A Christian Analysis on Survivor: David versus Goliath

I don’t yet know how the season that just ended will turn out. But what I do know is that I started this post in question shortly after the season premiere ended. I’m going to mention any possible elements that I feel are Christian like in any way and put them in this blog post. Maybe I’ll find some biblical man or woman to compare each of these people to. Enjoy this post.

Episode one: The reward challenge is a good place to start with the theme of good versus evil. It often seems like the devil can try to stack things against you by sending his strongest versus those he thinks are the weakest. But the good people are able to outsmart them and play by rules that they are able to beat him like that. Power is often sought after by others, which is what we saw here. It can make people cocky or alienate those in the group. We also see how not everyone likes those in charge, but things get done that often don’t get done without them. Pat was pulled from the game, despite being strong in some ways. He can be described as like Samson in a way where he has a tragic end to his story.

Episode two: I don’t know right away what would be a good analysis for this episode. But if I think about it, I can think of how we are supposed to work together and that would be a good thing in the end. We see what happens when someone gets paranoid easily and that can cause issues. Sometimes, all we need is a friend which is why there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Jessica can be surprised by her downfall, which is like how some prideful people can be like. The only analysis I can think of in a quick manner is how a woman in the book of Acts lied and God struck her down.

Episode three: Sometimes in life, we need a bit of a humbling experience in order to realize that we are not always in control. Jeremy got this in this episode when he was voted out for stirring up trouble in camp. There are tons of examples of this, but perhaps one that comes to mind is Jacob’s brother who was quick to sell his own birthright.

Episode four: Often times, it can seem like the deck is stacked against the heroes as the villains seem to outnumber the heroes but the heroes are still able to outsmart the others. We see how often one can be tempted to turn on their own. We also see how quickly one must act in order to get advantages that they wouldn’t otherwise get. The downfall of Natalia was kind of like the person who built their house upon the sand and it washed away with the tide. She thought that she had something strong, but she did not in the end. In fact, that can be seen as a theme with the phrase Goliath Strong that came up throughout this season.

Episode five: Life can cause disasters after storms, but if you are prepared for them, you will be able to weather such disasters. Once again, we see the Davids being able to outsmart a Goliath at their own game and take one out. Natalie might have had too much pride in the game. There are biblical people who thought they were in control, but weren’t. A good example is Ahab from 1 Kings 18:16-46. And the best example regarding pride is Proverbs 16:18.

Episode six: The fact that so many people were targets this episode is a good analogy for how the devil works and how he is always targeting anyone and everyone that he can. People can often struggle in the challenges that life brings us. While some are able to work through them, others fall short. It reminds me of a bible verse that says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I don’t remember if that is the exact verse or not. I also don’t remember where in the bible it might have been from. One tribe showed us how people should work together when a woman was able to emphasize with another when she was upset. The other tribe showed issues with people not getting along and easily upset with each other. Elizabeth was not heeding the advice of Ephesians 4:26 & 27.

Episode seven: The merge brought all of the tribes together. There were also issues with tons of all of the players that came to life. There are cases where bad people win, if only for a moment, in the case of when Angelina got her way by eliminating her competition of Elizabeth. It could be like how Samson never should have told Delilah about his secret to strength and how he lost it as a result. That is best described in Judges Chapter 16.

Episode eight: Sometimes, one has to outsmart their opponent in order to win. We got to see some of this at tribal council itself. Knowing when to make the right move is also a good part of the game. It is mentioned best in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 when it is the best time to do everything.

Episode nine: One can get power in the game that one often cannot get by themselves. Such is the type of power that God can give us through faith in him. We saw a vote where the David tribe needed the extra power to get rid of a good threat. There’s a good contemporary Christian song: There is Power that speaks to the type of strength that Christians in general have.

Link to song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoOJwel1CQU

Episode ten: This two hour episode has a lot in it. What all related to Christ? The topic of self sacrifice came up when Angelina gave up her chance at immunity in order to get the tribe more food to last them the rest of the game. The downfall of Carl seemed like a good example of pride. It is something that one should avoid having. The best verse about it is Proverbs 16:18.

Episode eleven: Knowing when to make the right move is a huge part of the game and it factors into the episode of that day. Betrayal was a key theme to this episode and it can be avoided if you know what to do. Jesus famously was betrayed and was able to come back from it. An idol play could be considered coming back from the dead since you are able to avoid death that would have otherwise happened to you. I know it’s not the same thing, but I think the analogy works.

Episode twelve: God was actually mentioned in this episode. Davie brought him up when wondering what to do with the game of chance that he could have played. He thought that God told him not to risk his vote. Nick started to deceive people in this episode, although others weren’t buying his cons. I think that there were a lot of times in the bible that lies were easily debunked.

Episode thirteen: God was once again mentioned in this episode at the time when the jury voted for people to win. If you read the bible, especially the Old Testament, you will see that God uses all sorts of flawed people to do his works. King David was one of them. Nick has some flaws as a winner. He was kind of a villain in some ways and could have worked with people more than he did. But he was still the person who was chosen to win by the other players. Nick seemed fitting to win as the last of the players from the David tribe. He was kind of an underdog towards the end. Also in the episode, Angelina had some issues with finding power on her own, so she asked for help with it. That reminds me of the song Seek Ye First. It probably quotes some part of the bible I’m not as familiar with.

Link to song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LMQfOp9w8k

Reunion show: I don’t think that there were any good examples of what a type of Christian like thing had happened in the reunion show. They talked about some of what happened after the game with some of the people, but not much, if anything, could be gathered from a Christian perspective about this season. At least the rest of the episodes had good parts to them.

