Survivor - Samoa - Page 6

I think Shambo is definately voting with Foa Foa, she just doesn't want Galu to know yet.  So with her switching it's 5-5.  Will be hilarious watching everyone running around looking for the idol.  Survivor easter egg hunt!

Absolutely wonderful episode.  I've gone from a Russell hater to Russell fan.  He seems to be the only player thinking and hustling out there.  And he has lost the hubris that usually takes out the 'masterminds' in this game.  Now the former tribes are 5 to 5 with Shambo switching allegiance to Foa Foa.  If Foa Foa plays its cards right they could swing a tribal vote.  In Palau, Tom Sizemore had a three-three mix between allies and enemies.  He then pressured one of his enemies to join with the rationale:  our group is ready to risk a tie breaker at tribal.  If you join us on this vote, you know you're not going home.  I'd go for Monica who is next lowest on the Galou totem pole besides Shambo. 

I have to agree that this was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying episodes I've seen in a long time.  Russell went from the "goat" for playing an immunity idol he didn't need to use last time to a "hero" this time for outwitting the opposition by using his second idol perfectly.  Galou was certainly outplayed last night by the little oil baron who has quickly become one of the most enjoyable players of all time.  I was also a Russell hater in the early going but if things continue on the same track he certainly could end up being one of the best players ever.  I absolutely loved it when the previews showed Galou running after him to keep him from finding Idol #3.  Great TV.

 

I think Rocket Scientist is an easier flip than Monica.  It's simple game theory decision, Monica is too loyal to Laura to flip.

 Shambo is stuck in the middle of the Penner Conundrum -- like Cook Island's Jonathan Penner, no matter which alliance Shambo sides with, she'll be at the bottom of the totem pole since one team openly disdains her while the other one is too tightly allied to break up.  So it comes down to a purely social decision -- she simply likes Foa Foa more than Galu.  Strategically, yes, Shambo does move up one spot by siding with Foa Foa -- but really, when has Shambo ever played strategically?  Even her selection of Kelly over Monica was based more on sticking it to Laura than true strategy -- taking out John or Dave would have actually done more damage to Galu.

That's two great episodes in a row. I couldn't wait to see how the council came out. Nice job by the editors to throw a possible vote for Natalie in there. The nice thing is... Russel probably wasn't too worried. After all, he knew he wasn't going home tonight. Now the plan worked... Galu is pissed! They're pissed at Russel, and pissed at one another (e.g. Monica will be really annoyed they didn't follow her split-our-vote idea). Eric is pissed too, he knows Galu voted him off when the "snake" in their tribe was actually Rocket Scientist. No jury vote from him for Galu. They are just imploding. And the best they can do in the preview is run around after the Foa Foa tribe?

Wow, finally - an immunity idol is played the way it's meant to be played!  Not just as protection, but to strategically draw votes so as to blindside someone else. Russell is da man, at least this week.

I like the idea that they will keep reintroducing the immunity idol back into the game - it's going to make things that much more interesting.

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I'm pretty certain it's happened before.  One team wins every challenge, merge, then the winning team starts eating itself alive, voting off people they were waiting to get rid of.  Exactly like what happened with Eric.  Next thing they know, they're even with the 'losers' and it all falls apart....

Actually, the closest thing to what's happening this season was last season, with Timbira sporting a 6-3 advantage over Jalapao at merge (technically 6-4, but Joe had to leave due to medical reasons before the first merged tribe vote).  While many seasons had the main alliance crumble under it's own weight to let a straggler from the other tribe win (Vanatu, Marquesas, Guatemala, Gabon off the top of my head), the situation here and in Tocantins was that the core tribe that came in at a big numbers disadvantage was able to stay intact.  Stephen & JT made it to the finals, and Taj rounded out the final four.  Not bad for a tribe that was three down at merge.  We'll see if Foa Foa can pick off Galu even though there was a 8-4 advantage at merge.  When you look at it like that, it's ridiculous that this happened.  It's not even like Galu had different factions like Timbira -- they (outside of Shambo) appeared to be one big happy family, which makes it even more incomprehensible.


This was done in Fans vs Favorites -- Amanda made herself the target for tribal council and then used the HII to cancel her three votes and blindside Alexis.

The producers need to be consistent about this though--it was rehidden in Fiji, Micronesia and now Samoa but not in Guatemala, China or Tocantins. (It was never played in Panama and Cook Islands and was only played during the last possible round in Gabon--it wasn't played in Tocantins either but Brendan left with it in his pocket). My personal preference would be a one-and-done deal--once it's played, it's out of the game. While Russell's move was definitely smart and impressive, this is a game about social politics--I hate to see someone's strategy relying on finding a get-out-of-jail-free card.

