Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Final thoughts

I'm in a ranty mood...

Can we stop with the "Russell can't be the best player ever because he can't play the game socially" meme? I realize that it's become trendy to point out how horrible his social skills are, but it ignores that if he played the game any differently in Samoa, he wouldn't have been in the final tribal in Samoa.

The social game has value, of course. But it can only add value if the jury is willing to ignore the feeling that they have been wronged. In All-Stars, the jury was made up of bitter people who had failed in their second attempt to win the game. Rob lost because of this, even though it was pretty obvious that he had played the game the best. (It's also funny that nobody is now bringing up Rob's lack of social skills after being bested by Russell.) Brian Heidik, for all of his dominance in the game, was not well liked at all. However people were able to overlook their dislike of him and stil vote him winner (his choice of Clay was probably helpful in this regard.)

And then there's Richard Hatch. It wasn't his social play per se that won him the original game. Pagong did not like him at all, but Greg respected his game play enough to vote for him. Heck, Susan Hawk voted for him because she disliked Kelly more. If Richard is supposed to be the best player ever, maybe we should realize that he won based on is game play and not how nice he was to other people. And Russell should be viewed as the guy who sould have won Samoa.

*****

I've made my peace with Sandra winning. While I still think that Parvati should have won this season, I admit that Sandra played the final tribal council incredibly well. She found the line necessary to win (aka be the anti-Russell) and she took to it hard. Every thing she said at tht tribal council was intended to remind the jury that (a) she's not Russell, (b) she wanted to get Russell out of the game for a long period of time, but was thwarted by the disinterest of the jury and (c) did I mention she was against Russell?

It takes both a lot of guts and a good read of the jury to go into a tribal council to basically refer to youself as a failure at the game that you played. It's especially more difficult when Parvati is there as an option for voters who want to reward the gameplay that lead them to the finals, but do not want to reward Russell. Sandra held to her guns and was rewarded with $1 million. I might not have voted that way, but I respect that when all was said and one, she ended up with the most votes.

*****

While we're talking about making peace with decisions, I was blown away by an interview that Rob Cesterino did with Natalie White on his podcast. Natalie is the winner of Survivor: Samoa, aka the season that even Jeff Probst thinks Russell was robbed on. I was struck by how much she knew about the game, and her thoughts on how Russell and others were playing the game. I still feel as though Russell deserved the victory on Survivor: Samoa, but I will make every effort to not refer to Natalie as undeserving. It demeans her game play as well as the title of Sole Survivor.

*****

The biggest question that everybody is asking is whether this victory makes Sandra the greatest Survivor player of all time. Winning both seasons you are in is quite the accomplishment, one that nobody else can take claim to. However, I'm not willing to give her that title.

There's something to be said for being a threat at challenges. Being able to win a challenge is the ultimate backup plan, one that can cause strategy to get thoroughly changed. Sandra's inability to win any sort of challenge means that she can only play one game - the "don't vote for me, I'm not a threat" game. While she might be the best at playing this style of strategy, that isn't enough to be the best Survivor player ever. Somebody who can play the passive game, but is also able to compete in challenges is a much better all-round player. Which leads us to the question: Is Parvati the best Survivor player of all time?

I'll answer that later in the week with my foolish attempt to rank the greatest Survivor players of all time.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Finale Thoughts

Let's get this out of the way: Sandra was gifted a millon dollars tonight.

I don't mean to belittle her accomplishment of being the first two time winner, but at the same time she was dragged along until the end and was given votes on the basis that she wasn't Parvati or Russell. Kudos to her for determining her best path to victory, but I'm not sure that makes her the best player this season and I know it doesn't mean that she is the best player ever.

Realistically, her best strategic move in the game was convincing Russell to vote out Coach. And yet, at final tribal council, she refused to even acknowledge the move, realizing that it would distract from her narrative of "I hate Russell as well guys, just like you!" Even still, she had to get past Parvati, who was very strongly playing the "I was running the show, not Russell" card, trying to get the credit for putting the jury on the jury. Unfortunately for her, the jury was so willing to give her that credit, she ended up not winning even though she deserved it more than Sandra.

(Thought experiment time: If it's a final two instead of a final three, and the final two is Parvati and Sandra, with Parvati sending Russell to the jury, does Sandra still win?)

I'm left torn as to whether Parvati has earned the best player ever. On one hand, making it to final tribal council twice against players who had played the game before is a major accomplishment. On the other hand, a 1/3 record isn't the best. Should the final vote for Heroes vs. Villains be given less credit, or should Parvati's apparent lack of a social game in this season remove her from contention? It's a tough situation, because both sides of the argument have merit.

