69 Comments

  1. Tara wants everybody to know that she wants to play her own game and not ride somebody else’s coat-tails or be told what to do by someone else.

    It’s good that she took the time out from riding Locky’s coat-tails, and being told by Locky who to vote for, to tell us this.

  2. Mark’s a tool. Unless I misheard he said “I just want to hammer some of those girls.” I don’t think he would actually physically hammer them but the implication of suppressed violence left me cold.

    • Dr.Phil keeps saying that “words have power y’all”.

      I had Rambo marked for a buffoon from Duntroon.

        • Reading a reality tv contestant isn’t rocket science, but thanks..

          Didn’t he say that on the outside he would “hit on” Sam?

          Mark wanted to serve the revenge piping hot…perhaps another blunder. The claim that he could read people because he was special forces yada yada doesn’t wash much with me when the usual methods of detecting lying might not be that reliable, ie looking left , blinking when lying, avoiding eye contact etc. If it’s tough for psychologists, why should Rambo have it all sewn up?

          Mark was a weapon of self destruction. Boom boom.

    • Although he got his ass handed to him by Locky tonight, twice.

      I’m interested to see who the blue team sends home. It’d be prudent to get rid of the useless ones (and now that they’re getting more focus, it seems like there’s a bit of dead weight on that tribe). But I imagine Luke will try to oust Jacqui.

      Meanwhile, how badass was Odette. I liked her tonight.

      • I didn’t think Luke was trying very hard in the challenge, especially the first round (his effort was pathetic compared to Jarrad).
        I like Odette, she seems to keep her own counsel which is probably not a bad strategy, I think it’s wiser than those whose moves and countermoves are obvious.

  3. Tara was useless in the challenge and is generally not a strong player in challenges surely that counts against her. I thought Jarrad put up a pretty good fight against Mark. I’m assuming the Teals don’t know of Ziggy’s sporting prowess.

  4. I was impressed by Mark tonight, actually. I liked how he took the time to fish Jarrad out of the mud, twice, after beating him.

    Ben also got an interview. Good lord. For a second, I was like, “who the hell are you again?” And although he remains pretty useless in challenges (maybe his hair throws off his balance), he made a couple of very accurate observations regarding Luke and his difficulty with any level of authority.

    I like Luke, and I like him narrating, but I really think the tribes are going to *need* to get rid of him, at some point. He’s too much of a wild card.

    • I noticed that Mark doing that with Jarrad and also noticed that Lachie didn’t offer the same courtesy to Luke. I just can’t get past Mark saying he wanted to hammer the girls (too menacing for me). And for all his talk about his skills at reading people, he didn’t really demonstrate that.
      They definitely will need to nix Luke due to his unpredictability.

        • I suppose Ch 10 thought something like …”Well, Tara’s a bit rough for The Bachelor or Ma$terchef so let’s put her on Survivor”

          • Funny you should say that BDD. I met a casting agent who does a lot of reality shows – like bachie, masterchef, farmer wants a wife, etc – and she said there were people applying for completely the wrong type of shows but are basically such fame-seekers they don’t CARE about being on a particular show. I met her through kid sport (I wasn’t applying, honest!) and she was incredibly focused. I reckon she knew everything about me in 5 minutes and had rejected me for everything except maybe Biggest Loser :). I reckon everyone she meets is a potential opening – she did do the ‘everyone has a story to tell’ line quite well.
            I hope to get a word in on a future occasion to sus out more about the process!

    • Tara: “You’re all puppets” “You’re all sheep”. “So just do as I say”. I think, except for Lochie, the others are smarter than she is.

      Did anyone else notice, going into tribal, Mark said, “Now justice will be served”? Wha? Entitlement.

      • She is annoying AND useless – what a terrible combination. My daughter swears she heard Tara whining and going “stop pushing me” in complete crybaby way during the challenge. I haven’t bothered to rewind and check as I am choosing to believe that she would indeed say that!
        She is absolutely useless at challenges and has no clue (JB, you said it better already!) that she is bringing precious little to the tribe.

