have been absolutely bucketing down, during the reward challenge (props to John for eventually getting his bad-ass on. But damn, Shaun didn’t even break a sweat accounting for David), for the cameras to pick it up so clearly. Poor buggers. Even JLap was getting soaked. Although he looked distractingly good in that t-shirt. At least half of them got something to eat.

    • Well there was all the time in the beginning when we didn’t see much of the Contenders and yet clearly stuff was happening. Daisy and Sam, Matt and Hannah, what other rivalries have we not been privy to?

          • Like Brussell just said, we haven’t had the opportunity, because the contenders have rarely had to go to Tribal.

            Having said that, I imagine Matt terrifies everybody, so they don’t even mention his name.

    • That is totally the problem when one tribe doesn’t go to tribal – we have absolutely NO IDEA of the dynamics.
      I had no clue why Daisy had it in for Same and now why Matt hates Hannah.
      I would have been down on Sit-every-challenge-out-Casey, but there you go. . .

  2. “Both boys are punishing their logs” and all I could think was “What’s Windsong going to make of that?”

  3. Why do I have the feeling that the producers are playing us?
    I reckon the eliminated contestant is “none of the above“.
    Another woman? Someone who doesn’t fancy David? Blonde?
    That narrows it down.

  4. Yeah there’s a great idea put all the big strong boys in one tribe – the contenders won’t have a hope in hell.

  5. Oh, that tribal. Oooh ho ho, that tribal.

    Firstly, I was so hoping to see Harry get targeted, play the idol, and watch everybody’s faces as the shit hits in the fan. And, with everything he revealed, I think it would’ve worked. It’s Survivor lore. Anyone who gets too mouthy at tribal council goes home, and he did everything sort of admitting to running over their pets with his car. Absolutely, I see his name on all the votes … which is when he pulls out the idol and ousts Janine. It was a good plan. Damn the producers.

    I gotta say, though. I loved Dirty Harry. I want more of him.

    Having said that … I like this twist, as well. They’ve done this before, so we should’ve expected it, at least once. They had no time to talk about it or strategise, and from the interview segments that aired, it seemed like they grabbed Shaun purely to see where the Shaun/David vibe goes. Hell, I’m interested in seeing that. Shaun’s the one guy who’s going to trump any loyalty that anybody (particularly Daisy) has with David. And Shaun is someone that knows Dave is full of crap, and David won’t be able to boss him around.

    So, while I’m annoyed that the Harry/Janine storyline got yanked sideways sharply, I’m very much intrigued to see where the Shaun/Dave narrative goes.

    Plus, now that I’m thinking about it, the teams with Shaun do tend to avoid tribal council (this was, like, only the second time he’s ever been there). Maybe he is even more of a powerhouse, than we realised, and we’ve actually been underestimating him?

    As an aside, Matt. Holy *crap* man. Shaun leaves the tribe for thirty seconds, and Matt’s like, “Put me up against! I don’t care! I’ll kill him!”

    That man is one intense, and slightly terrifying, individual.

    Gee, I bet it’s gonna be awkward as hell, tomorrow morning, on the contender’s beach.

    • They allegedly do psychological testing before they are picked – Matt’s must’ve been very interesting.

    • He is getting closer and closer to Rolf from Sound of Music. Starts out sweet (-ish), or at least normal and three hours later is chasing the von Trapps through the Abbey like a madman.

      He took the twist so personally – was it losing Shaun himself, losing a minority ally, having the Harry scheme nullified, or just plain not coping with unexpected change? Whichever way, he seems to want to take it out on Shaun – is that significant?

      • Could be. We really haven’t spent much time with the Contenders because they’ve been so good at winning immunity challenges. We learned (well after-the-fact) that Daisy didn’t like Sam and apparently Matt has a real beef with Hannah. I can imagine someone as hyper-competitive as Matt probably doesn’t like Casey (I’d love to hear why Casey always volunteers to sit out of challenges).

        Maybe Matt was rattled by the other alpha male figure that was Shaun, and acted out to prove himself as soon as Shaun was gone?

        Meanwhile, the look on Dave’s face when Shaun joined their team, oh, that was worth it.

  6. I’m behind but had to pop in to say: Who the hell would put onion on a toasted sandwich? What kind of reward is that for people who don’t have access to a toothbrush for 50 days

    • I’m the guy who hates toasted sandwiches. Melted cheese is gluggy and awful, and don’t get me started on what kind of monster wants to melt a tomato. I’m the guy who’d be like, just let me eat my not-cooked sandwiches over here privately, thankyouverymuch.

      • Don’t make me ban you, Windsong! You’ve got me thinking about my fave toastie combos.
        Note to Survivor: those are jaffles not toasties.
        Love Baden’s sick burn when asked to keep a secret: C’mon, I’m not Andy

        • While I love Baden’s sense of humour … the most hilarious part of that was, for all Andy’s bluster about being “terrifyingly smart”? The other castaways have his number, they’ve figured him out, and quite casually, from the sounds of it.

