Suvivor: Panama

I'd like to see the show somewhere like in Alaska before it goes all the way away.

Ahh, c'mon! If you make it in a cold place, there won't be any bikinis or other exposed flesh.

On the other hand, no more hairy pits either...

Hmm, it's a trade-off!

You know what I think would be interesting?

Survivor: Homeless in America

They'd take a cross section of comfortable, white Americans and force them to live on the street for two months.

There wouldn't be teams - just individuals. They would compete in things like panhandling, freeway exit-ramp collections, trying to find services, trying to get a job when you haven't had a shower -- that sort of deal.

For rewards they would maybe get a car to sleep in for the night.

There would be no such thing as an immunity challenge.

THAT would be an interesting Survivor.

How about Survivor: Lord of the Flies! No teams, no food, no amenities. They actually have to survive in the wild like primitive man did, hunting and gathering and eating one another when the wildlife gives out. Prize goes to the last one standing. Talk about riveting drama!

If you break my glasses I'll frikken kill you.

Bonus points for the first head on a stick!

I think it would be interesting if it was in the Canadian wilderness. Somewhat like in Hatchet.

When o when will they get rid of Shane? All that swayback preening is getting on my nerves.

What happened with the big medical emergency they amped on about a couple of weeks ago. Was that Bruce's face getting cut? In the promos it looked like they were taking someone out by ambulance boat and then..... nothing.

Whatsit did pretty good making people think he wasn't very strong and therefore not a physical threat.

What is up with Terry telling that he has the immunity idol? How will that effect strategy?

Austin. I like him, though the prayer thing was (to me) a bit OTT. He's got a way with words, though.

Yeah, the medical emergency was plain misleading. I mean, machete to the face, not nothin', but I didn't see any stretchers, and it didn't happen in the dark... (the promo had footage of a stretcher with one of those night-vision cameras, done in jjiggly crisis style).

Shane is gonna be final two. He's just too dastardly. He might annoy some alliance SO much that they just have to get rid of him immediately, but this group is pretty smart, game-wise. I think he's gonna stick around a long time.

Swayback, totally.

The thing with Bruce was smart, though. (Shane and Aras deciding to tell Bruce that he's the man, he's in charge, etc.) Dunno what Bruce would've done otherwise, but as a strategy, it was very, very good. He (Bruce) is huge on getting the respect he deserves, yadda yadda. (I'll happily give him respect for the team flag, beautifully done.)

Is there anything more bogus in "Survivor" than "I'll go tally the votes?" "I'll go wait while the producers put the votes in order for maximum drama" is more like it. As soon as the second "Shane" was read, I knew it'd be Nick.

Adored Cirie's "dictionary salesman" line!

I think Cirie and Shane are likely to go far; maybe Bruce and Terry to round out final four, though I think Sally may get into it. Cirie, Shane, Bruce, Sally would make sense to me -- I just don't think Terry will win everything, not sure if he'll get to the final four.

Austin did do pretty good making people think he wasn't very strong, but telling people his plan at tribal council wasn't so good for him.

I think the medical emergency is still coming up. I thinj those were scenes to come from the rest of the season.

I'm reaching the point, as I nearly always do with this show, where I'm disgusted with everybody. If they're too dense to vote off the most annoying and apparently psychotic guy on the planet, well they deserve to be plagued with him.

I thought there would be some big emergency too. It had looked to me from the previews that they actually took somebody away. I guess that it was Bruce trying to stop a machete with his face. And why didn't Bruce vote with his old buddies and tie the vote? Still dazed or just stupid?

Could be, Teperehmi.

And agreed about Austin blabbing. Wha...? I guess he really thought he was going and figured it didn't matter. Or else it's a counter-strategy of some kind... can't imagine what, though.

LaMina screwed themselves.

It was BAD going into the merge with only 4 members of the tribe in a game where numbers are important--but that made it even MORE important for them to keep the 4 that they had.

LaMina had to strategize to turn the numbers around in their favor. It could have been done if they had been thinking strategically.

Face it! It was 6 (Casaya) to 4 (LaMina). LaMina's only options were 1) Get someone from Casaya to join them; or 2) be picked off one by one.

The first option made it possible for someone in their alliance to win. The second option ensured that ALL of them would LOSE.

Clearly, the first option is far better than the second option. So, how do they get someone from Casaya to join them? OBVIOUS answer: You make the target (e.g., Bruce or Cirie) an offer that he/she can't refuse.

LaMina's leader, Terry, wooed Bruce, but they didn't make him an offer that bettered his position. Why would Bruce flip sides to become the fifth wheel of a solid four-person LaMina alliance?

