Survivor 25: Phillipines Discussion Thread

[OmahaStar]

Curious. They're down to five people. That usually is what they have for the finale ... in the first hour, two get voted out, they spend 15 minutes reminding themselves how awesome the people who were voted out were, a few minutes with their feast and burning camp, then the last half hour getting grilled by the jury. Then during the reunion, announce the winner.

But this time, they're not. There is another episode next Wednesday, which means getting down to four for the two-hour finale, and Probst has already said they are doing a final 3 as usual, so how are they going to pad out the time in the finale next Sunday?

 

[wissaboo]

I can't wait to see Abby in the reunion.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Curious. They're down to five people. That usually is what they have for the finale ... in the first hour, two get voted out, they spend 15 minutes reminding themselves how awesome the people who were voted out were, a few minutes with their feast and burning camp, then the last half hour getting grilled by the jury. Then during the reunion, announce the winner.

But this time, they're not. There is another episode next Wednesday, which means getting down to four for the two-hour finale, and Probst has already said they are doing a final 3 as usual, so how are they going to pad out the time in the finale next Sunday?

What I would love to be the case is that they spend more time on the reunion portion of the finale, which seems to have 10 minute commercial breaks every 5 minutes. But I don't see that happening.

 

[wissaboo]

all that scheming and then no one but Abi votes for Denise.

I'm still rooting for a Denise or Malcolm win. They have dominated the game.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I assumed all that scheming was in regards to the next tribal council. Too risky to go after Denise this time since it would give Abi too much power. Had they kept Abi in the final four, I think the other three would have been too worried about each other making deals with her.

 

[Garak]

Part of me wanted Abi to make it to the final 3 just so I could see how unbelievably shitty her speech to the jury would be, followed by her being eviscerated by said jury.

I dislike Lisa more and more every episode.

My choice would be Malcolm or Denise, but I have to admit Scupin is growing on me. The guy's an idiot but endearing in a strange sort of way.

 

[Greg Cox]

I assumed all that scheming was in regards to the next tribal council. Too risky to go after Denise this time since it would give Abi too much power. Had they kept Abi in the final four, I think the other three would have been too worried about each other making deals with her.

There was also the thought that Denise stood a better chance of beating Malcom the final immunity challenge, giving the others a better chance to vote him out . . . .

Prediction: Penner will drop the "Facts of Life" card during the final T.C. This will be bad news for Lisa, who will have to go on the defensive to convince the jury that (1) she's not a rich Hollywood TV star, and (2) that she hasn't been "dishonest" about it the whole game.

To be fair, she never lied about her "former teen star" past, but could still be a problem. We all know how those final Tribal Councils can turn into orgies of hypocritical self-righteousness in which sore losers (who were perfectly fine with the plotting and scheming while they were in the game) suddenly get on their high horses about "playing with integrity" and so on.

I can see somebody giving Lisa a bad time about not coming clean about her past . . . .

 

[wissaboo]

I don't think Penner is going to do that

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Scupin is growing on me. The guy's an idiot but endearing in a strange sort of way.

I can't believe anyone got on a helicopter with him. The guy is an accident magnet. I mean, he managed to get head-butted by a whale shark, almost burned in a fire again, and OD'd on soda all in one episode.

 

[Garak]

Scupin is growing on me. The guy's an idiot but endearing in a strange sort of way.

I can't believe anyone got on a helicopter with him. The guy is an accident magnet. I mean, he managed to get head-butted by a whale shark, almost burned in a fire again, and OD'd on soda all in one episode.

I know, right? Watching Scupin reminds me of Crispin Glover's character in Hot Tub Time Machine where the guys are waiting to see how he loses his arm.

 

[wissaboo]

I can see somebody giving Lisa a bad time about not coming clean about her past . . . .

I don't think Penner is going to do that

well I guess I was wrong about that huh?

I'm glad to see Denise win, but I thought Lisa came accross better in the final tribal.

which was brutal by the way, I don't remember the last time there was one that brutal.

did we see who everyone voted for?

 

[Greg Cox]

did we see who everyone voted for?

I don't think so. I'd be curious to see who everyone voted for.

I actually thought Lisa was going to win, but it was interesting that all three finalists were getting votes. Usually, it's pretty obvious who the third-place finalist is going to be.

 

[Garak]

Glad Denise won, felt like the right choice. Pretty cool stat that she attended every single tribal in the game and still came out on top. I'd imagine that everyone voted for her outside the two votes for Scupin and Lisa otherwise they would have made the reveal more suspenseful.

Malcolm played a solid game and perhaps deserved it too but that probably speaks to how deserving Denise was.

Loved Penner's outing of Lisa at the final tribal, epic.

