Survivor: Gabon - Season 17 (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I can see why the elders are the ones picked to start choosing the
team as they would probably be the last picked if done otherwise.

The only complaint I have about the show is the dramatic music
during the tribal voting. Could really bring this show down to a
more realistic level if they cut all the hype elements. I still would
like to know how much of this show is real as far as people really
out there surviving the elements.

 

[Radioman970]

Yeah, they go way overboard with the silly music. After a while you'll just be laughing...I hope.

This season looks to have a good group. I think it's going to a good one. The players tend to ignore the cameras after a while and truly become as much "themselves" as possible. Afterall, it's a million bucks.

 

[Michael:M]

As has been remarked before, I'm not overly thrilled with the LA-demographic heavy casting for this season, but the opening show was solid. I wonder if MB & Co have some twists up their sleeves to switch things up; a lopsided show can get boring.

I found Charlie's glomming on to Marcus a bit creepy, too, but I also wondered if Marcus was being a more strategic player than was portrayed; much as some of the women in previous seasons have done, Marcus may be using someone's attraction to him for manipulation and strategy.

I also felt sorry for Ken; Michelle found him to be the least pitiable of the men in Fang, but he didn't realize that isn't the same thing as her actually liking him or finding him attractive.

Don't like Randy at all - he just comes across as mean.

And I think there's some interesting pyschological questions from the show, based on the stark differences between Fang and Kota. What makes a group cohere? What actions and words are good for creating a stable, productive community vs one where things are left undone and no one's willing to step up? Does productive mean healthy?

I know, I know - it's just a show, and one probably far more "scripted" than I'd care to think. But still interesting questions.

 

[Mike Frezon]

One constant throughout the show's history, Ron, is that in post-season interviews there has been near unanimity that the cast never thought the "surviving" part of the show would be as difficult as it was. The cold nights, hot days, lack of fire and food (along with clothing issues) really DO take their toll on the individuals and become a major factor in game play.

There are a number (not nearly enough) of prior seasons on DVD. Once this season is over you will find yourself reaching out to find them. You can find them pretty cheap in used bins if you have some good used shops near where you live. They're all good.

Season 1 is a bit surreal to watch...but probably a good starting point...as they were really starting from scratch. Neither the players nor the host really had an idea of what they were doing (nor the producers, themselves, at times!) and it comes across. But all the elements were there to make it a compelling season. And it didn't take long for the show to find its legs. But, that said, it has never become a predictable bore. The human element prevents that.

And it seems as if they always cast at least one person (read: city clicker) who is shocked that they actually have to sleep in the wild, on the ground, and aren't provided food or shelter, etc. Probably intentional casting to remind the audience that there is a certain amount of "reality" to this reality show.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thanks, Mike. Good read.

As far as watching other seasons? Doubtful. I have a hard time
watching all the shows lined up on my Tivo these days.

 

[Radioman970]

Yeah, the lack of food thing can produce a lot of entertainment...for the viewer anyway. My favs include the discovery that rats are edible and the popping of the bird seed (since the, uhm...erm, bird didn't need it...anymore...heh heh).

 

[Mike Frezon]

I don't want to emphasize the lack of food over living out in the elements...but one season, Ron, they gave the final few survivors a chance to weigh themselves and gave them a full length mirror. They couldn't believe what they saw!

Some locales have actually provided them with abundant food...so that element tends to vary from season to season.

 

[Marianne]

They can survive anything as long as they can shave their armpits and legs (the girls, that is).

 

[Andres Munoz]

So grannie is gone. It was probably for the better. She was physically weak and was starting to get annoying.

 

[AnthonyC]

Whew, I would have been livid if Ace had gone. Mixed feelings on Sugar finding the idol--I just can't really see her using it properly, but I do like her. Didn't really like Fang's comeback, I don't really care for them at all.

Kelly and Jacquie are so interchangeable in both their looks and in their entertainment value (or lack thereof).

 

[Brent M]

How did Marcus have an immunity idol? Did he find one last week that I've already forgotten about? Also, did anyone notice the very obvious editing when Sugar was hunting for the idol? She looked completely different(hairstyle, clothes, etc) in 3 or 4 consecutive shots. Either the search wasn't all done in the same day or they "re-enacted" her finding all the clues. Interesting.

