Episode 29.11

With this being a two hour episode, maybe the blog post name should actually be episodes 29.11 and 12. But, like last season, I’m not going to bother with possible name changes. Even if the next episode should be episode 29.13, I will still call it episode 29.12. I don’t care if it is a misnomer or not. Like I said, last season’s post were misnomers. Now, this could cause a problem for me. I typically only watch two different shows (SVU and the 100) after Survivor ends and neither are on CBS. With me doing a recording on VHS and a back-up recording on my laptop, I will only be able to watch one of these two shows. And while I prefer SVU to the 100, I’m okay with missing a lot of SVU and would rather get caught up on the 100. But since I have a friend who is into the 100, I could always get text updates from him. But I might not get back in time to see either of these shows, which is bad. Meanwhile, I’m not sure how or even if I can get caught up on stuff during VHS (besides Survivor) because the Christmas watching stuff is taking over. I have a set list of Christmas movies and specials that I want to watch. I won’t keep you updated on them, but I might change my mind on that should any remain unwatched before this year ends. I won’t be watching any of my TV choices or regular movie choices for a while, although I could change some of the rules that I have.

This leads into a segue into my next section. I was able to watch a movie on Friday, but it was Celtic Woman, part of a series, so I won’t be replacing that. On Saturday, I watched Copacabana, the play that I was in. I replaced that with a special movie that my sister made called the Decker Family. This means that the Saturday list will be Decker Family, Fifty First Dates, Heidi, Monster’s Inc, National Treasure, and the Parent Trap. I once thought of doing the commentary with the Parent Trap, but I’m not doing that. It is part of a group of movies that I’ll want to watch next year, so we’ll see if they end up happening or not. I’m not going to start another movie list unless I’m done with Christmas watching and I have six movies to add at the same time. I still have to get rid of the Sunday list. That list is Celtic Woman, Finding Nemo, The Hobbit series, Little Rascals, Pocahontas, and Seventeen Again. I want to get rid of Seventeen Again and replace it with the Survivor: Borneo special. But there are some movies that might be removed from the list without me watching it. I’m just glad that no more Survivor contestants have died and I plan to post more information about them. My Monday movie list is Aladdin, Bible Video Stories, dancing videos, the Omega Code, Power Rangers: the Ultimate Rangers and the movie length Stargate SG-1 pilot. You will not see an update about those movies again until the premiere of Survivor 30.

So I may have told you about my problem with having to stop watching certain shows since any holiday would get in the way. And I may have told you about what the shows are which I would need to watch in the month of December. If I told you about this stuff and you really don’t care about it, then you can skip the rest of this paragraph and go to the next one. Go ahead. I won’t hold it against you. If you do want to hear more strange habits of mine, then by all means, continue reading. Just read the rest of this blog either way. The last episode of Invader Zim is a Christmas one that I will probably watch. This being the last episode, I don’t know yet if I will add that show to the watching list that I have, although I probably will if I need a new choice in time when that could fill the list. The other Christmas episode is that of the first season of NCIS: Los Angeles (for some odd reason, that show I just mentioned has suddenly improved quality this most recent season, so I suggest watching it if you don’t already or haven’t for a while) that I would want to watch before the Christmas season ends. Then there’s an episode of the fourth season of the Big Bang Theory that’s based on New Year’s Eve, giving me a window of December 26^th-December 31^st to get it watched. I’ve been waiting to watch it for over a year (yes, I know that’s crazy), so I won’t want to miss my chance to watch it. Those are the episodes that need watched over time and will join the Christmas specials list.

Mysteries so far this season: How did Natalie know that Jon should play his idol? Did she get a vibe? Did she just want to get rid of his idol? Will she make good choices with her idol? Will hers be the one that they want to throw into a fire? Are Natalie and Jon allies? Why tell him to play his idol? Why is this a two hour episode? Will I watch part of it if I get back too late to get into a different show? Why am I pondering this? How will I rearrange the contestants’ names for the confessional count? Will someone beat Jeremy’s record this season of 31 confessionals? Who is in control of the game? Will they stay in control of the game? Will this person win the game? Will they be voted out next? What’s going to happen? Well, we’ll have to wait and see, I guess. I wonder when they are airing the finale of this season. I need to figure it out so I know what to do with this blog and my other blog. I can probably schedule post updates for later, considering how Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are Wednesdays this year and I’d want to do these random updates on both Wednesdays and Sundays. I already have a good amount of random posts written for the future that I will probably post soon. I just need to work more on some of them so that there’s enough for the hiatus between this season and the next one. I might as well post something since otherwise there would be nothing here during this time.