I actually thought the announcement of the reintroduction of the HII back into the game for yet another go-round was a bad idea.  Three in one game is plenty.

And the tease about next week's episode made it look like it was going to turn into a Benny Hill free-for-all. 

Just finished watching this past week's episode.

Bravo!  Standing Ovation!

In the three seasons I have been watching SURVIVOR
this episode was the defining moment of the series.  A
moment to savor.  A moment to rewind and watch over
and over again.  

Hats off to Russell!  He played that idol well.  I was
almost afraid he wouldn't , and he didn't, we would not
be seeing him next week.

I had to rewind tribal council a few times just to savor
the faces of the Galu tribe members.  They thought
they had Russell cornered and they ended up losing
one of their own.

...then came the announcement that the immunity
idol was going back into play.

I am behind Russell 100% to the end of this game.
Unfortunately, Galu is going to be looking for blood
for what happened this week.  Don't know if Russell
will be able to survive.

 

This week is I think make or break for Russel.  If he can eliminate a player from Galu again, and they take the upper hand, he will go a VERY long way in the game, because everyone on Foa Foa knows that his strategy helped everyone of them.  They are now getting $$ dependant on where they come in, and the fact he kept them in the game means that whether they win the whole thing or not, he just made them money.

That simple.  I don't know/think he can win it, but if he can get past this week and keep his tribe in tact.. and those two things seem to go hand in hand, then he's going to roll for a while.

I just watched the latest episode....I have to say that my initial opinion of Russell has really changed too.  The guy is a brilliant player.  To find 2 HII in camp without clues and to play one of them as brilliantly as he played it in this episode makes him one of the all time best players in the game.

Watching tribal council was pure satisfaction....I haven't laughed out loud so much in ages during one of these.  Seeing the reactions of the Galu members was pure LOL entertainment of the highest order.  I'm looking forward to this week's episode where Russell starts playing hide-n-seek with the Galu members in his quest for another idol.....that's gonna be a hoot!

Looking forward to seeing Laura gone....I think it will break Galu's spirit, and I would love to see that happen.

By the way what was with Shambo writing 10 * 9 * 8 on her vote? Was that like the countdown to Russell playing the idol and Kelly being voted out. or maybe her way of playing her Galu teammates making them think Russell was a goner.

She's counting down the Galu team I believe.  the "7" is the 7th Member of Galu who just went home.  That now makes it where the pretenses go away and she can flip sides.

Yeah, loved the fact that Shambo kept a very upset face
to her fellow Galu teammates during tribal council as if
she was concerned about Russell's move.  Fact of the
matter is, she is more than happy to see Galu members
picked off one-by-one.

I always love the underdog.  I have been feeling that the
former Galu team, though part of a new encompassing
tribe, have separated themselves from everyone else.

I love this season!!    But a big question remains:

 

Before the season, the promos blasted: "And one of these castaways will become the biggest Survivor villain ever".

At first, I thought they meant Russell, but wait, now he's the most popular.  

I think the villain thing is yet to come.  

 

The promos have long singled Russell out as the big villain. I don't think he's the most popular by any means though--he and Shambo are pretty much the only characters getting a lot of focus (although Natalie, Jaison and Laura occasionally get big episodes) so naturally the reaction to him, positive or negative, is going to be the most evident. Most people seem to appreciate him more but I still think the majority wants to see him lose.

One episode where he was awesome doesn't really erase his being an overconfident camera-hungry blowhard for seven or eight episodes. I'm still waiting to see how burning his teammates' socks, emptying their canteens, calling the women he aligns with "dumbasses" behind their back for no reason, and lying about his dog dying in Hurricane Katrina had any strategy behind them besides guaranteeing him some airtime.

Of course, all that said, he's always been better than Shambo :P

The last 15 minutes were amazing and incredibly suspenseful...but while I can't blame him, I'm so pissed off that John prevented us from purple rock insanity. I was watching the clock so intently and realized it wasn't going to happen but still... :( Not to mention that if it did, I would've sworn that the editing was foreshadowing Dave (my favorite) making the unlucky draw, but it would've been worth losing him if we got some purple rock. I would've absolutely loved this episode if it happened; as it is...it was only ok overall. I didn't want Laura to go and I've said it before but Shambo is like Sierra from last season, only fatter.

Shambo's an a-hole in the way she can't help but laugh at her "enemy" being out of the immunity contest early, and at tribal council.  She'd be a horrible poker player.

At least Rocket Scientist did figure out the game theory benefits to flip now instead of relying on a 1 in 8 chance of going home with the rock pull.

It's now straight up hilarious how much better at this game Russel is then everyone else on the island.  I'm sorry, it's like watching a cat toy with it's prey.  

I was laughing my ass off when he found his THIRD immunity idol.

