Survivor: Game Changers

um, the whole news clip that I watched was 1:30 (one minute, 30 seconds). Maybe you think I'm referring to the reunion show... that I didn't watch either???

 

I think I understood what you meant. My point was that the reunion show probably didn't spend much more time on the topic than that 1:30 clip you watched. I don't know for sure because I didn't see the clip and didn't time the show segments.
Varner had about that much time too. He used his time to talk about himself, name drop his new employer, and try to shill his upcoming book. I didn't feel that CBS was preaching the story to the viewers. Guessing that 1:30 that you watched was probably the extent of the Zeke part.

The jury members plus the final three each had about the same time at the mike.

IMO, the only real preachy part of the show was Ozzy's political speech, and Probst's swooning over Cirie that I don't understand.

 

Gotcha. The news clip actually didn't have any of the reunion show... just Zeke posing in some weird shots. (couldn't find the link on the att home page)

For me, the reunion shows never live up to the expectations since they never talk about the people I want to know more about. Honestly, I thought watching last season would be the last for me since I didn't think Adam was in no way deserving of the million dollars.

 

It shouldn't have mattered if Culpepper doesn't need the money, or if he's a bully..Is he? I didn't see it as that. He won FIVE immunity challenges when he needed to the most.

Again, Survivor doesn't reward the best player.

 

I had made that mistake until about two days ago, when I went to look up his passing stats or something. And there weren't any. For the record, it's Daunte, not Dante ...

You missed an opportunity to observe Zeke handle the issue with maximum savoir faire. As always.

 

If "best player" were defined only by winning challenges, then yes he should have won. But it's been clear for a very long time that the game is also psychological in nature. That has just as big of an impact (if not more so) than winning immunity challenges. What's the point of getting to the final tribal council if you don't end up with enough votes?

Culpepper also failed badly in terms of strategy. He choose to vote out Tai, a player whom he could have beat in the final voting. Instead he left in Sarah, someone he couldn't beat with the voting. It goes to show that even if you win five immunity challenges in a row, dumb choices will still haunt you.

 

And what did Sarah do to deserve a MILLION DOLLARS?

She was gifted a Legacy Advantage by a ding dong who hadn't done squat....much like her.

Culpepper played the game hard, won immunity, probably did more work around camp than the final four combined and gets what?

A pat on the back.

 

I'm not a huge Cirie fan--I was the first time she played, but then her reputation started to grow beyond what I think she deserved, as evidenced by the way over-the-top reaction from Probst, the jury, and the finale audience--but I think she deserves a little more credit. First off, I don't think it's fair to assume someone helped at camp unless it explicitly comes up as a plot point. They don't need to show everyone tending a fire or gathering wood. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, we are seeing a 3-day span excised into 40 minutes. As far as challenges, idols, etc. she plays with the cards she knows she has. Not everyone is a natural athlete like Brad or as attentive to detail as Tai. Cirie knows that her strength is her personality and her mind. She has come up with some absolutely brilliant strategic plays over the years and she has a natural ability to sway people to her side.

I will say though, she was extremely fortunate to have avoided Tribal Council pre-merge. As strategic as she is, if she makes it to the merge, there's no reason to vote her out before the final 4-5 (unless, oddly enough, if you're an alpha male, a type of player she rarely works with). She's never going to win challenges and everyone will agree that she's too likable to win so it's an easy endgame vote.

With that in mind, the finale certainly had no shortage of stupid moves (Brad bullying Tai; Tai using an idol to save Aubry...and then voting her out the next round), but by far the stupidest was that the producers allowed a situation where someone could be "voted out" by default on day 36. That's absolutely ridiculous, and they're fortunate that it happened to someone as pleasant as Cirie because so many other players would have (rightfully) been pissed off by the circumstances. But I guess it just keeps with the tradition this season of fan favorites getting screwed by unnecessary twists.

I'm not sure why you think 3/4 of her seasons she played a weak game. I think Jeff Probst has shifted the narrative so that people think it always takes "big moves" to win, but that's not always the case. Sometimes it's subtle stuff or just building relationships, both of which Cirie excels at. But she does have some impressive moments, not the least of which are orchestrating the first-ever 3-2-1 vote to eliminate the goat that everyone wanted to bring to the end in her first season, and convincing Erik to give up immunity her second time.

Cirie's problem is that she's too likable. Bottom line. This is what's allowed Sandra to win the game twice. She's loud and abrasive and it's easy to assume you can beat her in the end. Cirie is not that way at all.