LaMina made a totally UNATTRACTIVE offer to Shane and Cirie: If they flipped over to LaMina's side, they wouldn't have to worry about being voted out for a couple of weeks. Wow. Thanks, but no thanks. LOL

Terry has the immunity idol that he found on Exile Island. It will only save him ONE TIME. So--unless Terry can realistically plan on winning every single individual immunity challenge except maybe one--the immunity idol doesn't help him get to the end of the game. He should have used it strategically to advance his alliance.

The Casaya alliance targeted Terry, as the leader of the LaMina alliance, to be voted out first . . . IF he didn't win individual immunity. Terry should have thrown the immunity challenge, knowing that he would be targeted.

At tribal council, the vote would have been 6 votes against Terry and 4 votes against Shane. When Terry pulled out the immunity idol, then the person with the next highest votes would have been ousted. LaMina could have ousted Shane.

The numbers then would be 5 (Casaya) to 4 (LaMina). LaMina could have wooed Bruce more forcefully and offered him a place in the final three if he switched sides. That kind of incentive would probably sway Bruce because his own alliance has not guaranteed him the ability to make it that far.

If they could make the offer attractive enough to get one person from Casaya to flop--the numbers would have been 5 (LaMina) to 4 (Casaya). They could have turned the game around, but they MISSED the opportunity!

Not only did they lose a member of their alliance, they lost a jury member. Now, not only the game, but also the jury will be dominated by Casaya.

LaMina screwed themselves. The three remaining LaMina members will soon be sitting on the jury and casting their votes to determine which CASAYA member wins Survivor.

Is that how it works?

Then he totally should've!

I bet he's thinking he can win every immunity challenge. I bet that's hubris.

Debra just ruined all the suspense for me.



Great analysis. But like in every season at the the final show, Terry will be asked why he didn't think of that Shane/Terry vote. He'll mumble something.


Joe

I think Terry lost on the out wit part and I'm sorry for that. Shane sucks.

I was waiting for that too. When it didn't happen I went and back and re-watched the promo. The promo clearly stated "coming up on Survivor" not the usual tagline of "next time on Survivor." When Bruce was hit with the machete I was relieved that it was only a minor injury (maybe needing few stitches) and he'd be returned to the game the same day. Now I have to watch each week not knowing who is going to get hurt and how badly. Ugh.

I'm sick of Shane and really wish they would vote him off BUT he knows the game and is playing it well. Some of the most annoying people make it the farthest simply because they understand the game and play their strategy right. Knowing that Bruce might flip and be the swing vote then playing up to his need for respect = good move. Kept him loyal. Knowing that Austin was more of a physical threat than Nick but going with the overall consensus of his tribe to vote off Nick. He's got insight, he's got the tribe numbers and he's smart, albeit psycho.

If the Ooh La La La Mina men (bucha hotties there) were smart they would have played up to Courtney, who was literally left out in the rain in that hut before the merge and Danielle, both of whom would have been happy to get rid of Shane. Of course they didn't know that but if they had gone to them instead of Shane and Cirie it might be a different game right now.

So the medical emergency may still be happening... hmm.

Any highlights to report from last night?

For some unfathomable reason, CBS was not coming through for me last night. One other channel next to it (I forget which one, and I couldn't see) was also messed up, everything else is fine. I just watched "Will and Grace" for the first time in forever (not that funny, definitely depressing, saw a few major plot points though anyway) and "My Name is Earl..." for the first time ever-ever. I liked "Earl"! Kept clicking back to channel 5 (CBS) to see if whatever was wrong had resolved itself, no luck.

So, this morning I read the episode synopsis and the blog and think I'm up on most of the plot points, but any observations/ comments from you guys would be most welcome.

Why didn't Terry save Austin?

Had he already given the idol away to whatshername?

I think he just doesn't want to get into the saving thing -- I think he wants to keep that dang idol as long as he can.

As far as I can tell, he told Sallykneesocks but didn't give it to her.

I think the plan (his) is, first, to try to get the 3 other non-final-four people to come over to his side next time so that it'd be a tie, and then he whips out the immunity idol. As in, Shane, Cirie, Courtney and Aras vs. Terry, Sally, Danielle and Bruce. (The first group is what Shane told Terry the final four will be. I doubt Shane would deny it if confronted, so that means Danielle and Bruce know they're on the outside looking in and that next week is their chance to stay in the game.)

That depends on the first group voting for Terry, though, I think. Can he use the idol after the vote for other people? Like, if the groups break down as above, and the first group votes for Sally, can Terry give her the idol after the vote and then whomever the second group (TerrySallyDanielleBruce) voted for is out?

I also think that Cirie and Courtney are both likely to get out of that alliance, such as it is -- it's pretty ad hoc, nobody gave their word or anything (Courtney did and then "let" Shane out of the alliance, then things kinda drifted back again...)

I think Terry's plan B is to just plain win every single immunity challenge, which I think he can do, and which I think is stupid.