That was a very solid season of Survivor, good to see that after 20+ seasons they can still deliver.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

This is one of those rare Survivors where I would have been fine with any of the finalists winning, but I'm still glad that Denise won. She had her back against the wall from day one but managed to hang in there the whole time, was a physical and strategic powerhouse, and unlike Jeff Kent, the money will make a major difference in her life.

If it couldn't have been Denise, my next preference would have been Malcolm, but it was not meant to be. As close as it was, I was surprised that Malcolm lost the $100,000 Sprint prize to Lisa, as I thought he was a better strategic player (not that she was a slouch once she woke up and realized it's a game and that sometimes you have to be ruthless).

Abi-Maria actually seemed to be a little bit humbled at the live finale, so maybe she'll grow up a bit after all.

Looking forward to Fans vs. Favorites, even though the Favorites have quite an advantage. Hopefully it won't be too lopsided. They didn't say anything, but maybe Malcolm will get a chance to come back.

 

[wissaboo]

I'm hoping malcolm is back too. Curious to see who they have returning.

 

[Darth Duck]

This is one of those rare Survivors where I would have been fine with any of the finalists winning, but I'm still glad that Denise won. She had her back against the wall from day one but managed to hang in there the whole time, was a physical and strategic powerhouse, and unlike Jeff Kent, the money will make a major difference in her life.

If it couldn't have been Denise, my next preference would have been Malcolm, but it was not meant to be. As close as it was, I was surprised that Malcolm lost the $100,000 Sprint prize to Lisa, as I thought he was a better strategic player (not that she was a slouch once she woke up and realized it's a game and that sometimes you have to be ruthless).

^I agree with everything you just said. Yay Denise.

 

[Garak]

So apparently the favorites are:

• Andrea Boehlke, “Survivor: Redemption Island”
• Brandon Hantz, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Brenda Lowe, “Survivor: Nicaragua”
• Corinne Kaplan, “Survivor: Gabon”
• Dawn Meehan, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Erik Reichenbach, “Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites”
• Francesca Hogi, “Survivor: Redemption Island”
• John Cochran, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Malcolm Freberg, “Survivor: Philippines”
• Phillip Sheppard, “Survivor: Redemption Island”

Back to back Survivors for Malcolm, that's intense. I think Amanda did that once. Creepy Brandon Hantz and his woman hating ways are back too!


Link

 

[Pegaritaville]

did we see who everyone voted for?

I don't think so. I'd be curious to see who everyone voted for.

I figure everyone else must have voted for Denise. Had there been more votes for the other two, I'm pretty certain Jeff would have read them before reading all of Denise's votes.

Glad Denise won. She deserved it.

Wish I would have seen all of the reunion show. I added extra time to the recording (anticipating a football delay) but I didn't add quite enough.

 

[Spot's Meow]

So apparently the favorites are:

• Andrea Boehlke, “Survivor: Redemption Island”
• Brandon Hantz, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Brenda Lowe, “Survivor: Nicaragua”
• Corinne Kaplan, “Survivor: Gabon”
• Dawn Meehan, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Erik Reichenbach, “Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites”
• Francesca Hogi, “Survivor: Redemption Island”
• John Cochran, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Malcolm Freberg, “Survivor: Philippines”
• Phillip Sheppard, “Survivor: Redemption Island”

Back to back Survivors for Malcolm, that's intense. I think Amanda did that once. Creepy Brandon Hantz and his woman hating ways are back too!


Link

Interesting! Glad to see Erik and Cochran back. I question the "favorites" label for some of the others though; there are a couple there that I don't remember even after looking at some photos of their previous season. And please tell me that Brandon Hantz is not anyone's favorite.

As for this season, I also would have been happy with any of the three winning, or any of the final four winning for that matter. I don't think I've ever really felt that way with Survivor before. Actually, in all of the reality TV I watch (mostly just the competition shows like Amazing Race), the results have been pretty satisfying this season.

Denise did overcome some big odds; she will go down as one of the more deserving Survivor winners.

And did anyone else find that chick running over to kiss Jeff during the reunion show just a little uncomfortable? Okay, more than a little.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

So apparently the favorites are:

• Brandon Hantz, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• John Cochran, “Survivor: South Pacific”
• Phillip Sheppard, “Survivor: Redemption Island”

Clearly they're using a different definition of "favorites" from what most of the world uses. Brandon was a terrible player and a creep, Cochran was full of himself and how knowledgeable and skilled at the game he was and was completely overrated as a player, and "Special" Agent Phillip was just insane and hostile. Might as well bring Abi-Maria back while we're at it since she can be a "favorite" too by this metric.

The rest of the "favorites" I don't even recognize by name (though my memory might be jarred when I see them), except Malcolm. Good to see he's getting another shot.