I can't think of any season I've enjoyed remotely as much as this one in a very long time.  Great stuff ;)

Yep, Russell's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers lol.

As I said waaaaaay back on page one of this thread, Russell is playing this game the way it should be played. Sometimes you have to stir up s#$t to make the game more interesting! I've loved Russell since day one, because I knew from the get go that he was going to out smart these other idiots. The fact that this guy has managed to find 3 out of 4 hidden immunity idols is freaking awesome! I was so happy to see Laura go home last night. The look on her face was priceless. I'm curious about the editing in the previews for next week... is Shambo conspiring against Russell? Or are they talking about booting John?

I think my favorite part of last nights show, aside from tribal, was when Dave was chasing Russell around and then like a rocket Russell just takes off, only to go back to the original spot they started and finds the idol! Whooooot!

I think the preview is a mislead, but a bad one.  Shambo has to know that Russel has the idol.    So, pointless to gang up on him at the moment, might as well ride him a while.  It'll be interesting though.

 The fact that didn't actually say the name Russell indicates that it's not Russell.  Plus, Shambo has shown genuine admiration for Russell, and she's not the kind of player that will turn on someone just like that.  I'm betting it's Cat Stevens.  I mean, Yusef Islam.  I mean... John.



So it looks like Shamborella is getting her revenge on the Wicked Stepsisters and her Wicked Stepmother.



 Two down, one to go.

Natalie has really grown on me.  She made some cute faces during tribal when Laura was finally voted out.  She has the look of a cute cartoon mouse.  Which I guess makes her a somewhat cannibal from the previous week.




I was laughing when Natalie said "I'm wasting away to nothing" right before her reward challenge feast, because all could think was, "You're wasting away... to HOTNESS!"  I had to keep that to my mind grapes because I was watching with the wife.

When Russell found the idol, I had to pause because my wife and I were possessed with hysterical fits of laughter.  It was just so unbelievable that Dave essentially walked away from it because he didn't understand the process.  Russell seems to be in the head of the producers as far as where the idol will be.  Dave is not working on that level.  We were also laughing about the fact that Russell ran away from Dave to ditch him and then doubled back to the HII location.  I'm curious to see when and to whom Russell will reveal that he has the idol.  From the editing, it appeared that he finally kept this one to himself.  If Russell were smart, he would keep this one a secret and hang on to it until after Galu is all wiped out.  The only thing is, after a couple of days, the smart money is on assuming Russell found it.  He should use that uncertainty to his advantage and not wave it around.  It's too tempting to blindside him to get it out of the game.

I thought I heard Russell say after finding the third idol that he wasn't going to tell anyone this time. I mean ya never know with him as he has blurted it out to almost everyone each time he finds it....who knows!

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/20/jeff-probst-blogs-survivor-samoa-episode-10/ 

 

Great blog from Jeff about last nights episode!

I record about 6 or 7 shows on my Tivo each week.  More
than any other, this is the show I look forward to watching.
This season of SURVIVOR has become my favorite to date
(have only seen the past 3).

I was cheering when Russell again found the immunity idol.
Didn't think it was possible.  Give him credit for outrunning
and losing Dave and finding that idol.

Russell ought to keep his mouth shut this time.  

I am behind Russell to win this game 100% 

Very happy to see Laura go home.  Been wanting her to
go home for the past 3 shows and was totally pissed that
she won those immunity necklaces.  

I have nothing against Shambo.  It's not that I particularly
like her, but I don't see her as a threat.  The next two
people I would vote out would be Monica and Dave ---
with preference to Dave because he was so phony at
the beginning of the show congratulating Russell for
playing that hidden idol so well and getting one of his
tribe members voted off. 

 

Since no one else left has ever found a hidden immunity idol, Russell has a HUGE advantage to finding this one.  He knows from past experience that you have to reach into a nook to find it -- if you went by the video clue, it looks like you could just walk around kicking over rocks and suddenly stumble on it.  This was Dave's mistake -- he picked up the rock, didn't see the HII under it, and walked off.  Russell knew to dig a bit deeper and to reach into the crevice to extract it.  In many ways, Russell was the only one who was going to find this one, and if it's played and they hide another one, chances are Russell will find that one too.

A lot of people have complained about the amount of
airtime given to Russell as if this was SURVIVOR: RUSSELL

Technically speaking, Russell is the only person really
playing this game.  Everyone else fades to the background
compared to what this guy accomplishes week after week.

When you get right down to it, he deserves to win.

What worries me is that once people see he has the
upper hand in the game they are going to vote him out.

From looking at past winners -- and perhaps I am wrong
about this -- it seems the only way to survive is being a
nice guy and staying under the radar.  At least, that was
the case with the last two winners (BOB and the Southern
kid from the last season).