Episode 27.3

So I had another Survivor dream where I met Russell Swan. I think that the meeting went well for the most part. Rupert is the first one out of the game and Pearl Islands is the first season to be eliminated from the game. The other two seasons he was in before this one are both still in the game at the moment. I wonder if you can always replace a loved one on Redemption Island or if you can only do it when they first arrive there. I predict a possibility that Tyson will change places on Redemption Island, but I'm not certain if he will. He would be falling for the other tribe's trap. After what Rupert did this season and the mistake Tyson made the last time he played, it might not be such an obvious choice to replace your loved one on Redemption Island. Only women are on Redemption Island (unless any of them switch with their loved one). I think that I want Marissa to win Redemption Island. Who knows if the fact that only women are on Redemption Island might affect the duel they use. They don't have to use the challenges in any set order. I think that I want Laura to win the game right now. Good luck. Like I said before, since there are two of them, I might have to root for them both at the moment. But if that doesn't make since, then I'm rooting for Hayden. Rupert being the first one out is like when Zane was the first one out of the twenty-fifth season. I had to think of a new favorite to win. Although I don't think it was until the fifth episode that season when I started rooting for Denise to win. I guess that Laura Boneham is the replacement by default. She is the first person to lose her partner in the game. Colton might quit in this episode. I'll post more about that if he does. It's interesting that the first four people voted out were all women and the only person eliminated from the game is a man.

Survivor 25 brought back three players who all had a link between each other despite not playing together before. Whether a group of three has played together or not, it might be interesting for me to list a group of three players and a link between them to make them returning players. Maybe I'll do it in this blog post and maybe I'll do it in others. It could appear in various blog posts. You already know that I keep updating the list of medically evacuated players that I think should play again and what group they belong in. I will keep updating it all the time. You also know about Wanda (Palau), Jonathan (Palau), and Kourtney (One World) who were all the first to leave the game before going to tribal council whether it was due to an unfair twist or a stupidly designed challenge. I'm not entirely sure that would ever happen considering how Jonathan doesn't want to play again after not knowing why he wasn't picked for a tribe. There are other groups I should consider.

Shawn, Andrew, and Ryan Opray of Pearl Islands were all screwed by the Outcasts twist. Ian (Palau), Rafe (Guatemala), and Terry (Panama) were all the last ones voted out of the game and most of them messed themselves up at the end which is why they deserve another chance in my mind. Paschal (Marquesas), Sundra (Cook Islands), and Matty (Gabon) all lost to final four tie-breakers. Unless I include other tie-breakers in the game, those are the only final four I can choose since Cirie has played three times and Jenn is dead. I do wonder if one of Jenn's friends or relatives would ever want to play the game in her honor. None have appeared yet to my knowledge, but that doesn't mean that none ever would. Lisette, Michelle, and Sylvia from Fiji were all screwed by various twists that season. I could also add Liliana to that list if I wanted to. Stacy (Fiji), Alexis (Micronesia), and Kelly (Samoa) lost the game because someone played a hidden immunity idol. Jason (Micronesia), Brendan (Tocantins), and Erik (Samoa) all had a hidden immunity idol and got voted out after they failed to play it when they should have. Alina, Marty, and Brenda were all the jury members of Nicaragua when two people infamously quit. Fabio, Chase, and Sash were all the final three that season considering how the two quitters greatly affected who won and Sash is included for good measure.

Those are all that I can think about for now. There are many more I could choose. I could go with many others like lowest placing member of a merged tribe, highest ranking member of a tribe that fell victim to Pagonging, finalists with no jury votes, first out of a post-switched tribe, screwed by immunity twists, alliances of three, rivalries of three, tribes of three, and others that I haven't thought of yet. Since I have to include these random thoughts that don't have to do with an episode in these blog posts for some odd reason, I will probably do a Survivor version of Would You Rather? that includes mostly original questions. Feel free to post your answers to those questions in the comments if you want to. Maybe I'll have to do more random blog posts during the break between this season and the next season.

So a lot of interesting things are going to happen and I have more stuff planned for future blog posts. John could have the hidden immunity idol and they haven't shown us yet. Tyson might switch with Rachel which is the other tribe's plan. We will have an interesting opening and that's for sure. Candice might not do well on Redemption Island due to her lack of confessionals. I recognize the duel they will be using today, I think. Tyson saw through Tadhana's plan. Will he switch? He did not. What's interesting is that he said nobody in Redemption Island would have a chance in hell. That's interesting since if he doesn't change his Mormon beliefs, he'll be learning a lot more about it. But since this is a Survivor blog and not a religious blog, I won't go into any more detail. A lot happened in the introduction. More than what typically does. Colton might quit. But will he? (Off topic: does anyone ever feel like you have to rush through a lot of things during commercial breaks during this show?)

In the next segment of the show, Colton is being a whiny baby person. He doesn't want to be hated and he thinks that quitting won't do damage to him. Well, apparently he quit the first time somehow and wasn't really medically evacuated. He got out of the game before he even got a torch. Approximately half of all quitters get their torches snuffed. Caleb no longer has a partner in the game. I heard that Caleb would be on Redemption Island and that's why Colton would quit, to avoid potentially fighting against him. But him quitting is the last real spoiler I heard from this source I'm no longer keeping track of on twitter. Candice wins Redemption Island. Will Colton quitting affect Redemption Island? Did he really quit the first time or did he really need medical treatment? Will someone get back into the game sooner because Colton left? Marissa came in second and Rachel lost the duel. Colton's departure means that Stephenie is no longer the only returning player to come in nineteenth place. John gets another hidden immunity idol clue. Rachel is eliminated from the game leaving Tyson without a partner.

