The official Survivor Season 22 Redemption Island: Russell vs. Rob discussion thread

This match-up has been rumored for a few months.  Survivor is starting to feel like those MTV challenges between the real worlders and road rulers.

I'm not at all thrilled with this matchup. But I am curious to see how Russell's game changes when everybody is aware of how he plays.

Wasn't happy with it when I first heard about it either.  In fact, I confused it with Amazing Race and it's Second Chance cast for a minute.  While I'd have no problem having either of them come back for an All Stars type season again, sticking them in with a bunch of first timers is unfair to the newbies and smacks of gimmick.

Not happy, but I'll still probably enjoy it (i hate to admit). 

I'm really disappointed by this turn of events. Seriously can't we just let these two fade away already?

They're two of the most entertaining contestants in the show's history so personally I don't mind it one bit. After suffering through possibly the worst season of Survivor ever I think at this point anything will be an upgrade. I will say that it's probably a little too soon after All-Stars and that an idea like this would've gone over much better in a couple years, but after a season of Naonka I'll take anything to scrub her image from my brain.

I kinda wish they'd waited a while, but I like them both and will certainly love it.  If you are a contestant not named Russell or Rob, how do you not vote them off at the first opportunity?

Why would you vote them off early?  I get that's how people feel about them, but I wonder if the smarter strategy isn't to hope they hang around as long as possible.   Because if you believe you've got a shot at the final 3, wouldn't you prefer Russel or Rob to be one of them, figuring that they will so alienate others that there is no way they can win it all?   Russel clearly dominated his season but didn't win it.   I don't think either of them can win it all because of their style of play.   With them on board, the better strategy might be to line up with one of them and try to fly under the radar all the way

Let's not forget, too, that Survivor did this one other time when they brought back Stephanie and Bobby Jon and divvied them up between two tribes of unknowns.

I predict that Rob & Russell will suffer a similar fate as those two.  After the newbies wipe away the stardust from their eyes, it won't be long before "those who already had their chance" will be gone.

As much as both Rob & Russell have made their mark on the Survivor universe...enough already.  Let newcomers make their mark.  For gosh sake...this is Russell's 3rd appearance on Survivor and Rob's 4th! 

I'll still watch, too.  But, enough! 

And that promo was lame beyond words.  Probst's "I think I'll need a bigger torch!" is way too goofy.

Remember that this is REDEMPTION ISLAND.  People you vote off aren't gone forever.  They get chances to win their way back.  Time will tell if this is shark jumping or not, but I'm going to give it a chance since Russell is my second favorite survivor ever, behind Rupert.  And this will be the last I view this thread until the series is over for fear of spoilers.  Enjoy the season, see you all on Day 39!

Rumor has it that both Rob and Russell have some sort of "Captain's immunity" until the merge.  Again, just a rumor.  Not really sure if that's the case, but I'm sure there are some safeguards to prevent an early gang-up on either Rob or Russell at their early tribal council appearances.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon 

Let's not forget, too, that Survivor did this one other time when they brought back Stephanie and Bobby Jon and divvied them up between two tribes of unknowns.

 

I predict that Rob & Russell will suffer a similar fate as those two.  After the newbies wipe away the stardust from their eyes, it won't be long before "those who already had their chance" will be gone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun 

Rumor has it that both Rob and Russell have some sort of "Captain's immunity" until the merge.  Again, just a rumor.  Not really sure if that's the case, but I'm sure there are some safeguards to prevent an early gang-up on either Rob or Russell at their early tribal council appearances.

So much for my guess then...  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun 

Rumor has it that both Rob and Russell have some sort of "Captain's immunity" until the merge.  Again, just a rumor.  Not really sure if that's the case, but I'm sure there are some safeguards to prevent an early gang-up on either Rob or Russell at their early tribal council appearances.

According to EW, that's not the case. No immunity.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/01/13/survivor-boston-rob-russell-redemption-island/

I thought only the first 2 blondes were cute, otherwise, an average bunch of female contestants.  The males are also odd looking, especially their bodies look all bulky in weird ways.  Why don't people show up with some fat on them, it'll help when their bodies are starving.

What about the 19 year old brunette??? She might be the hottest one of them all. There are 3 girls in this season that could have easily passed for Maxim cover girls...Natalie, Ashley and Andrea. There are a couple others that are kinda cute as well, but the big 3 are absolutely smoking hot!!!

