Survivor: Gabon - Season 17 (1 Viewer)

[Stan]

I'm with Patrick, can't stand Ace.

I find him to be a smug, arrogant jerk. I'm guessing he's on the short list to be voted off. Wonder if he'll throw a tantrum next week to find out who the second vote came from.

GC is a hopelessly lazy slacker, probably also leaving soon. Might just be their typical editing, but I've never seen anyone stop and take breaks the way he did during challenges. Even last year, Chet was often exhausted by challenges, but at least he tried, he didn't just sit back on his ass and watch others work on the challenge.

 

[mylan]

I agree, I've watched every season and I cannot remember another contestent who was as lazy, and a thug to boot around camp, the bad mouthing he did with Randy because he suggested they limit the rice and have two meals instead of three showed he doesn't have a clue, he ranks as my least favorite character of ALL seasons, not just this one.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Agreed on GC and...

Sugar is getting played by Ace like a violin. Or, is she?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yay! At least the non-Sugar blonde conundrum is finally settled with tonight's boot-off.

 

[Brent M]

Well, this is certainly the earliest shake up of tribes in the show's history. I was surprised they re-organized only 3 weeks in, but I guess they'll do anything to surprise people at this point.

 

[Hanson]

It could be argued that they had to do it because they didn't want another Paulau (at least, an unentertaining Paulau). But I think they planned it from the start -- have a schoolyard pick 'em with total strangers, and then have them pick again after a week of knowing each other to better balance the teams.

The biggest loser in this was Orville Reddenbacker. Obviously, it was an age issue, but more than that, it was a perception issue -- at 57, he's not really that old (there have been plenty of hale and hardy and physically dominant 50-something males in the history of survivor), but he looks 70-something (and is emaciated to boot).

The biggest gainer was Randy, who polled surprisingly high in his tribe, was picked in the middle by his peers, and scored all the goals in the immunity challenge. My favorite Randy moment was when he told his tribe that he hated all of them and they all laughed it off -- expect he wasn't really joking. If this Survivor iteration ever devolved into cannibalism, Randy would be chewing off arms and fingers with gusto.

Ace's fake accent slipped during one of the confessionals (I know he's from London, but from what I've read, his real accent isn't that pronounced). I still don't know what the fake accent strategy is. To make him appear more douchey? But what I don't understand is that he clearly showed everyone else how to use your arms instead of the paddle to maneuver during the immmunity challenge, and yet everyone flailed around in the tiny boats clutching their useless paddles except for Marcus.

Wow. Crystal, GC, and Ken are perhaps the worst Survivor strategists to hold a voting majority, and Matt isn't really much help. The fact that they thought for even a second about voting off Kelly, who is in their hip pocket for Jackie was head-spinningly dumb. Jackie's fault was to spend too much time with Ace -- she should have been cozying to with the obvious Fang majority. Too little, too late. BTW, Kelly may actually be more anti-social than Randy. She gets into an alliance with the Fang members, yet takes the time to call out Crystal and Kenny at Tribal Council. If everybody hates you, is it their fault or yours?

Charlie said he had Marcus' back... In his dreams! Zing!

If I had played the Survivor Gabon Elephant Sighting Drinking game (one shot for every elephant sighting), I would have blown a .12 BAC. Next week -- MORE ELEPHANTS!

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's really getting obvious that they are repeating the animal shots in the bumper segments. That is surprisingly amateurish for this production.

 

[RAF]

Reminder to all interested: NOW is the time to list your entries in the HTF Survivor 17: Gabon thread near the top of this section. ENTRIES CLOSE at 8pm (EDT) on Thursday 10/16/08. NO EXCEPTIONS. See the rules for full details.

Enjoy!

 

[Brent M]

Has anyone else noticed that Dan is like a grown up version of Michael Cera from Superbad and Arrested Development? It's almost creepy how much he looks and sounds like that kid.

 

[Joe:C]

I doubt Ace could get any more douchy.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Here is an article from a trade publication on the pluses/minuses of shooting Survivor in HD.

It's interesting that they are still thinking 4:3 even though shooting 16:9 which gives them worry in the editing room as to whom is doing what on the outside edges of the image for continuity's sake.

The Dirt (literally) on Survivor in HD from digitalcontentproducer.com

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And another reminder for RAF's Survivor contest for anyone who still needs to enter their selections...

They are due before tomorrow night's episode.

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Winner: Please remember to set aside some winning for your taxes; CBS will not pay them.

'Survivor' winner Richard Hatch is a loser with Supreme Court

The Supreme Court denied Richard Hatch's appeal.

 

[Patrick Sun]

What was with all the shots of Marcus and Charlie celebrating together? Is Charlie turning Marcus over his side for some possible bromance?

 

[Mike Frezon]

I guess G Sizzle was just a flash in the pan.

I'm not sure why he looked surprised after the final vote was read.

Oh well, onward & upward.

Oh. And an interesting remark from tribal council about how it's "okay to go through other people's bags." It doesn't really seem okay to me. I guess that meant it's okay with Mark Burnett?

 

[Michael:M]

That's how I interpreted it - that going through someone's bag isn't against the rules of the game. It may be a crappy thing to do, but it doesn't violate any of the game parameters.

 

[RAF]

Excellent article reference, Mike! (And the follow-up article referenced at the end of the one that you cited is also worth a read to get a good perspective on the entire HD shooting scenario.)

Yes, the HTF Top Ten Challenge is now officially ON and a dozen stalwarts (including 3 HTF staffers/family) are duking it out with 9 people eligible for the prize package. It should be an interesting couple of months of HD-Reality viewing.

Enjoy!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Thanks, Robert. I had completely missed the other link at the end of that article.

It was also interesting that we finally had some interaction of Survivors with animals (well, one elephant) during the show. Frankly, I didn't think that was ever going to happen. It was hard to get a good read on the depth of field of those shots (how far away the people really were from the elephant) but I really had the sense that were being rather cavalier about being that close to such a large beast.

IIRC there was only one happenstance during the first season in Africa (season 3?) that one of the camps heard a lion skulking about at night.

 

[AnthonyC]

I loved this episode--it really felt like something from the early seasons; the elephant scene and the way it was edited was straight out of S2 or S3.


That same tribe (which, incidentally, contains my favorite player of all time ) encountered a water buffalo on a water run as well. And there was a brief scene in one episode from Outback where the players watched a family of kangaroos hopping about.

But the greatest non-human on the show is easily the monkey that stole one tribe's food in Thailand.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wait a minute! What about the terrorist pelican!

 

[mylan]

See ya GC, don't let the jungle hit you on the ass on your way out!

I hadn't realized it before but I think the jungle was getting to him way before now and that probably contributed to his attitude and the fact he "quit" a couple of episodes ago but good riddance I.M.O.

During T.C. did anyone else take it that Jeff was almost coaching Sugar to use the idol or at least swing the tribe away from voting for her since she had it but probably wouldn't use it. I could be way off but he did seem to over explain the scenerio a bit.

..About that Elephant; I get home from work around 7:45 so we usually watch it upstairs in SD while we eat and then go down and catch C.S.I in HD. I had recorded Survivor downstairs as well and afterwards watched bits of it in HD and oh my God, what a difference! The HD blew us away, you could see the Elephants' yellow eye and the black pupil very clearly, not to mention the spider web in the tree branches!

We will never watch it in SD again after that