In the next segment of the show, Tyson talked about Rachel leaving about everyone talked about Colton quitting. Tyson considered targeting Monica since her husband is in charge of the other tribe or so it seems. Not much happened except for John telling Brad about the hidden immunity idol clue. I'm quite glad that Colton will probably never play the game again. He quit for selfish reasons. Finally, Osten Taylor is no longer the only male quitter. Colton is now one of four two time contestants who were never voted out. Can you guess the other three? One of them was medically evacuated and one of them quit. I'll mention who they are later.

In the next segment of the show, the tribes prepared for the next challenge. The Baskauskas brothers wanted to fight each other in the challenge because of sibling rivalries and each one thinking that the other won all the time at whatever they did. The challenge is sumo at sea which is great because of my love for Survivor: Palau. And yet, that's not even my most favorite season. Tyson is treated by medical after a shoulder injury. Tyson can't go again. Katie might have thrown her challenge with Kat. I don't know, but she lost too easily. And true to the confessionals shown, the two brothers fought against each other. Who will win? Aras won after a strange fight. Now I'm starting to wonder if the challenges are rigged for those of the same gender with partners to fight against each other. Laura Morett help win the challenge. Will Tyson be okay? I'm hoping that he will. Who will be voted out of the game? We'll see.

Just something I was wondering for a while now that I thought I'd share with you: if a medical evacuation happens, which would be more frustrating 1- Getting medically evacuated before you go to Redemption Island and not be able to play it to get back in or 2- getting medically evacuated after you got voted out when you are living on Redemption Island? I'd personally choose the first option since I never did get voted out. People wondered who to vote out at tribal council. Hayden talked about opening Pandora's Box which is something from Greek or Roman mythology and a twist used in Big Brother. I could be wrong about it, but I think that he has opened it before. I've have to watch more of the season to know for sure. Will John get blindsided tonight? Hopefully he either doesn't have the idol if he gets voted out or he uses it to save himself if he has found it. He could have it and they haven't shown it. John could be voted out because Candice keeps winning Redemption Island. When the votes happened, John was voted out. No votes are shown in the confessional booth, but they will be found out later. Nobody played a hidden immunity idol which makes me hope that either John doesn't have it or he gets back in the game and uses it. In case you are wondering, John could have an idol on Redemption Island and keep it to use after hypothetically coming back into the game. Jeff said so on twitter. Look it up on www.survivor.wikia.com if you don't believe me. Go to the page they have on Redemption Island, the twist.

Next episode, Brad could lose control of the game. Finally, a man is voted out of the game despite the fact that the first two people eliminated from the game were both men. A pair of loved ones is on Redemption Island. My favorite to win Redemption Island is John. If you don't have many confessionals and you are on Redemption Island, you are more or less a Christine and will not eventually get back into the game. Will Candice throw Redemption Island so her husband can stay in the game? Who would get a hidden immunity idol clue if either of them wins? Why didn't they focus on the people on Redemption Island? Does John have the hidden immunity idol that they haven't shown us yet? Am I asking too many questions? Probably.

Confessional counts of players on Redemption Island: Marissa- 5, Rachel- 4, Candice- 2. Confessional Counts of players in the game: John- 8, Katie- 3, Brad- 12, Monica- 4, Colton- 8, Ciera- 4, Kat- 3, Laura Morett- 2, Hayden- 4, Gervase- 2, Tina- 3, Tyson- 5, Caleb- 3, Aras- 6, Vytas- 8, Laura Boneham- 3. New confessionals this episode: Laura Boneham- 0, John- 2, Katie- 0, Brad- 3, Monica- 0, Colton- 1, Ciera- 1, Kat- 0, Laura Morett- 0, Hayden- 1, Gervase- 0, Tina- 0, Tyson- 2, Caleb- 0, Aras- 2, Vytas- 3; Marissa- 0, Rachel- 0, Candice- 0

So a new player gets to be the first player with more than ten confessionals. Rupert had a lot of confessionals so things might not end well for him. I really hope that no one else quits this season. They don't have to pay Colton for being on this season like they had for previous quitters. Colton is the only person who wasn't a finalist to be a two time player who was never voted out. He only got to be on two different tribes in his Survivor career. He played less days than Russell Swan (I'm pretty sure, at least). Michael Skupin, Jenna Morasca, and Sandra Diaz-Twine are the other three players who played twice and were never voted out. Michael was memorably evacuated the first time and a finalist the second time. Jenna won the first time and quit the second time. Sandra famously won twice.

In case you are wondering, I still have a list of medically evacuated contestants who I want to play again. Dana is considered both a quitter and a medevaced contestant. Colton can now claim that, although he didn't quit due to illness and he's play more than once. If I can't include Dana, I'd put Erik, Joe, and Bruce together, Mike, Gary, and Shamar together, and Kourtney is put with a different twist. If I can include Dana, I'd put her with Gary and Shamar while Mike and Kourtney would play together and the other three are left the same. I still don't know if I should include James who has played since he was medically evacuated. I don't include Michael Skupin, Jonathan Penner, or Russell Swan anymore. Maybe a list of mine should include James, but it doesn't at the moment. Maybe, if it did, James, Erik, and Bruce would be together, Mike, Kourtney, and Shamar would go together, and Joe, Dana, and Gary would go together, although you could flip Shamar and Gary if you wanted to. I'd do that list again without Dana. Erik, James, and Bruce would go together, Joe, Gary, and Shamar would go together, and Kourtney and Mike would go together. Besides, I've had dreams about meeting Russell Swan and I also dreamed about when he was pulled from the game. I have the feeling that I think about this and other Survivor related things too much. I also had a dream about meeting Wanda from Palau based on seeing someone who looked like her. (I have no idea where she lives, so it's always possible that it was her.) Now I have the feeling that I talked too much here anyways. Until next time, this is Adam Decker, signing off.