Survivor - Samoa

That's news we can all rally 'round.

Damn, missing 'Manda...

With her hair pulled back a bit, Kelly looked pretty good.

I'll miss mimicking BRussell's voice when spoke. It was fun.

You know, despite the "Villain" tag to Russel H, you have to respect his effort in the game.  Really, putting aside his game-playing, he's been surprisingly blunt with people and has busted a-- in the challenges and elsewhere so that even teammates who don't care for him view him as necessary to win.

 

Like or dislike him, or the antics for the camera, he's playing a really smart game. 

I can't believe those two girls (Natalie and Liz) couldn't figure out that instead of voting for each other they should be joining together and trying to "change the game" rather than just accept their fate. 

Interesting episode.  First time ever, I guess:  No completed challenge and no vote @ tribal council. 

^^Exactly what I was thinking.  All they needed was to convince one other person and they could have changed things.  Or, at the very least, the two of them could have voted for someone and hope there was a tie breaker (that is, that the guys split their vote so the result was a 2-2-1).

Monica was annoying when she was talking to Shambo; eye rolling and whatnot.  I really wanted Shambo to say "You want to know why I voted for you?  Because none of you bothered to tell me what the plan was so I didn't know how the vote was going."

I wish CBS hadn't spoiled the episode by practically telling us in the promo who was going to collapse.  "Russell are you ok?!"  That narrowed it down to two.  And while the episode showed both Russells working while their respective tribes took shelter it wasn't hard to figure out who was going to go down.

Sorry to see Russell go like that, I got really concerned when I saw him hanging off the edge of the table maze like dead weight.

Regarding Russell #2, I find myself becoming increasingly respectful of him despite what an obnoxious jerk he can be and the evil little stunts he pulls around camp.

There is no arguing that his attitude about game play is immaculate, I even liked his attitude about the rain.

Could I be becoming a Russell fan!? Whoa, what a concept!

I do like Russell more now.  Seems he does know how to play the game and has really backed off the "burning of the socks" style moves.  Actually he only did that the first night he was there.  Now it just seems he is going to sit back and watch.

I was suprised how long it took someone to run into Russell's aid in the challenge.  He was laying dead weight, with his face holding him up.  It was kind of freaky watching him pass out the second they sat him up, his eyes looked lifeless.

Yup.  The remaining Russell had an extremely good point about trying to improve the shelters...rather than just sitting there and complaining.

But he's still an annoying little gnome. 

Kelly is a bit of a butterface.  Wait... I am thinking of the right girl?  I don't the names of any of the women except for Shambo.  And Monica.  Mmmm... Monica.

BRussell kinda sounds like Cleveland from Family Guy.

Kelly

 Oh... that's not the Kelly I was thinking of.  The butterface is the blonde on Foa Foa that has a smoking body, plain jane face, and zero personality.  Kelly is cute, but what's with the Survivor hairdressers with the rat's nest hairdos?  Like Erinn from last season:

The blonde on Foa Foa is Natalie.  They've only got the two girls left:  Natalie & Liz.

Liz is pretty tough in the challenges. 

I'm still mourning the loss of Ashley. 

I was thinking the same thing regarding beginning to like Russell, especially when he said other Russell didn't deserve to go out like that and that wasn't the way he wanted to beat him, maybe he does have a heart after all!

I agree with what Jeff said about Russell's passing out being the most scared he's ever been in 19 seasons, that was truly shocking to see him pass out for the second time, his eyes looked "dead".

I was thinking all along that they would not vote anyone off this week because that would shorten the season by an episode at least, i'll bet there was a rushed meeting between Jeff and the producers after the challege.

My wife thinks they should have let both tribes eat pizza after that.

Remind your wife (like I had to remind mine ) that the name of the show is Survivor.  My wife said the same thing.

I sure got reminded of that as I was thinking about how absolutely miserable it must've been dealing with all that cold rain like they were.  Brrr.  That was the most interesting part of the episode (outside of Russell's emergency)--coping with the rain.

I certainly thought it added to the dynamic of the Foa Foa "situation" that they were denied the piza...since they were so close to winning the challenge when Russell went down.

Besides, the crew was hungry.

 I was disappointed to see Russell go.  He was a strong 
leader and a very competitive player.  He did push himself
more than anyone else, and unfortunately, paid the price.

I also think it was admirable, under the circumstances, not
to hold tribal council.  I mean, nobody even got to eat pizza.

I think Monica is going to be the next to go in the Galu tribe
and Liz in Foa Foa.