  5. Wow, that was an intense tribal council. Even JLap seemed to be enjoying himself tonight.

    I’m not sure they did the right thing (deep-sixing a physical power-house like Mark? I hope that doesn’t cost them in the long-run. Who have they got to replace him? Ben, the kid who can barely walk in a straight line?), but Mark’s vengeance (which is all his target on Jacqui was) forced their hand. He didn’t leave them with much of a choice, in the end.

    Interestingly enough, pretty much everybody went with Henry’s plan to oust Mark (except Jericho, who stuck with Luke’s idea to oust Jacqui).

    I stand by my earlier comment, though. I really think they need to start thinking about getting rid of Luke. He’s too much of a loose cannon. But Ben’s only contribution to the episode (indeed, his only contribution to the entire season so far) was his observation that Luke is likely to screw himself at some point in the future. I wonder if that’s subtle (hahahahah) foreshadowing from channel 10’s editors?

          • Yeah, I heard that too. That seemed to be the plan for both teams. Neither of them was going to risk pitting Locky and Mark directly against each other (although the last time that happened, Locky lost his shirts. Just saying), so they threw non-factor combatants at them for easy points.

  6. Time will tell of was a wise move getting rid of mark, but someone with a strategy based on their heart not head, needs to go.
    I think luke won’t be far behind. Too much of a loose cannon as others have said.

    • Last night I liked Luke. Tonight I found him a pain. Some of that, “I’m going to bring some drama”, sounds a bit too cocky. Last night I didn’t mind his gloating. Tonight I thought he was a dickhead.

      • I’m with you Daisy – sometimes I find his shtick of “knockabout bloke just having fun” kind of endearing. Then I think it is a SHTICK and he’s playing it too hard and at heart he is just a dick. I must firm up a decision soon!

  7. Was I imagining two looks? Look one: Jacqie’s face toward Henry expecting him to save her with the idol. Look two: a look of disgust with pursed lips when he didn’t.

    • I imagine that Henry was just so confident that he didn’t bother playing the idol. I mean, it was pretty one-sided at the end, so he mustn’t have been too worried.

  8. Sam Gash? Oh dear. 😆http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4788000/Survivor-Australia-s-Mark-Sam-rave-romance.html

  9. Mark made note early on that he wasnt going to reveal his special ops training to the tribe – did any of us hear what he told them he did? I thought it was funny Sam was starting to get suspicious of Henrys career but Mark lied about his too.

  10. I don’t think Jackie liked the mother son comment. Good for her.
    I think Jericho is fair but is s but whiny

        • I don’t know for certain because of no encore who made that comment but will just assume it was Mark shooting from the hip, based on his recent crass form.
          He was on Studio Ten this morning. Cruised through the interview and seemed okay, claimed that Survivor relationships are doing better than The Bachelor’s record.

          • The Gash pash cost 500 ,000 cash.

            Not the greatest example of military intelligence at work.

            He chose spoon over platoon, having a miniaturised war head.

          • The mother-son comment was made by Henry himself. That’s why Jacqui was so gobsmacked, because she got a view of how he was viewing their relationship.

  11. I thought we saw some very astute comments from the fringe players. We find out that Ben has a voice, and he was worth listening to. Kent may seem like a bumbling blabbermouth, but last night I got the impression that what he blabbers is quite carefully chosen. I feel like he has chosen a “character” to play. Mark was trying to catch him out lying, and Kent knew exactly that he was doing so. Mark tried so hard to make Kent admit that Henry and Jacqui were in charge, but he very cleverly bumbled that he didn’t see that.

    We also heard a reasonable comment from Odette. The only one that seemed a bit weird was Jericho, who implied that that he would be loyal to Henry, and then voted the opposite. And his peacemaker comments at TC seemed to imply he would vote Mark, but maybe that was his attempt to throw a red herring.

    I agree with Daisy, Luke’s glee was endearing two nights ago, but last night it all went to his head. It was like he was using Henry and Jacqui as his shield, all the while rubbing his hands and believing that he himself is the puppetmaster.