As for Russell, he got unfairly attacked at times at the reunion. When Jeff was asking him about considering the jury, they both ended up talking past one another. Russell's point was that he had played the game for 78 days straight and didn't know whether his strategy was successful or not, so he couldn't correct any holes in his game. Jeff's point was that there was a glaring hole in his game and he wanted to know if Russell put any thought into the jury's opinion of him.

(Side note: Russell's point about playing for 78 days straight was especially odd when during the finale, Russell made a point that he brought the players he thought were weakest with him and that "didn't work". If he hadn't had a chance to find out whether his game play had worked out, how did he know before the final tribal? It's a question that I doubt we're going to get an answer to.)

Also, Rob's assessment of Russell's game play, specifically that "Russell plays to make it to the end, not to win. I play to win," was completely self serving and horrendously false since ROB LOST ON ALL-STARS FOR THE SAME REASON RUSSELL did. I'm glad Russell called Rob out on that comment, and Rob's comeback was weak and got the cheap pop.

I'll be back on Tuesday with a few more thoughts, including where this season ranks amongst the rest.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains - A Rant

A sidebar which I meant to mention in my post yesterday...

Parvati has been rather firm in her belief that she needs to get rid of the Heroes because they would win the final vote since there are so many already on the jury. It was repeated often enough that it seemed to become accepted wisdom on the show. I'm willing to give it a pass on the show because the players are out there for 30+ days in not-so-great conditions and it's easyto get confused. But when Jeff Probst repeats it in his written-after-the-fact blog post yesterday, I'm set off.

(Jeff's quote: If [Colby] makes it to the end, he wins. Too many heroes on the jury that have too much animosity for the Villains.)

Barring a twist where final tribal council involves 4 players, the jury is going to be a minimum of 9 people. There are currently 4 Heroes on the jury, which means that if a Hero makes it to the final tribal council, there will be a minimum of 5 villains on the jury. So even if you give Colby every Hero's vote (and I'm not sure that is a shoo-in), there are still 5 VOTES IN PLAY! This isn't to say that Colby stands no chance of winning, but it's not a situation where if he makes it to final tribal council, he will win because he has all of the Heroes' votes. He still needs to get a vote from a villain or split the other votes (in the case of a final 3).

This wouldn't have bothered me if it wasn't something that was easily verified by counting the jurors. Is it asking too much to have a quick sanity check on these items?

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Episode 13 Thoughts

The end is upon us. After 3 months of episodes that gave us continuous shock and awe, the finale is on Sunday. I'm sad about this as this season has probably been the best since the original. I don't say that lightly; many seasons have been declared best ever, only to end up not living up to the title after the finale. The only way that this season will not hold up is if the winner is chosen by purple rock.

With the finale right around the corner, we witnessed the dreams of victory ended for two more players. Rupert, who was voted out tonight is out of the running (and his delusions of winning finally destroyed), and Russell, who's stock has been plummetting for weeks, lost his final chance to win the $1 million when Rupert was voted out. Rupert's loss means that there is only one player Russell could possibly beat in Colby. Since it seems like final tribal council is going to be a final three, I can not coe up with a scenario where Russell would get enough votes to win (at an absolute minimum, 4).

With that said, let's bust out a power ranking headed into the finale. Listed along with the player is the ideal final three configuration for them to win.

5. Russell. Final three - Colby and Jerri

As I mentioned above, I can not fathom a way that Russell wins. My final three choices of Colby and Jerri make an assumption that Russell plays the "outwit" card continually, and gets another one or two immuniy wins. It then further assumes that Jerri and Colby split 5 votes between themselves in a 3-2 manner, with JT, Parvati, Amanda and Candice voting for Russell to win. Even that is very difficult to map out, as I see it being a 4-4-1, with Rupert holding the lone vote for Colby. There is a chance that Danielle would vote for Colby over Jerri, which would be the swing to give Russell the win, but I don't see it happening.

4. Colby. Final three - Russell and Jerri

Colby is in the same situation as Jerri and Russell. If Parvati or Sandra make the final three, they are very likely to win. If both make the final three, you are likely to end up with no votes. So Colby needs to bring Russell along, assuming that he will not get any jury votes. He then needs to get more votes than Jerri, which while difficult, is not insurmountable. He would need a really good tribal council, while Jerri had an Amanda like performance. Given Jerri's relative instability at times, it's a possibility.

3. Jerri. Final three - Russell and Colby

It's boring to repeat, but Jerri/Russell/Colby is a final three that conceivably gives all three player a chance to win the game. It mkes so much sense for them to team up and take out Parvati and Sandra that is extremely unlikely to occur. What's funny is that Jerri is the most likely to win that final three, but she is also most likely to stay loyal to her original alliance and not flip to a new one.