Not only that but she also thought both tribes should have been issued tarps due to probably the worst weather I think ever on any season but you are correct, the name of the game is Survivor after all.

Ron, hopefully they'll spare Monica and Liz, the eye candy quotient was small to begin with and getting smaller.

Interesting read from Jeff concerning the situation:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/10/23/jeff-probst-blogs-survivor-samoa-episode-6/

I read that both tribes did get pizza afterward, we just didn't see it.

Hmmmm.  Well Probst doesn't mention it in his blog...in fact, he reiterates that "We don't give them food.  We don't give them water.  We don't help them start their fire..."

I really hope that they weren't given food off camera
without the viewing audience knowing.  The setup
is that these are survivors and if they are secretly
being fed then the show is fake.  I don't mind if they
were given pizza, but let us know.

You know, I really love to pick this show apart as
far as how much of it is real and how much isn't.

I think the situations are all real. It's the reactions
that usually aren't.   For instance, a shot of one
Survivor napping in a hammock while another looks
in a tree for the idol probably didn't happen at the
same time.   Liz talking in secret about Russell to
another contestant while Russell has this ominous
look on his face probably happened at different times.
It's all about telling a story and most of the reaction
shots probably have nothing to do with the action itself.

Another thing I noticed...

At tribal council Jeff Probst knows EVERYTHING
that is going on in the tribe over the past few days. 
He knows the exact questions to ask to the right
individual.  Does he sit all day and watch the action
being taped live?  Is there a certain amoung of time
between taping and Tribal Council for Jeff to watch
the video, or, is someone just taking notes and
keeping him up-to-date and feeding questions to ask?

Jeff writes in the comments section of his blog (currently around page 3):

Hey all,
1. They did get pizza, we just didn’t have time to include it in the episode. We’re tough but not unfair.
2. They had their blindfolds on for a few minutes until we could figure out if Russell had any chance of coming back to continue the challenge.

As for Ron's question: I'm fairly certain Jeff is kept informed of what's going on at the camps.  Plus tribal councils often last at least an hour (3 hrs sounds off in my head but that seems like an unusually long time, but that includes the off camera discussion on what order to display the votes - notice the ones we see are usually the first ones out of the canister) so a lot of information comes out for Jeff to form questions around.

I don't attach any negative significance to giving them all pizza off-screen, especially when Jeff told them they would get it, it's not like the show is sneaking food to the castaways behind our backs.

I just know that if I had been there I would have been a little miffed at Jeff for dragging us all out to tribal council for nothing when we were all running low on both moral and energy, he could have updated us on Russell back at camp(s).

Actually, I bet they were thrilled to get out of the rain for a few hours and to get to sit by a fire.  I doubt that anyone was really annoyed.

I dunno John.  Seems to me like they gave them the pizza behind our backs.

Jeff amkes the big announcement at the challenge that winners get pizza.  That's a big deal to them.  After the challenge is stopped, Jeff makes the announcement there are no winners...meaning no pizza.  Everyone is bummed about that (and Russell, of course)...but especially Foa Foa because they thought they were winning (and can't catch a break). 

At tribal, Jeff makes the big announcement that no one is being voted off.  Full disclosure would have required a single sentence from him "Oh.  And you're all getting some pizza."  Maybe 1.5 seconds of precious air time.

It is not insignificant that these people who are dealing with some of the most difficult weather and food conditions ever (Probsts' own opinion) are being given food by the producers and the audience is left in the dark.  I'm not casting judgment on the decision to give them the food, but on the decision not to let the audience in on it. 

I'm not surprised they got some food.  I honestly believe the lifeless Russel hanging off the edge of the maze board probably scared the producers shitless and they figured these people might need some sustenance.

One thing I was wondering – doesn’t Russell’s tribe have fishing gear?  I know that Shambo went out to catch fish and lost the mouth piece on the snorkel, but since that time they have not shown anyone even attempting to catch fish.  You think that if they were all that hungry they would be catching some fish.

Well, they showed Russell himself, in the rain, casting a line out into the water right at the beginning of the last episode. 

Of course, I commented to my wife that I'm not sure how he could be catching any fish since the water wasn't even covering the top of his feet...  Unless there was a really steep drop-off...but it was a beach.

I thought part of the equipment was a spear gun.....as well as the basic line.

I know we don't see their whole day, but I think that if I was on the island I think that there would be plenty of time to look for food.  And make another shelter.

Skills to learn prior to going on survivor;

Making fire
How to thatch a roof
Different ways to catch fish without much gear



Edited by MarkMel - 10/27/09 at 12:12pm