Survivor 44

[Timewalker]

Survivor 44 starts March 1 (tomorrow, yikes, almost forgot!)

I tried posting the cast list, but for some reason it's not working. The premiere is two hours long.

It doesn't appear that Amazing Race will be shown back to back this time. I've no idea when the next season of TAR will be on.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

There’s never been this many calls to medical in one episode.

I read Amazing Race has been renewed but it looks like it will only have one season per year, not two.

 

[Timewalker]

I haven't seen it yet. It's not on for another hour.

Folks, I should have said this in the OP. Please don't put same-night spoilers in your posts without spoiler tags, especially if it's about who got voted off in Tribal Council, kicked out for misbehavior, or evacuated for medical reasons. Some of us live on Pacific/Mountain time and can't watch until later.

I thought TAR was always one season per year. Or am I confused with Big Brother?

 

[Timewalker]

Okay, I've watched it now. Yeah, that's a lot of medical situations. Is this the first time Jeff has actually stopped a challenge for a medical? I remember a few seasons ago when one person collapsed and the one who didn't was declared the winner. The challenge wasn't stopped. I never thought that was fair.

Other thoughts: When is Yam-Yam going to point out to Jeff that his name isn't Jam-Jam? Or is that how it's really pronounced?

Carolyn (the loudmouthed paranoid blonde) needs to shut up. Now.

 

[DigificWriter]

is that how it's really pronounced?

That's how it's pronounced.

I'm the kind of Survivor viewer who loves the advantage-centric nature of post-Winners-at-War New Era Survivor, so the premiere was awesome for me.

The Idol Cages are a neat evolution and I have a feeling that they're going to continue to have a fun impact on the game. Jamie and Matthew using their Shots in the Dark might be bad for their games, but Brandon just set himself up as a power player and could possibly be this season's Jesse if he can accumulate some allies.

Speaking of Matthew, I spent the entire preseason and a good chunk of the episode convinced that he was going to be Medevacced because of his own stupid decisions, but now that he wasn't, I'm interested to see where he goes from here.

The players I'm watching really closely right now are Brandon and Kane, Frannie and Matt B., and Carolyn and Jam Jam, but I'm also intrigued by Heidi, Clare, and Sarah.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I haven't seen it yet. It's not on for another hour.

Folks, I should have said this in the OP. Please don't put same-night spoilers in your posts without spoiler tags, especially if it's about who got voted off in Tribal Council, kicked out for misbehavior, or evacuated for medical reasons. Some of us live on Pacific/Mountain time and can't watch until later.

I thought TAR was always one season per year. Or am I confused with Big Brother?

Amazing Race was two seasons per year until very recently.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Okay, I've watched it now. Yeah, that's a lot of medical situations. Is this the first time Jeff has actually stopped a challenge for a medical? I remember a few seasons ago when one person collapsed and the one who didn't was declared the winner. The challenge wasn't stopped. I never thought that was fair.

Russell Swan's first season, they stopped the challenge when he collapsed. The thing about that is, when somebody gets medically evacuated the show usually treats it as somebody getting voted off, just because they have specific things planned for specific numbers of people.

 

[Timewalker]

It appears that they opted not to do that this time.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Did I hear that wrong or did she mix up which one was the idol and which was the fake?

 

[DigificWriter]

Did I hear that wrong or did she mix up which one was the idol and which was the fake?

No.

Each tribe's Hidden Idols and Fake Idols are the inverse of each other.

At the Ratu camp, the birdcage contained a beaded bracelet and a colored medallion; at the Soka camp, the birdcage contained a colored medallion and a silver coin; and at the Tika camp, the birdcage contained a silver coin and a beaded bracelet.

At Ratu, the Real Idol was the beaded bracelet, while at Soka, the Real Idol is the colored medallion (it's the very first thing that Danny unwraps); following that pattern, the Real Idol at Tika would therefore be the silver coin, which is exactly what Carolyn said.

That pattern also matches up with what the Fake Idols at Ratu and Soka were: the colored medallion and the silver coin, respectively, which leaves the beaded bracelet as the Fake Idol at Tika, which is again exactly what Carolyn said.

 

[Timewalker]

One thing that crossed my mind about Carolyn tonight: I doubt the rules would allow it, but damn, she seems higher than a kite at times.

And how could her tribe not figure out she's the one who opened the bird cage? The pouch was still in motion and Carolyn was the only one not with the others.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I loved the way Carson talked about his body language expertise and almost all his conclusions were wrong.

 

[Timewalker]

What I don't get is how any of them forgot that Carolyn was the only one who wasn't with them at the time the cage was opened. If they were together, how could any of them sneak back to the cage without being noticed?

 

[DigificWriter]

It had been several days since anyone had thought about the Idol Cage and therefore they had no way of knowing when someone might have opened it; all they could tell is that somebody had in fact opened it.

Carolyn wasn't with them, yes, but they'd written her off or were acting like they'd written her off.

 

[Timewalker]

They made the point that it was moving, though, as if it had just been touched, and that the drawstrings being open was evidence that it had been opened, and that it was lighter.

How could they not have taken a head count and realized the only person who could have done it was Carolyn?

Hopefully at least one of them has a 'waitaminute' moment and figures it out.

 

[DigificWriter]

They made the point that it was moving, though, as if it had just been touched, and that the drawstrings being open was evidence that it had been opened, and that it was lighter.

How could they not have taken a head count and realized the only person who could have done it was Carolyn?

Hopefully at least one of them has a 'waitaminute' moment and figures it out.

Per Helen, there was a greater period of time between when Carolyn put the bag back and when the other four checked the birdcage than was depicted in the edit.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Is anyone watching Challenge All Stars on Paramount streaming? It has the two winners and two other picks from US, UK, Australia and Argentina challenges, including Sarah, Ben and Danny. And also 14 players from the MTV challenge seasons, for some reason including Kaycee from Big Brother.

 

[Timewalker]

I don't have a subscription for that. There's a lot of Paramount content that isn't available in Canada, including a lot of the reality shows, so I haven't bothered.

I saw a promo for Big Brother Canada (the season started last week) and the house... is GORGEOUS. The American production could take a lesson from the Canadians. The house is huge, it's beautiful, it's elegant, and the theme appears to be a season-long murder mystery. It reminds me of Clue - they even have a Billiard Room.

Unfortunately, when I actually tried to watch it, I found the houseguests to be shallow, boring people who failed to keep my interest long enough to finish watching the first episode. So I'm not going to bother. It's a shame, though, since the house itself is wonderful to look at. I'd live there.

 

[Timewalker]

Okay, some observations and musing about last night's episode of Survivor...

Why did Claire sit out every immunity challenge? Is it because she wanted to, or because the tribe convinced her to do it, with the reasoning that she wouldn't be strong enough to be of use?

If it's the latter, then voting her out for not competing is an absolutely thing to do.

On the other hand, her "it's all good, no problems here, I feel safe" attitude suggests that she was clueless to think that she wouldn't be seen as a willing slacker who didn't mind reaping the rewards while doing nothing to earn them. That's an attitude that's enough of a reason to boot someone.


I like Matt and Frannie. Of course that means neither will win, since I don't have a great record of liking the people who end up winning these shows.


I hope the sword that guy was playing around with isn't sharp. It's really irresponsible of production to let him do that.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'm curious if any of the UK/Canada/Australia versions of these reality shows are worth trying to watch through.

I think Claire sat in the immunity challenges because she realizes she's physically weaker than the other players.

I'm a fan of team nerd, but I'm not sure either one is good at the game. But I'd like to hang out with them. No idea who is going to win yet though Danny reminds me of Tony so if I had to guess I'd pick him.