With that said, I have been impressed with how Jerri played thus far. She's actually thinking strategically, and making the moves that benefit her the most in the long term. While she's saying that Russell pressured her into voting Danielle, the fact is that by getting rid of Danielle, Jerri has soldified her spot in that allance. It's been interesting to watch Jerri turn into a player to be concerned with. I wonder if her tribe has caught up?

2. Sandra. Final three - Russell and Jerri

Sandra has completely righted her ship and is now pointed towards a strong chance at winning the $1 million. The downside o her play is that her moves have been more subtle, and it might be difficult for her to explain. So instead of bringing Colby along, she brngs Jerri, who seemed less strategic than Sandra. Add in the hated Russell and this is her best chance to win. It now comes down to whether Sandra can make the final three without including Parvati in it.

1. Parvati. Final three - Russell and Colby

This game is Parvati's to lose. She probably needs to win immunity in the next two competitions, but if she can do that, she is gold and most likely to win the game. Otherwise, she is going to be targetted and then voted out. Russell and Colby is her bath of least resistance, but any combination of Russell, Colby and Jerri should guarantee Parvati the win.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Episode 12 Thoughts

...aka the episode where Russell officially lost it.

Don't get me wrong, Russell in "creating chaos" mode is amazing television. But it's also a clear path to lose thegame of Survivor. This week, Russell managed to do some irreplaceable damage to his alliance, while angering both the heroes and jury. I'm surprised he didn't pee on Jeff to annoy the one person he hadn't in the game.

What makes Russell's plan so risky is that he employs a "burn everything to the ground, and end up the sole person standing." Where he ends up with problems is when another person survives. At that point he's in a lot of trouble. It's going to happen again on this season, and he's not going to win. All that remains to be seen is whether there's the backlash against the winner.

And how about Colby and Rupert? They're back into play all of the sudden, having a real chance of making it to the final three. I wouldn't have expected that a month ago, let alone a week ago, and yet here we are. Kudos to them for exceeding my expectations, in no smal part because Rupert carried around a rock in his shorts.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains - Did JT Make the Stupidest Play Ever

I've given the JT play from two weeks ago a bit of thought to determine whether it was in fact, the Stupidest Play in Survivor History.

The last time I made a list like this, the results were:

1. Survivor 3 (Africa): Brandon decides to vote with Lex to eliminate Kelly, thus alienating his tribe.
2. Survivor 4 (Marqueasas): John, Rob D, Tammy and Zoe reveal their final four alliance in a reward challenge, then get Pagonged.
3. Survivor 2 (Australia): Colby throws away a guaranteed victory by bringing Tina to the final 2 ahead of Keith,
4. Survivor 11 (Guatemala): Rafe throws away a guaranteed final 2 spot by "releasing" Danni from her promise.
5. Survivor 5 (Thailand): Shook Jai (led by Shii-Ann) conspires to throw an immunity challenge so they can vote out Jed, even though they have an advantage over Chauy Gahn. The 5 Chauy Gahn members that survive to the merge end up being the final 5.

Will Brandon remain at #1? (Spoiler alert: No) Without any further ado here is the all new list of stupid moves.

Top 5 Stupid Moves Ever in Survivor History:

5.(tie) Survivor 11 (Guatemala): Rafe throws away a guaranteed final 2 spot by "releasing" Danni from her promise., Survivor 2 (Australia): Colby throws away a guaranteed victory by bringing Tina to the final 2 ahead of Keith, Survivor 10 (Palau): Ian throws awaya guaranteed victory by quittng the final immunity challenge and forcing Tom to take Katie

These are all being lumped together, even though they aren't quite equal. Rafe might have still lost against Danni by jury vote - that jury wa looking to give Danni the win. With that said, they all are essentially variations on the same idea: Player puts honour ahead of winning Survivor, then shockingly loses. They are dumb moves which lead directly to the players losing, but as I said last time I produced the list, at least there was some sort of other motive driving the decision.

Still makes it pretty stupid though.

4. Survivor 4 (Marqueasas): John, Rob D, Tammy and Zoe reveal their final four alliance in a reward challenge, then get Pagonged.

To repeat myself...

The reward challenge was the traditional trivia game where everybody has three strikes, and if you get a question right, you get to give someone a strike. John, Rob D, Tammy and Zoe chose to eliminate people from the reward challenge IN THE ORDER THEY WERE GOING TO VOTE THEM OUT! Ignoring the effect this would have on the eliminated people's final 2 vote, they did this with 9 people left. Meaning the 5 left saw a pattern. This gave Sean and Vescepia and opening to convince Kathy, Neleh and Paschal to start voting out the evil 4.

