Episode 1.9

You know, there is a little known Survivor first that happened to Greg. Actually, there are two little known firsts that most people probably don’t know about or don’t care about. First, Greg became the first contestant to win immunity in one episode and be voted out at the first tribal council when he no longer had immunity. Second, Greg became the first contestant to win an individual reward challenge and be voted out in that same episode. Most people point out that he’s the first to win both types of individual challenges, which could have easily gone to two different people. But they don’t seem to realize the other part as well. Both things would happen again. First, I’ll start with the contestants who won individual immunity at one point and then got voted out the first time they didn’t have it right after they did. I’ll try to keep this simple with the straightforward contestants. Greg was the first in Borneo. He was also the only one in Borneo. It happened to only Nick in Australia. It happened to no one in Africa. It happened to both Tammy and Robert (this Robert not to be confused with Boston Rob, a different player) in Marquesas and they happened to be eliminated back to back. It happened to Ted in Thailand. Amazon is a bit complicated since Heidi was voted out after she had it, but she didn’t win it since Jenna gave it to her. It happened to both Rupert and Darrah in Pearl Islands. Darrah’s elimination was unfair since the jury had immunity instead of contestants still in the game. In All-Stars, Kathy, Shii-Ann, and Tom all were voted out the tribal council after they had immunity.

Boy, this trivia is becoming long and cumbersome. But, a rambling man’s got to do what he shouldn’t probably be doing. In Vanuatu, Sarge, Ami, and Eliza were all voted out after they had immunity, although we get to a bit of a special note in the list since Ami wasn’t immune once before she won immunity again and got voted out the next time she wasn’t immune. In Palau, Jolanda got voted out after her brief immunity was up, although this shouldn’t really count since this was before the real individual phrase of the game. Jamie and Rafe both suffered this fate in Guatemala, although Rafe was also vulnerable at tribal council before his last immunity win and inevitable vote out right after. This happened to no one in Panama. It also didn’t happen in Cook Islands. It happened to Edgardo, Boo, and Yau-Man in Fiji, although Edgardo shouldn’t really be listed with them since he never wore the necklace and got it as part of a weird twist. It happened to Erik and Peih-Gee in China. The trivia of it in Micronesia is screwy. Erik only got voted out because he dumbly gave up immunity. Yau-Man suffered the same fate that Jolanda did in Palau. And Natalie may have been voted out after being immune, but she never won immunity.

This then leads to Gabon where Marcus had the same sort of immunity that other people have. It happened to Tyson in Tocantins. This happened to Laura and Brett in Samoa. This happened to Rob in Heroes versus Villains where after the one premerge time he could win immunity, he got voted out after the very next tribal council. This happened to Jill and Brenda in Nicaragua. It happened to Ashley in Redemption Island. South Pacific is a little strange since due to Redemption Island, it happened twice to Ozzy. While it happened to Brandon, it isn’t the same since he was voted out right after giving up immunity. Also, in South Pacific, it happened to Jim, which probably happened due to an unaired event that almost happened. It happened to Jay, Troyzan, and Alicia in One World. It happened to Malcolm in Philippines. It happened to Andrea in Caramoan. It happened to Vytas and Ciera in Blood versus Water. At the last season that it could have happened was Cagayan where it happened to every member of the brains tribe that made the merge (Tasha, Spencer, and Kass).

Now we get to the contestants who won or helped a predetermined team win an individual reward challenge and got voted out in the same episode. I will skip the first season as it happened to someone besides Greg and I can mention it then. It happened to Jerri in Australia. It happened to Brandon in Africa. It happened to Sean in Marquesas. It happened to Ted in Thailand. It happened to Dave in Amazon. It happened to Burton in Pearl Islands. All-Stars was the first time that this didn’t happen. It happened to both Chad and Julie in Vanuatu. It happened to Greg in Palau. Some could say that it also happened to Janu, but since she quit and wasn’t voted out, then I don’t actually count that. In Guatemala, it happened to Cindy. That instance is quite famous since she won a car and was given a choice: keep your car and possible curse or give up the reward you won and give every other contestant a car. They put her in a no win situation which is why she was voted out after keeping the car. It happened to Sally, Courtney, and Terry in Panama. It happened to Parvati in Cook Islands. It happened to Stacy in Fiji. It happened to Jean-Robert and Frosti in China. It happened to Ozzy, Alexis, and Erik in Micronesia.