 

[ThomasC]

I was confused about that, too. I checked Wikipedia and it says that he won it in the first challenge, where the last part was getting up the hill. The first person from each team got an immunity idol; I thought it was just the first person, regardless of team, that got one. I only remember GC getting his, since he was the first one.

 

[Patrick Sun]

"Pa-Lo-Muh" That's pretty tacky.

Nice butt on Corinne. Surprised she didn't get the blur treatment.

 

[Mike Frezon]

We were commenting in my household on that very issue. But we just chalked it up to Sugar playing for the camera. They did show her adjusting her clothing when she was swatting at the bugs in the woods. I figured maybe she was just constantly changing where things were depending on her situation: digging in the sand, wading in the water, walking through the woods, etc. I dunno. But it was weird.

I also thought the POV thing they did while she was reading the clues was weird...when she was having that big idol "reading" the clue and helping her and they put us (the audience) in the place of the idol. I thought that was an odd thing to do.

 

[Hanson]

It was bugging me who Paloma looked like, and I finally figured it out at the end of the show -- she looks like Debbie Downer. I'll have to get a separated at birth together when I have the time.

It struck me as funny that the slip and slide challenge allowed for the producers to distribute bikinis to the female contestants (and small ones at that). Was I the only one that was thinking, "real, fake, VERY fake, real..." If they keep their bikinis on, I will finally be able to tell apart the two interchangeable blondes by looking for implants. At some point, I will have to match up the names with the boobs. Also, no one in Fang was bikini worthy. Just to add... Sugar sports one of the biggest turn-offs in my book -- while I'm no fan of tatoos, the ones around the belly button skeeve me out to no end. Yuck!

Randy continues to crack me up. He's my favorite Fang member. He's so misanthropic -- I love the night visions shots of him just glowering at his tribemates with seething contempt.Other than him and Kenny, I don't even care about the rest of that tribe.

While it is obvious that Ace put Paloma on the pole (!) to expose her weakness, I think he threw the last round because Paloma's weaknesses would be highlighted more with a loss than a win. No one would care as much if Paloma tanked it if they won the challenge.

You would think that being a physics professor would give Orville Reddenbocker the edge in a math puzzle, but in the end, he's not Asian. It's like they engineered a challenge for Fang to win. I was surprised at how hard Orville was playing the game back at camp. He struck me as more of a quiet, internal player, but he was laying his cards out.

In last week blog, Jeff Probst said that Dan was such an overthinker that he psyched himself out of the HII. Probst thought it was actually pretty easy to find, as Sugar illustrated. Dan was so turned around that he kept searching in the lake when the clue said beyond the lake.

And welcome to the club Ron. Most of us have been at it since season one.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Someone was mentioning the food factor. Remember in season 2, australia, when they were starving and it flooded and washed away their camp. then one of the survivors, was it Colby? Ran out on a fallen tree over the huge flood to try and save their bucket of rice? I think the show even had to come in and give them more rice because they were so starved. I could be wrong on the season, or the persons involved, but I remember that incident.

I noticed that too Hanson about the Silicon. However, Kelly is is very good shape and should stay in whatever bikini they give her. This isn't the first season that the producers gave the contestants swim trunks/bikinis after a few days in suit and tie though.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Wowsee Wowsee! I love this show! Could be my favorite show
of the season thus far.

I can't get over the undermining that goes on between the survivors.
I made a joke about this earlier, but it reminds me so much of my
day job with all the backstabbing that goes on there.

I have to go along with all of you saying Ace is my favorite survivor.
I worry for him because there was more than one vote to oust him
at this week's tribal meeting. People don't seem to like him taking
on the position of leader especially if they feel him to be condescending.

Sugar must have been very confident to hold on to her immunity
idol and not use it. She had to think that she was going to be voted
off, that is unless she got word from Ace that Paloma was on the
chopping block.

Next to go on Fang is Susie. Next to go on Kota would have been
Sugar, but because of her secret immunity status I think it will be Jacque.

(Hope I have this all figured out right).

And, Hanson, I love the Orville Reddenbocker reference. Funny shit!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Can't stand Ace, he won't last long if Kota keeps losing ICs. Sugar should have not told Ace about her HII.

 

[AnthonyC]

You're right on the season, but it was Keith and Tina who braved the water to save the rice. It was only two or three days after Probst came in and offered the trade of rice for the tribe's shelter.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

BTW, forgot to mention....

I love the fact this show is in HD with all the beautiful shots,
but all of it is ruined by the mosquito noise compression DirecTV uses.