(Sure, John would get his revenge on Neleh by refusing to vote for her since she wouldn't admit to being deceitful or something. But he could have been winning the game if he had just thought ahead.)

3. Survivor 20 (Heroes vs. Villains): JT gives the hidden immunity idol to Rusell. JT is vote out after at the next tribal council he goes to.

Yup, after thinking about it, I can come up with two moves that were even more stupid. The problem with JT's move was that it made a lot of assumptons which JT could not know were valid, and that were proven to be false. Between the women's alliance, Russell's willingness to jump ship and that Russell would use the idol at the tribal council before the merge, there was a lot of things that cold have gone wrong, and a lotof warning signs that JT chose to ignore.

What's silly is that it still could have worked out for JT if Amanda didn't talk to Parvati and set off her alarm bell. Without that tipoff, Parvati would have played the idol herself and then it comes down to a 5-5 tie. Instead, Parvati started handing out immunity idols to anybody who ssked for one, and JT was headed home.

The worst part? That wasn't even the stupidest move in this season. That honour belongs to...

2. Survivor 20 (Heroes vs. Villains): Tyson changes his vote to Parvati from Russell, and ends up being voted out instead.

I've read and heard many Tyson interviews, and his explanation for this move is still lacking. He admits it was a brain fart, but he also justifies it by trying to say that he was trying to earn Russell's trust. If he believed Russell's story that Russell was going to vote Parvati, then there was no harm in voting for Russell. If he didn't trust Russell, then vote Russell. Instead, he votes Parvati, and then Parvati played the hidden immunity idol that the Villains knew was in the possession of Russell and they had voted specifically in a manner to negate the Idol's power.

1. Survivor 16 (Micronesia): Erik gives away the immunity necklace to Natalie

Stll the most stunning move ever in Survivor history. It was pretty clear by this point that Erik was going to win any immunity challenge that involved physical effort. So concerned were the women about having to face rik, they came up with a crazy plan: Have Natalie ask for the immunity necklace. Shockingly, it worked, and Erik was voted out.

I can not emphasize that there was no good reason for Erik to give up the necklace. He apparently did it out of a sense of honour, but even then it's not as though Natalie had done anything to earn his trust. Instead, Erik was suckered in by a girl and has paid the price ever since.

Survivor: Heroes vs Villains Episode 11 Thoughts

The Russell/Parvati alliance has been referred to as Russell being under the charm of Parvati. Tonight's episode did nothing but add fuel to that theory.

Russell acted like a jilted lover today. From his reaction to being out of the loop at the start of the episode to his "I won't share that I have an idol" actions after, Russell acted like a teenager who had just been dumped. Heck, his attempts to add Candice to his alliance could be viewed as a rebound girlfriend.

Parvati played her part well, playing hard to get and at the end, when Russell played the hidden immunity idol that he ultimately did not need, she kicked him when he was down, scalding him for using an idol when it wasn't needed. In the end, they seem to have gotten back together, but you know it's destined for failure.

I do give Russell credit though. He actually used his propensity to tell people that he has an idol to his advantage. By telling/showing Candice that he had an idol, he was able to convince her to flip, as the villains was the side that had the numbers. This insulated him from a possible Sandra flip.

Heck, Sandra played exceptionally well as well. She knew that she was in trouble within her villain alliance, so she attempted to flip. Once she found out that Candice was flipping, she moved back to the villain side, knowing that flipping would only alienate her and probably make her the next target.

Where do the heroes go from here? If they are smart, they will try to divide the villains further and then sneak their way into the top 5 of an alliance. Realistically, they are just going to try to get immunity wins.

Finally, was I the only one who thought Colby was pausing Treasure Island because he wanted to get a better view of the ensuing cat fight between Danielle and Amanda? And why did he declare that the clue was Danielle's instead of saying that everybody should hear the clue for the idol?

Coming up later this week: Power rankings and a review of JT's play with the idol.

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains Episode 10 Thoughts

This season of Survivor is already in the running for being the best season of all time. Great personalities, memorable physical battles, classic one liners, multiple rivalries, some amazing plays, and 2 of the top 5 bone-headed plays of all time. And yet, I have a nagging feeling that something is lacking. There a presence that should be there, but isn't.

I'm referring to Richard Hatch.

The show just doesn't feel right without him there. Unline All-Stars, the players seem to be willing to accept former winners as players on their own merit, instead of just deciding to be rid of all former winners. This would have given Hatch every opportunity to play at the best of his ability. Could he have been the one to take down Boston Rob or Russell? Would he be the one to be able to resist Parvati's charms?

All of these questions won't be answered, and it's a shame. Hatch is the one element that could have tipped this show well over the edge to being must-see TV for the rest of the viewing audience.