        • I was just about to point that out, Juz – jaffles, not toasted sandwiches. And I don’t put anything but cheese on my toasted sandwich.

          The jaffle irons could be quite useful in camp, though. The can be used to cook quite an assortment of foods, although no oil or butter will mean that everything sticks.

      • Ha ha, I’m the opposite. I love my cheese all melted & gooey or baked till it’s golden brown. Well there was no law that said they had to toast them so you could have had yours plain. So I guess you don’t like pizza then?

        • I can’t have pizza anymore because of my medical issues, but I didn’t mind pizza before, but I did tend to peel off the melted cheese parts of it.

    • Eww, Juz. I don’t watch, but is it true they can’t have toothbrushes for 50 days? That’s disgusting, as well as very poor oral hygiene.

      • Someone like Bear Grylls would use a a small frayed sapling or twig and possibly his own urine for cleaning his teeth.

        I’m not sure if tv celebrities would consent to having their teeth rooted away by being denied dental care for 50 days. Hold the hairbrushes and toilet paper while we’re at it.

  7. I was very worried that Harry’s ploy was working at TC, even down to admitting about his fake child. How did Ross work that out? Was it just that Harry made some non-parent blunders. He did seem to talk a lot about him, so more chance to be inconsistent.

    I still wanted Harry to go, not Janine. At this point, I don’t think she is “leading”, except maybe Abbey who seems moderately gullible. I don’t think they would have changed the vote, though, because they do decide things as a group, and I think a change would have required a group discussion. I think they would have stayed with no-challenge Casey this time, and earmarked Harry for next vote.

    No more one-on-one challenges, please, please please! So tired of them.

    But apart from that I love seeing the Aussie twists in challenges that the US version have been keen to add in. I thought the champs were very smart to have two holding the tower and adjusting until it was completely stable. It was still standing well into the celebration.

    • I dunno. I think the fact that he did this so blatantly should have re-confirmed their plan to talk up taking him out so he plays idol but truly put out Casey.
      I agree with Windsong – much as I was enjoying the tribal and love someone coming to play (Harry), this is a good twist to get Shaun & David on the one tribe.
      I hope Shaun has the nous to throw a challenge or two . . .

  8. I think that the producers will have to “intervene” to send Matt home. He’s becoming seriously unhinged.
    I would imagine there are some quiet conversations going on in the background about how they made a mistake, OH&S, and liability for when it all goes belly up.
    And I predict that it will, unless they fix it soon.

    • Even more concerning, considering he is high school teacher. I hope he can convince his Principal that it was all an act for the game, or he might have problems with his job.

    • I don’t even remember seeing an onscreen back-story, for Matt. And I’ve watched these episodes pretty closely. He used to a professional wrestler or something, didn’t he? I can imagine this habit of hyper-dramatic theatrics is part of the man’s personality.

      But I still wish he’d tone it down.

      • He’s a teacher & does wrestling at night. He did say in one of his interviews before it started that he would take on his ‘wrestler persona’ during the show.

  9. As an aside, John replied personally to something I said on the Survivor FB page, and I told him that he was a freaking legend.

    I looked at his personal FB page, and like Robbie last year, John actually seems like a really decent guy.

  10. Between Harry and Janine, I’d rather watch Harry – I like that he went feral to try and keep in the game. I dont agree with him that some people aren’t playing: if you’re part of a majority then it makes sense to stick to it for a bit and reduce the opposite numbers.
    I thought the twig in the mouth was a bit much and I half expected the camera to pull back and show him stroking a hairless cat, but I really would like Dirty Harry to stay. When you don’t like the hand you have, sometimes the only option is to flip the table.
    Go Harry. But I still hope Luke wins.

  11. I am Lukey-boy all the way – but am hoping David can somehow smoothe over the fake idol thing with The Horse, and maybe smear Janine in the process. Luke needs an offsider, for one, but I also enjoy David in the game. If the Sean swap keeps them out of a few tribals, I will be happy. So sick of seeing them in tribal, and it would be nice to meet the old Contenders before they all leave.

    • I enjoy people who come to play but having said that, I am not really a fan of David. I find his assurance too arrogant and his overwhelming self-confidence unattractive.
      Luke is cleverly allowing the heat to go to David so I think this is good for his long term survival.

  12. Shaun just did a live Q-and-A session on Facebook. The man’s a gem, it was really cool to listen to him. He even answered one of my questions! I asked him whether he was still friends with the other castaways, and he said that yeah, he talks to some of them all the time, and there’s a group-chat where they all talk about the episodes after they air, which I thought was nifty.

    I hate picking favourites, in Survivor, because there’s only a 1 in 20 chance that you’re right (and we haven’t even hit the merge, yet), but I would be very happy to see Shaun go far in this game.

    He couldn’t reveal any spoilers, obviously, but he reckons tonight is a good episode to watch, in terms of his ongoing plot with David.

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