The recording seemed to have gone okay and I might have avoided spoilers. I’m not certain if everything worked well, but we’ll see. Regarding the idol, you may or may not remember an event in the seventeenth season where a whole group of contestants, the final ten, made the decision as a group to throw a hidden immunity idol into the sea. This has marked the only time that an idol has ever been destroyed. Remember that hidden immunity idols are considered personal items. They cannot be stolen by another contestant. You might have wondered why Jamie didn’t do that in China when she had the chance. Well, it’s against the rules. When Bill threw Colton’s hidden immunity idol into the sea in One World, that was a clear violation of the rules. That is also the real reason why Colton hated Bill. Colton’s idol was returned to him, so whoever wants to burn an idol in the future can only do that with their own idol. And if it doesn’t happen in this episode, it’s going to happen pretty soon. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, the tribe gets back from tribal council and talks about what happened there. Meanwhile, I’m eating breakfast and trying to eat that while writing this blog post. This is where the beginning of the Jon and Jaclyn fight, one of many that seems to have been started over nothing. I guess this will boil over over time.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the reward challenge. The reward has a strange ending with the five remaining in the game basically giving the reward to Missy for some odd reason. Missy chooses Jon to send to Exile Island. She chooses Natalie and Baylor to go on the reward with her. This makes Missy quite possibly the first de facto winner of a reward challenge. So strange.

In the third segment of the show, Jon arrives on Exile Island and looks for a new hidden immunity idol. He finds it. Jaclyn feels that she is at the bottom of her alliance and that’s she only being used by it, including her boyfriend Jon.

In the fourth segment of the show, Jaclyn and Alec get closer than they probably should. We then get to the immunity challenge. It’s going to take serious balls to win this challenge. Jon has three balls at one point. In the end, it is Keith that has all the balls that he needs to win the challenge. This should be a good thing for Keith as his first individual immunity win didn’t count.

In the fifth segment of the show, Jon and Jaclyn get into their argument. It can be hard to tell what is going on. Reed is trying to work the wedge between them to avoid getting eliminated himself. There is some mystery wink worthy of its own hashtag. What’s that all about? There’s drama going on before tribal council between Jon and Jaclyn more so that anyone else. The vote could be between either Reed or Missy, but that could be a misdirection. Is it? We’ll see. At tribal council, Jeff talks about what happened after the reward challenge. Would Jon really consider turning on another alliance member, this one being Missy? Okay, while rewinding the tape that had this episode I saw who was voted out in the first hour, I think. I most definitely saw one of the two boots this episode. And I might already know who the second person voted out is too. But I’m not going to spoil it yet. Anyways, it is Reed that gets voted out and the tribe returns from tribal council. Jon is afraid of misreading people.

In the sixth segment of the show, we get to a reward challenge. Jon’s ball is a little to the right and it likes to move around. They have to keep enough pressure on the ball. Baylor’s ball slips a little. Geez, two ball challenges back to back? Jon’s ball is hanging on the side. His ball keeps moving. So many double entendres. In the end it is Natalie who knows how to best handle her ball to win the reward of whatever it was.

In the seventh segment of the show, the reward actually takes place at the camp. Natalie is still wondering the best way to get rid of Jon. She’s wondering how to go about doing it, but she doesn’t know how yet.

In the eighth segment of the show, a lot of drama happens at camp as Natalie best decides how to get rid of Jon. Will she succeed? Can she do this in secret? Will Jon find out? Will her plan work or will it go around and eliminate her? We then get to the immunity challenge. Alec’s time on Exile Island is ignored, once again a bad sign for him. Jon wins the challenge, thus spoiling Natalie’s plan to get rid of him.

In the ninth segment of the show, the iconic and underrated splitting the votes strategy is being considered again. The main target is Keith. Alec also worries that he’s on the chopping block. Now I’m not entirely sure who is actually getting voted out or not. We get to tribal council and it is Alec that gets voted out, thus making me wonder how to rearrange the names for the confessional count.

On the next Survivor, Natalie is still gunning for Jon and someone (Missy) might end up getting medically evacuated. Will there be another medical evacuation in the game? If you’ve read this blog of mine in the past, you may notice that I like to wonder how medically evacuated players can return to the game again, much like how Michael Skupin, Jonathan, and Russell returned to the game. You will see an update, but only if someone is pulled from the game.

Total confessionals: Natalie- 21, Alec- 15, Reed- 17, Jon- 36, Keith- 24, Missy- 18, Jaclyn- 20, Baylor- 22. New confessionals this episode: Baylor- 4, Natalie- 9, Alec- 4, Reed- 3, Jon- 9, Keith- 2, Missy- 3, Jaclyn- 9.

After that long episode, it looks like Jon is the highest in the confessional count with Keith and Baylor as second and third respectively. Jaclyn is now at twenty confessionals and Natalie is higher than twenty as well. Missy is the lowest, being the only one left in the game without more than twenty confessionals. I’m not sure what will happen next, but with an Advent service on Wednesday, I will once again have to record Survivor and post the next day about the episode. I also don’t know how to rearrange the names for confessional count, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out. Just remember that even if this blog is late, I will still give you updates. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.