If we're lucky, we'll be able to see this on Survivor 30, or whenever they bring back the All-Star concept.

****

That sound you hear is the "Russell Hantz is the best player to play Survivor ever" train coming to a screeching halt.

It started to move in Samoa, when Russell found a hidden immunity idol without a clue. It seemed so obvious that the idol would be hidden before it's presence was announced, and yet nobody had tried to find it prior. Then, he orchestrated the come-from-behind ressurection of his tribe after the merge, and continued to dominate the game to such a point as his victory seemed a foregone conclusion.

When he lost, the train gained a lot of momentum to the point where it was the most dominant argument coming out of the Samoa finale. People weren't discussing whether the jury was wrong in giving Natalie the victory; that was assumedto be true. Instead, the result just fed the frenzy over whether Russell was the best player ever or the best player since Richard Hatch. When he was revealed to be a member of the Heroes vs. Villains cast, the buzz began. Will he take down the seemingly unbeatable Boston Rob? Would anybody be able to counter his unusual playing style?

As the show began, we saw a Russell that was alienated from the majority of his tribe. He fumbled the hidden immunity idol clue and then had to reveal it to the rest of his tribe. After the tribe decided (via Boston Robs's brain) that nobody would look for the hidden idol, Russell would notably go off on his own and look for the idol. Nobody outside of his allience of Danielle and Parvati cared for him. But since he found the idol, he was able to create his own luck by putting a thought in Tyson's mind that Russell was going to vote out Parvati. Tyson inexplicably decided to move away from the foolproof plan and inadvertantly cause his own ouster.

Russell played his part well in that sequence of events. He knew that there was going to be a split vote to flush out his immunity idol. But by Hantz's manipulations, Tyson chose to give an extra vote to Parvati and mess everything up. Even then, Parvati was a sitting duck if Russell didn't make a production at Tribal Council of giving Parvati the idol to play. Russell did this to get Coach's trust, and accentuated this by giving a speech about honour and trust.

After a bit of time to gloat, Russell moved on to the big man on shore - Boston Rob. Rob felt threatened by Russell and his abilty to make seemingly crazy moves which work out in the end. Russell was threatened by Rob's phsyical skills and Rob's leadership over the tribe. In the end, Rob was voted out because of how he treated Jerri in All-Stars.

It also seemed like luck was on Russell's side. After organizing the ouster of Rob, the Heroes jumped to the (incorrect) assumption that there was an all-girl alliance in the works. This was reinforced when Coach was the next player out. At this point, Russell started to make mistakes.

With the Coach vote, it appeared that Russell had made some corrections to the main flaw in his endgame - the social game. Russell did not vote Coach out; instead he voted for Courtney with thoughts of the jury. But his moves exaserbated his main fault...his arrogance. Russell was in a position of power and as he is wont to do, he started acting as though the game was already over, and began to revert to his old ways. He alienated Sandra and Courtney by repeatedly mocking them to their face. He caused Jerri to lose a lot of trust in him, driving her to be closer to Parvati. Parvati started to use his arrogance against him.

Russell lucked into an incredible break, when JT decided to give Russell a hidden immunity idol. Given the protection of an idol that his allies knew nothing about, Russell chose to brag to his alliance, letting them know of it's existance - and more importantly in his eyes - his brilliance of how his played those foolish heroes. Now, both heroes and villains are on edge about whether they can trust him.

After a poor decision to vote out Courtney over Sandra for reasons that are still unclear, the merge occurred. Russell and his alliance had come up with a story about the idol, saying that both Russell and Parvati had both played idols. Luckily, the heroes bought this, even with the evidence that Parvati was not afraid of being voted out.

Russell continued his new play style of trusting his teammates, and gave Parvati (who he thought was the target) his idol to protect her. Naturally, he did not know that Parvati had an immunity idol of her own, as she had did the information from him. As well, she was able to read Amanda's plea for her to use the idol as meaning that she isn't actually in trouble. She was then able to use her idols to protect Sandra and Jerri, bringing Jerri closer to her, and putting a larger target on Russell for betraying the Heroes.

We will have to see how Russell reacts to losing control of his alliance. But the story of how Russell Hantz is the best Survivor player of all time has taken a beating, blows being delivered from his own and Parvati's hands.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Episode 9 Thoughts

Really quick list of thoughts for the show this week:

• Figures that the Villains would win the Reward challenge, though they basically had autowins with Courtney and Rupert/Colby on the other side.


• Pavarti finding the immunity idol and not telling Russell is smart, though if he finds out about it he's going to do something about it (ie get rid of her when she's not expecting.)