Speculation: perhaps there's a tie next season (which just recently wrapped filming) and Probst wanted to give a heads-up.

Not a Sarah fan at all (so boring!) but she deserves credit for voting out Sierra and still managing to get the legacy advantage. Granted, that owed more to Sierra's stupidity than anything, but Sarah played it well. As far as Culpepper, look at how he approached Tai in the finale. Is that really a wise way to approach a social game?

 

I agree; I was very surprised by that. That was almost as bad as "the jury wins immunity", maybe the dumbest wrinkle the show ever did, way back in season 7.

I was expecting Probst to read the votes and then announce a re-vote when the totals came up zero for everybody. I didn't think an immunity idol (other than the one won at the challenge) covered the entire tribal council, but rather just one vote.

In one of the runs of The Mole (I think the second one), they got down to the final five players (or thereabouts) and three of them had "exemptions" which were analogous to Survivor's immunity idols. That was at least two too many for the context.

 

sQUOTE="anthontherun, post: 16532861, member: 22713"]With that in mind, the finale certainly had no shortage of stupid moves (Brad bullying Tai; Tai using an idol to save Aubry...and then voting her out the next round), but by far the stupidest was that the producers allowed a situation where someone could be "voted out" by default on day 36. That's absolutely ridiculous, and they're fortunate that it happened to someone as pleasant as Cirie because so many other players would have (rightfully) been pissed off by the circumstances. But I guess it just keeps with the tradition this season of fan favorites getting screwed by unnecessary twists.[/QUOTE]

Can't agree with this........

Cirie had plenty of time to get off her backside and look for an Idol or acquire an advantage somehow........

Just like everyone else who had one that night managed to.

She didn't.....so........

Also..........what happened to the OUTLAST???
These days the show is just a few puzzles and a stack of food rewards.

Notice they don't wheel out the mirror and scales anymore?.......
Maybe a few contestants went berserk at multiple food rewards and PUT ON a few pounds!!!

I thought the show was called "Survivor"................not "Holiday Island"!!!!!

Anyway.......great to see Ozzy is the new champ for most days in!!!!!

 

This doesn't change the fact that there were four advantages remaining at the final 6. Add the challenge winner, and someone was likely to get screwed no matter what. I'd feel the exact same way even if it'd been Troy that fell victim to it. There's no way around it; it was extremely poor planning on production's part.

 

Survivor New Zealand is currently airing for anyone that watches occasionally from "alternate" TV sources. Bit of a carbon copy of the US version, so far, & playing for $100,000 instead of the $1,000,000. Subtitles would help with a couple of the players. It's something to watch in the off season.

 

So what if there were 4 advantages plus Immunity left at final 6?.....
The rules allowed Tai and the others to hang on to their Idols and advantages till then anyway.
I don't care who the victim was either but they had their chance to not be regardless.

Planning?......Surely you aren't asking the Producers to manipulate players into using their Idols or advantages when it suits THEM??

If only Cirie had managed to have an advantage too!!!!
Now THAT would have REALLY spiced things up!!!!....LOL
Imagine the whole lot of 'em sweating over making a fire....

Personally I really enjoyed the whole scenario as it was a great, interesting first time situation.

 

Simply put, she did the two main things you have to do to win the game... survive until the final round and convince the jury to vote for you. Brad did a great job of surviving until the final round. It was the other part of his game that was lacking.

 

Lacking? I'm confused...If winning immunity five times, providing food for the pansies, and working your ass off around camp is lacking then tell me exactly you should do to deserve the money?

No one's perfect, but Sarah certainly didn't deserve a million dollars for her lackluster, handed a legacy advantage performance.

 

To many damn advantages in this game now...designed to help the helpless. Some people can't walk and chew gum at the same time...many on are Survivor.

 

You build relationships with the people who end up on the jury that make them want to vote for you in the end.

 

Perhaps he could have been a little less of a bully towards his fellow contestants. The way he talked to Tai was enough to lose him a few votes. Again, winning immunity does little good if most people don't like you enough to vote for you in the end.

Also, it should be clear from Ozzy's track record that winning immunity and providing for the tribe is, by itself, not enough to win you a million dollars.

You must have missed the episode where Sarah convinced Sierra to will her the advantage... then organized the voting so that Sierra would be the next to go home. She arguably did more to earn the advantage than Sierra did.

Sarah was a very strategic player. Yet, after having a hand in putting basically everyone on the jury, she could still convince them she was the more deserving winner. In contrast, Brad showed little strategy. And he showed very little understanding of the game when he voted out Tai instead Sarah.