    And the question remains, does Henry consider the idol as belonging to them both, or just his? Can he convince Jacqui that he was so confident of the vote last night to not use it on her behalf?

    • I felt the same thing about the fringe players, as you said, from last night’s episode. It was good to finally hear from them. Ben might be useless at challenges, but his few comments seemed pretty on-the-ball. I was also confused by Jericho’s comments at tribal, because yeah, it felt like he was going to vote Mark, but he didn’t.

      As for Mark, I feel like he was the player that wasn’t. He *should’ve* been a lot better at this than he was. But ultimately, his time as a castaway was pretty lackluster. He rocked *most* of the physical challenges, but his social game was pretty bad, he was nowhere near as good at reading people as he told us, he was used by Sam his whole run, and then he succumbed to petty vengeance as soon as his alliance was weakened.

      I’ll be honest. After the first episode, I thought he’d be a lot better at the game.

  12. I am LOVING Survivor this season. My only problem that two days a week is just not enough!
    Love the comments here too – so much to think about. Voting off a strong player seems odd, but Henry was right that he needs to get the better, stronger version of him off the tribe well before solo challenges came in. However, Mark was clearly totally unable to play the social game, so I think Henry jumped too soon and they could have got rid of some one else.
    I don’t know who though! I suspect Odette will be a dark horse and around for a while – she is good and competent at challenges, but I don’t think she has emerged as a big threat yet which is good for her.
    I probably might have tried to get them to oust Luke – he’s mixed at challenges – can be great but last night not so strong – so you could paint him as inconsistent, and someone too wild and therefore not trustworthy – you might be able to then scoop up Jericho as a number. Or maybe just jettison someone totally useless. I’m looking at you Ben. You may be able to grasp the social game, but I can’t see you getting far.
    All in all I reckon they could have taken the chance of dealing with a sulky and glowering Mark for another week. All they would have to do was cope with Mark sitting along, thinking vengeful thoughts and staring darkly at his enemies as he plans to invade Poland.. . I mean, plans how to go fishing and find coconuts.

    • Now that Ben and Odette actually exist, I kind of don’t want to see them go *just* yet. I’d like to know a little more about either of them before we say goodbye.

      Having said that, I agree with everything else. I’m liking this season so far. People are actually *playing*. It’s good viewing.

    • We need to remember that Kristie last year was useless at challenges most of the competition. And because of it, she was massively underestimated. I see Ben going quite a long way, although his name will be “runner-up” in a lot of scrambling conversations.

  13. Brussel, I think for Henry, Mark had to go because Mark had made it his mission to target him for revenge. Therefore Mark was always going to be a problem.
    I am enjoying Henry. He actually plays well, without letting emotion in the way. So far anyway.

    BTW. Mother nature got her karma wrong. Luke saves Sam. Luke gets stung by a swarm of wasps. He was very brave in most instances. So he can run and swim.

    • I think you’re right Daisy- I guess I was trying to decide whether he could afford to put up with vengeful Mark (my thinking is Mark couldn’t rally opposition to Henry quickly as his social game was rubbish) for another week – or whether Henry jumped at the right time before he lost the opportunity.

      Mostly I think people in Survivor act too late and fail to knock out threats, so I’m really enjoying the pre-emptive strikes and actual moves from the players. I am very much enjoying Henry’s game too at the moment.

  14. Noteto Ken: when someone is fishing for information, “Nobody tells me anything” means you are hiding information. Everone on Survivor is a number, a vote, so everyone is important.

    There are two categories of player; those who love the game (or respect the game as they call it) and those who just want to win. The former are less likely to sulk when they get votes because they know it’s a game of strategy and not personal.

    • One of the reasons Survivor has “survived” for so long is that very few people are genuinely able to consider it as not personal, no matter how much they resolve not to. On the last US version, I actually was disappointed that they had nearly a whole cast of people who didn’t let their humanity get in the way of the game. The ideal is a mix of some who are just game-players, but many who make mistakes because they misread people, or take offence.

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