• I'm not sure which move was actually dumber - JT giving Russell the immunity idol, or Russell running to tell Parvati. JT was screwed in a sense; having the immunity idol and everybody on your tribe knowing it is bad if somebody flips and yu don't know to play it. Given how JT has played, I could see somebody (Amanda) flipping in order to get rid of him. With that said, the plan was well thought out if every assumption the Heroes made is true. The issue is that you are assuming that the people who were assigned to the Villain tribe are actually telling you the truth. Which is a huge mistake.


• With that said, Russell telling Parvati was pretty dumb as well. I understand that this season's version of Russell seems to be all about trust, but still, having the immunity idol in your back pocket is something that is a strong backup plan should anything (like Sandra trying to flip to the Heroes) go wrong.


• On the bright side, Russell telling Parvati gives us a fantastic scene where they read JT's letter out loud.


• I understand the theory that you want to prevent somebody on your tribe from flipping, so Sandra or Courtney is the target, but, um, Sandra's won the game. She's a bigger threat than Courtney. Get rid of her while you've got a chance.


• Finally, without comment:
  

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Episode 8 Thoughts

Welcome to the Russell show.

Just in case you were under any illusion as to who the star of this show is, this episode should have waylayed any doubt in your mind. Every episode from here until he's voted out is going to revolve around Russell. Quite honestly, I don't blame the producers in the slightest; they realize they have TV Gold on their hands and they will ride it into the ground. When you throw in how well he has played the game, you get a complete package for CBS and Mark Burnett.

Unfortunately, that means we get very little of the Heroes tribe. This is too bad because the heroes are starting to get interesting. JT finding the Idol and letting everybody know he has it was a bold move that he was forced into once Amanda found him with the idol. But Candice gets the gold star for being the only one to notice that JT is running the show. Will she turn on him? I'm guessing not, as the merge should be coming in next week's episode. It's less likey that she will be able to flip to the Villains tribe, so instead she will stay with what she knows (a theme for this season - knowledge is power.)

One thing that will probably never play out - why did Russell vote for Courtney, while Double D voted for Coach? Is Russell trying to portray hmself as a player of honour (which coincidentally intersects perfectly with his desired gameplay?) Did Russell know that the jury was going to start to be populated with this vote, so he cynically voted for Coach? Is this an elaborate attempt to lay the seeds even further for an all-girl alliance story?

Sadly, I don't think we will get the answer to that question. It will be forgotten at the reunion once Russell refers to himself in the third person for the 35th time.

Survivor: Heroes vs Villains Episode 7 Thoughts

I can't really say it much better than Dalton Ross when talking about this episode. From the greatness of Colby of unleashing his agression in the reward challenge, to Courtney in the immunity challenge and Russell's answer to Rob's question of who the weakest is (Courtney and Sandra, who Russell referred to as "one of these" and then "Right here".) Plus, Boston Rob's last words to Coach ("You're a lttle man.")

One thing that Dalton didn't mention was that it looks like Russellis going to get his preferred environment - a land where chaos rules, and nothing is set in stone. Russell worked best when he was in an environment where everybody was on edge and not thinking rationally, letting him and his moves becomes even more effective. It's going to be interesting to see how these seasoned Survivor players react.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Episode 6 Thoughts

In the Pantheon of Stupid Survivor Moves, three tower above all others:

1) Erik choosing to give up the immunity necklace to Natalie, only to get voted out immediately after (Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites)
2) James getting voted out while holding 2 hidden immunity idols, which were only good for the next 3 tribal councils (Survivor: China)
3) Brandon choosing to turn on his tribe to vote out Kelly instead of voting out Lex (Survivor: Africa)

Tonight, a fourth move joined them, and threatens Erik's hold on the top spot. For reasons that are still unclear to me or anybody else watching the show, Tyson flipped his vote and inadvertantly caused his own ouster from the game.

If you watched the previews during March Madness or any of the commercials, you knew it was double elimination week on Survivor, with both tribes being told that they would be headed there. Of course, individual immunity was on the line, with each tribe competing for individual immunity within their own tribe.

The results were, naturally, more interesting on how they impacted the Heroes tribe. Candace was the odds on favourite to get voted out. Naturally, she won, leaving Colby as the biggest Heroes target. Colby even gave a speech about how he knew he was next to get voted out, and he didn't want to scramble around. Fortunately for him, everybody else was willing to do the scrambling for him.

Somewhere along the way, the Heroes gained some sense (or grew a set), and realized that keeping a player who's hobbling aroud one leg and who is eating a lot of their food. This set off Amanda's warning sensors, and he ran to James to tell him that he was in trouble and needed to show eveybody that he was (a) okay and (b) able to follow the "Banana Etiquette" (which is apparently to offer bananas to everybody when you go to get them, not to eat 5,000 bananas for every 1 that your tribemates eat.)