And Ron, you're right, the one lady(Julie) kinda looks like Jennifer Aniston....on steroids.

Eh, Natalie has youth on her side, but not loving her face, same with Andrea U.  Krista has a cute face, Andrea B is also sort of cute.

I guess I'm just getting pickier as I get older (it should work in opposite of that, haha).  I don't see any of them Maxim cover girl worthy (going by just one photo) at the moment.

Guess we'll agree to disagree on this one. I think the three I named in my post above are absolute knockouts and I can't wait to see them in action. Can't wait for the new season to wash the bad taste of the last one out of my mouth.

It's all good, variety and all that.  I'm sure the casting folks knew how to hedge their bets in the casting stage, anyhoo.

I think you have to be a celebrity to be on the cover of Maxim.  Well, the US edition, anyway.

One thing I have learned is that the publicity pictures don't necessarily match up to the viewing experience.  Like, Purple Kelly was going to be the hottie last season, but she never took off Fabio yellow windbreaker.  Brenda was cute until she opened her mouth and said dumb things delivered in that weird accent.

Also, half the time these "hotties" get booted first, so you never get to enjoy the eye candy.  I never put stock into hotness based on these publicity photos.  Still a little disappointed that Jesse Camacho was booted so early in Africa.

And BTW, the way Idol is shaping up, you're going to have to satisfy your ogling jones with Survivor.  Because it seems like 3 out of 4 girls going to Hollywood are 15-17 years old. 

My wife's a big fan, so I'm something of a Survivor Husband. I suspect she'll really want to talk to me about this season, because it's so different, so I'm going to follow the discussion to better keep up with it.

And her hope is that Rob and Russel are send straight off to Exile Island to go mano a mano.

Well, let's see what happens to Russell now:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-31/survivor-spoiler-exposes-russell-hantz-as-his-source/

I don't want to ruin the upcoming season and learn important information (like who wins/loses).

If I click on Hanson's link above (to find out what's going on with Russell), would that happen?  Has anyone else looked at it?

Sorry, I should have had a bit more info with the link.

In a nutshell, a Survivor fan named Jim Early started posting spoilers with dead on boot lists for Samoa and HvV as well as some boot spoilers from Nicaragua on SurvivorSucks.  CBS sued him for leaking the spoilers (without much of a leg to stand on) and demanded to know who the leak was.  According to Early, he turned Russell in when he found out Russell was trying to throw another Survivor under the bus for the leaks (who appears to be Shannon Elkins from Nicaragua).

There are no spoilers in the article for this season.  In fact, there is zero mention of the upcoming season.  I included it in this thread because of the Russell connection.

CBS hasn't really taken any action yet other than the drop the Early suit. 

My wife found that article very interesting It must be a Daily Beast exclusive, because it wasn't reported by her regular Reality TV web site, which is always on top of this sort of thing.

Thanks, Hanson! 

The news seems to be spreading. Bad timing for the upcoming season. Or maybe it's good timing. No, it's bad.

Funny, he behaves in real life just like he does in the game. I think CBS is going to have to come down hard on the guy. Kind of awkward if they fire him, though. What will they do, not invite him to the reunion show? He's one of the "stars".

This is a very awkward situation for CBS because Russell is looms so large this season.  At present, CBS is in a holding pattern, not knowing exactly what to do next and may be forced to pretend that the investigation produced no conclusive result in order to sweep it under the carpet.  There are rumors that Russell is planning on "spilling the beans" if CBS tries to come after him with a breach of contract suit.  Some speculate that the producers assisted Russell in finding the HII's in Samoa and there was a lot of speculation that Russell and Parvati were made familiar to each other before HvV started.  Any talk of producer interference would have a devastating impact the credibility of the show.

BTW, the significance of Shannon Elkins in the whole kerkuffle is that the casting director for the show casts a lot of contestants based on referrals from former contestants.  So behind the scenes, a lot of these former Survivors are well acquainted with each other from before the show.  There is a pocket in Louisiana that has produced Russell, Boo from Panama, James, and Shannon.  Shannon and Russell are well acquainted with each other, and I think that Russell fed the boot list and specific details of the show to Early for Samoa and HvV while he gave less detailed information  for Nicaragua, probably because it was second hand information from Shannon who himself got much of it second hand due to his early boot.