Then we get to Gabon. It didn’t happen to anyone then. It happened to Brendan and Tyson in Tocantins. It happened to Kelly, Laura, and Shambo in Samoa, thus making all individual rewards of that season produce someone getting voted out. It happened to Amanda in Heroes versus Villains, although that was mostly Colby’s fault for not helping her get the hidden immunity idol clue which she could have used well. It happened to Marty in Nicaragua and sort of happened to NaOnka, who quit and wasn’t voted out the episode she won individual reward. Since rewards were basically nonexistent (with few exceptions that I don’t care about) I can’t mention any of this happening in Redemption Island or South Pacific, although I’m pretty sure that there might have been a reward that Brandon won before he gave up immunity and got voted out. It happened to Michael, Jay, and Kat in One World. It happened to Jeff, Pete, and Malcolm in Philippines. It happened to Michael, Phillip, Andrea, and Brenda in Caramoan, although Andrea’s is a bit strange since a reward happened combined with immunity, followed by a tribal council, followed by another tribal council where she was voted out at the second one and this all happened in just one episode. Blood versus Water is strange, so I’ll just ignore that (not that it happened then anyways). It happened to Morgan and Jeremiah in Cagayan. Sorry for boring you with this trivia that you might not have understood anyways. But enough of my ramblings.

So, I finished watching (for the moment, at least) the show NCIS so I now finally trimmed the list of TV shows on DVD to watch to just three choices. Charmed is now numbers one and two. Power Rangers is now numbers three and four. Survivor is now numbers five and six. On 7-15-2014, I rolled a six and got to watch the next episode of Survivor. So let’s start with it. People talked about the previous tribal council and how they had to lie about the alliance in the game. This is when Kelly considers leaving the alliance and begins what would eventually become why she lost the game. (I just lost the game.) Richard correctly thinks that he’s ruling the game, but he should be more aware the people will eventually want him out of the game. There are some problems with the fish in the game. Richard is considered the only one who can fish, although he’s getting on other people’s (or at least Colleen’s) nerves.

Sean gathers the treemail for the reward challenge. Jeff offers words of encouragement which would become a precursor to the challenge commentary he would become infamous for. Colleen closely beat out Kelly to win the challenge and invited Jenna along where they both got a letter from home and a barbeque lunch. This would be the last good thing that happens to her this game. The other people on the tribe just went back to camp and had the regular camp meals that they always get. This is also when the first counter alliance to an existing alliance was made. This is when Richard streaks naked on his birthday or his birthday suit, as it’s sometimes called. It makes everyone feel awkward.

Since people know about Sean’s voting in alphabetical order which is wrongly assumed to be a stupid strategy. You will not see him win a dumb award this season since he doesn’t deserve it. Everyone on the opposing tribe comes alphabetically before his tribe. Because of the alphabetical order, some of the contestants decided that their names now started with z. The immunity challenge happened next. Rudy wins the challenge and becomes the oldest person in Survivor history to win an immunity challenge. I don’t know if that record will ever be broken.

We then get to tribal council. There is another alliance in the game. Also, I never released before how much I liked Rudy due to all the funny things he said. He thinks about lesbians because he thinks that a woman’s alliance might be formed, although I think that it was quite a while before one would happen and much longer before one was successful. At least there have been successful woman’s alliances since I don’t think that a man’s alliance has ever worked in this game. We get to the vote at tribal council. Kelly votes against Sean. Colleen, Gervase, and Jenna all voted against Rich. Sean, Rich, Rudy, and Sue all voted against Jenna and she was voted out of the game. This is why the alphabet strategy is secretly brilliant. People can easily vote with him and that person will wind up going home. Even with this strategy, every vote from this point forward that Sean would cast would be in the majority, until he gets voted out of the game. Not much is revealed in the promo for the next episode, but I’m sure that I’ll find out what happens later.

So, we reach Jenna who is the first I’m keeping track of to return for another season. She played again in Survivor: All-Stars where she started on the Saboga tribe. After surviving the first two tribal councils, she, along with Rupert, spent a record number of days without attending tribal council before she pretty much had to after the merge. She would be a part of every tribe that season, all four of them. She improved on her game a lot, but things didn’t go well for her at the final four. She betrayed her remaining ally in the game to avoid the potential of drawing for rocks. At the final three, she was outnumbered two to one and after failing the final immunity challenge, she became the last person voted out of the game. Many people call her moves towards the end stupid, but I’m not sure that they were because it was probably impossible for her at that point in the game to win anyways. Maybe it was dumb, but other people screwed up more that season, but I can talk about that if I’ll ever blog about the eighth season. Jenna is also known for doing a sex tape that she intentionally released as a publicity stunt. She has not been considered as an alternate for any season since All-Stars, but she could return as a (sort of) second chances player. I give it a 68% chance that we will see her in a future season.

Total confessional counts: Sean- 27, Colleen- 27, Richard- 39, Gervase- 36, Jenna- 33, Sue- 31, Kelly- 26, Rudy- 25. New confessionals this episode: Rudy- 1, Sean- 4, Colleen- 6, Richard- 6, Gervase- 3, Jenna- 3, Sue- 3, Kelly- 3.

So, we are getting to the part where everyone could get higher than thirty confessionals. They love Richard in the edit, which they typically do for the people who wind up winning the game. I can see why people say that he won it best, although I don’t agree with that. But I can’t say that he didn’t deserve to win the game, because he’s paying it harder than anyone else is right now. He invented the great game play that countless other players have done and many winners were able to play similar games. But, I should save my love for Rich until later. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.