This leads to one of the funniest moments of the season - James challenges JT to a racein order to prove that his knee is fine. Naturally, JT handily beats James, even while running backwards for 3/4ths of the race. James also ends up limping after, thus defeating the purpose of the race and leading the Heroes to vote him out.

One thing that has been bubbling under for a while is how JT is basically controlling the moves the Heroes' trie is making. In week 2, it was up to him whether Stephenie or Amanda went. He chose Stephenie. The week after, he made the move to go with Tom and Colby to vote Cirie out. Tom's elimination came when he chose to side with Rupert/Amanda/James over Colby/Tom. And this week it was his suggestion that James might not be able to perform physically that set the ball rolling on the plan to get rid of James.

Many people have been down on how wishy-washy JT has been, but realistically, his wishy-washiness has allowed him to control the game as much as possible, while still remaining under the radar. It is remarkable to watch, and I have to be honest, I'm very impressed with how JT is playing right now. He is a threat to win it all again.

The Villains continued the Boston Rob/Russell fued, with both guaranteeing that the other would be the next to go. Then Boston Rob won immunity, messing up what the production crew had to imagine to be one of the best tribal councils of all time. Instead, we were treated to a game of cat and mouse that was remarkable to watch.

Rob began by telling his alliance that Parvati would be the target, while trying to make Russell believe he would be the target so the hidden immunity idol would be flushed. Rob and Russell talk, where Rob tells Russell that Russell has to play the idol to be safe this week, since "other people" are very upset with him. Immediately Russell tells his alliance of Parvati and Double D that Parvati is the new target and they are trying to smoke the idol out of his hands. So he tells Parvati that he will give her the idol, and they can get rid of Tyson.

We're then back with Boston Rob coming up with a new plan - divide the votes 3 for Russell and 3 for Parvati. If Russell uses the idol, then Parvati goes on the revote. If he doesn't then she goes. Sound strategy. Russell then takes Tyson aside and tells him that Russell has to vote for Parvati, since he wants to stay and he knows the vote is going her way. Somehow Tyson interprets this as allowing him to vote out Parvati as well (his vote was to go to Russell).

At Tribal Council, Russell takes the immunity idol out and seems to go to play it, but instead gives a lecture about playing like Coach and using honour and integrity, which leads him to give the idol to Parvati, who then uses it. Russell seems serene, as though he's accepted that he might end up voted out. Only Tyson's stupidity keeps Russell around and ends up eliminating himself.

Which brings us back to where Tyson's play stands in terms of stupidity. It's below Erik - giving away immunity at the final 5 against a group of players who were in a tight alliance is still the height of stupidity. It's above Brendon - ultimately Brendon's stupidity would have worked if his tribe had trusted him. But is it a biggr blunder than James? James' was blindsided, and probably felt if he got past that tribal council, he'd be able to just play the idols for the next two weeks. At the same time, James could have used one and then seen what happened with immunity the next week. Tyson was just, well, dumb. There was no advantage to piling on the votes to Parvati. You might want her gone by your hands, but sometimes that doesn't work out and you have to be satisfied with the end result, even if it wasn't achieve optimally.

So there you go. Tyson made the second stupidest move in Survivor history. I was surprised to see him make the move and disappointed that he did not last longer. However, for my continued entertainment from the Rob/Russell fued, I'm glad he's gone. I hope the payoff next week is even better.

Survivor Heroes vs Villains Episode 5 Thoughts

Hey y'all, there's a rumour that James just wants to win.

I say it's a rumour because his and his tribemates' actions have told a much different story. They don't care about winning; they care about self-preservation. Right now they are playing a game of "Don't get voted out before the merge, and then scramble once you reach the merge to better your position." The latest victim of this mindset is Tom.

I can't actually blame James for his attempts to save himself as he was actually the other target for being voted out. However, somebody like a Rupert has exposed himself as a hypocrite and has destroyed any claim he had on being a likeable player and/or a good player. How can you keep a player who has a brace on his knee that is meant to prevent you from bending the leg and who says that his knee is fine "but [he] can't walk on it" under the guise that he's stronger than the able-bodied fire fighter?

For that matter, under what history has James been considered a winner? I don't remember him winning individual immunity in either of the season's he's been in. I DO remember him being the stupidest Survivor ever (until Erik took the crown) for having 2 immunity idols and being voted out because he didn't play one. WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO SAVE SOMEBODY WHO HAS PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE A LOSER OVER A PERSON WHO WAS A PART OF THE FIRST EVER SURVIVOR TRIBE SWEEP?

What is interesting is to watch JT play this game for the second time. The first time he aligned with Steven, dominated the challenges and then win the million dollars. This time it seems as though he's realized that he needs to get to the merge and let his immunity run begin. So while he's made the odd move to better his game (ie voting Cirie out), he's somehow managed to follow the pack while continuing to be the swing vote. Unless both sides decide that they need tovote him out, JT is going to have played the most visible under the radar game ever.

The Villains continue to be shockingly good at these challenges that require teamwork, especially considering that at tribe, Boston Rob and Russell might destroy each other.

Rob's inexperience with the hidden immunity idol is obvious, even without him telling us every 5 minutes that he never played with a hidden immunity idol before. His answer to the assumption that Russell has the idol? Vote him out! Of course, he'll just play the idol and then get to choose who is getting voted out.Somebody who has played with the idol needs to tell Rob this so they can come up with another plan. (Then again, somebody should have been there with Russell trying to find the idol themselves. It's nice to be all "team unity" and everything, but this is an individual game.)

So while one tribe has completely melted down, another manages to stay together by sheer ability to win challenges. How long until the Villains meltdown themselves?

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains Episodes 3 and 4

It's fun to compare how both tribes are going about getting rid of "problem players" for lack of a better term.

In Episode 3, the villains were concerned with Parvati getting too ingrained in the tribe and beginning to set her path to the final 4. Everybody recognized her as a threat, but in the end, they chose to put the strength of the tribe ahead of the potential of a player destroying their game by voting out Randy over Parvati. In part this was because most of the villain tribe believes they are actually able to run the show and deal with "problems" like Parvati whenever they want. There was also a bit of reality setting in. They realized they were not unbeatable. If they wanted to avoid Tribal Council, it was best to get rid of the weakest player (in this case, Randy.)

In Episode 4, we saw the other end of the spectrum. The Heroes tribe had been to Tribal Council twice already, so they had already devolved into self-preserving alliance forming early on. This was driving their decision to get rid of Tom or Colby. There was no thought to what would make the tribe stronger, no matter what platitudes were being spouted by Rupert. When Tom and Colby made their move to counter the anti-Tom/Colby movement, they chose Cirie because of her mid/late game play, not to make the Heroes tribe stronger.

As the game goes on, both tribes will continue to move along the path of the Heroes - make alliances, cover your own butt. It's the bature of the game. For now though, it is interesting to watch the Heroes tribe act more like Villains, while the Villains tribe act like Heroes (well, Boston Rob at the very least.) I doubt the producers expected this, but I believe they are loving the storyline being handed to them.

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains: Episode 2 Thoughts

As far as predicting the game goes, I'm well off. I mean, I got that the weakest was going to be first voted off of the Heroes tribe, but they've split into factions I was not expecting. It's left me confused.

I really don't get what the Heroes are thinking. Cirie has proven in two seperate seasons that she is one of the best strategic minds to play Survivor. Many players have said this. So why is her vote being courted by both sides? Why not just vote her out all together, so you don't have to worry about her later? It's not like she is adding to your team on the challenges. Some would argue that she is huring your tribe in the challenges. So why exactly aren't you dealing with her now, as opposed to later?

That confused me to no end. The repercusions of this also confused me. How much credit does Cirie get for putting herself in the position of being a swing vote AND keeping Amanda around for a possible alliance later? Did she just luck her way into a position where there was a faction fight and she was in the middle? The editing lends itself to Cirie and Candice lucking themselves into that position, but I could see how Cirie might have seen this coming and positioned herself into this situation. Then again, this might be a ruse which has Cirie and Amanda already aligned but appearing to not be initially so they can surprise their alliance later on.

Another thing that confused me was James going on and on about how Stephenie was a loser just outlasted the rest of her tribe. First, this ignore that she finished second in Guatemala, which is further than James ever got. More importantly, where does the guy who got voted out while holding two hidden immunity idols get off calling anybody else a loser? I really wished that somebody would have mentioned this at some point during the incredibly fun yet slightly uncomfortable Tribal Council. Heck, I'm sure I know James' reaction to that fact:

Shut your mouth.

Meanwhile, over at the Villain family camp out, Boston Rob has the flu and a bit of "crybabyitis", Coach and Jerri continue to work as a team (did you see how they rolled that block in the immunity/reward challenge?), and Russell continues to feel jealous and plot against Boston Rob. When the showdown between these two finally come, it will epic I can not wait.

Next week looks great as well, with them bringing back a purely physical game. I have to imagine that somebody is going to take a beating in this episode, and the end result is going to leave us cringing. Plus, we're going to see the end result of James' actions at tribal council. Are Tom and Colby going to be the next ones voted out, or can they swing the tribe to get rid of James before them. And isn't it time for the villains to have to face tribal council?