That’s about it for this blog post. I don’t know what all I might write about until the show starts again. If I ever miss a Wednesday, I’ll be sure to explain why later. Remember that I might post on Wednesdays and Sundays during the winter hiatus, although it has been a while since I’ve done that. If you want to know what I’ll be watching until Survivor returns, then be sure to read my Madam Secretary blog. Also, the most recent post of my CSI: Cyber blog has a link to the song Blurred Lines in it. That was a theme that was mentioned throughout the season. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: David versus Goliath Finale

Today is the season finale of Survivor. We won’t see the show again until the next season starts on the 20^th of February next year. Maybe it is just me, but the finales of Survivor aren’t as enjoyable in recent years as they have been in years past. I think that is because of Jeff Probst being annoying in many ways. If we get less than an hour of a reunion show or him being annoying with any and all of the bits that he does before the reunion show that takes time out of it, then we’ll know why. I’d almost rather there not be a reunion show than have one that’s constantly bad like this. His Jeffness is quite annoying.

Let’s talk about the idols from Redemption Island. One might question whether or not they should have been included in a season about not having to survive the vote, but it provided a very interesting first tribal council when it did. Kristina found the idol earlier than anyone else ever has and told a few people about it. This lead to one of those people, Phillip, revealing it and the possible blindside power that it had to people. Rob briefly held it, but gave it back to her. Sadly, her paranoia and being outside the loop caused her to waste it on herself.

Ralph found the idol on the other tribe before they considered voting out Russell. He didn’t reveal that he had it to other players before the vote, which I think was smart. And the merge, he wasted his idol on Mike while Matt was voted out, the same person voted out when Kristina played her idol. Rob found his tribe’s rehidden idol and played it when it last could be played.

Now I’m going to talk about the hidden immunity idols of other seasons in the future, but I don’t yet know which season I’ll be blogging about for sure when I do posts about it. I’ll also have to post the tally of men finding idols versus women finding idols. That’s the whole reason that I started doing this in the first place. Meanwhile, I hope that you enjoy this long post. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we get to Jeff introducing the players in different groups. We then get to the huge recap that normally happens. People look for a new idol. Calling it a scavenger hunt with huge stakes is always an accurate way of putting it. Angelina finds a clue to the idol. She finds the ladder and loses the clue. It fell out of her bra. Do people normally hate it when things fall out of bras? It does not seem that Angelina is successful in finding an idol. She feigns being hurt, claiming that she fell out of a tree and hurt her back. I once heard that on a foreign season of Survivor, someone was expelled for faking an injury. I don’t know why that would be.

We then get to the immunity challenge in question. The winner also gets the reward of spaghetti. The challenge is neck and neck throughout the six players in question. This is quite possibly the most intense finish to a challenge ever. Nick wins the challenge. Nick brings Angelina and Mike on the reward. Alison is not chosen and Jeff points that out for some reason. She is upset about being in the crossfire all the time. Why is she a target? Does she actually have a chance at winning?

In the second segment of the show, the reward happens at the water well. Angelina plots how to get the idol. Davie thinks that he can trust Nick. Angelina wants the reward winners to be the final three. They then talk about who to vote out and Nick does not want Davie voted out. Will Alison be the target? We then get Angelina talking about her story with the idol clue. I love Mike at this point with his glass of wine. He refinds the idol clue and Angelina gets the idol. Alison wants to avoid getting voted out. I do not get why someone as weak as her would be the target. Davie and Angelina are also brought up as names for the potential boot. Mike wants to get rid of Davie.

In the third segment of the show, we get to tribal council. People thought that they were in trouble when the tribe came back from tribal council. Angelina talks about how she hasn’t targeted Alison at the previous votes. Indeed, Angelina could have been the deciding vote. Davie thinks that the bonds get stronger as the tribe gets smaller, making any potential blindside hurt more. After the votes are cast, the person with the most votes is Davie.

He might believe that Nick didn’t do it but says that he will vote for the person who orchestrated his vote out. What? We then get to Jeff talking to Davie at the reunion show like area. Are there tears in his eyes or tears in his fro? Davie was a popular player. It turns out that he was a last minute replacement. I wonder who dropped out and why.

In the fourth segment of the show, Nick is upset over the blindside. Can people stop saying that they are blindsided when someone was voted out? It looks like Nick is on the war path over Mike’s decision yet still wants to get rid of Alison. This leads to the immunity challenge. Alison has issues balancing due to the coming tide. Perhaps it is red tide, which is bad. Nick wins the challenge. Nick thinks that he has all the power and is looking for revenge. That could be anyone, actually, since everyone BUT him and Davie voted against Davie.

In the fifth segment of the show, Angelina wants to get rid of Alison. Why is she the target? It makes about as much sense as when they got rid of Lydia in Guatemala. She wants to make a move with her idol. She wants to make a fake idol and make it seem like someone is safe when they aren’t. Mike tells Kara about the idol play and wants to blindside Angelina. Meanwhile, Kara wants to vote out Mike. It would seem that Alison wants to get rid of Mike now. Nick thinks that it’s a good idea. Angelina is there when the fake idol is found by Alison. Zeke from the 33^rd and 34^th seasons talks about the move there. This is one former contestant who is going to get airtime over current ones.

In the sixth segment of the show, we get to the next tribal council. They talk about the vote at the last tribal council. Angelina thinks that she is getting people to join her side. Alison thinks that Mike could be a threat, but he doesn’t think so. Does Mike’s voting confessional make any sense to anyone? Alison plays her fake idol on herself. Angelina plays her idol on herself. I don’t think that she needed to do that and the jury comments how she won’t stop talking about it. Alison is voted out. She doesn’t get a special spot in the pre-reunion show segment.

In the seventh segment of the show, we skip straight ahead to the immunity challenge. After they grab their first ball, the challenge starts. It will be complicated when they add additional balls. Where you place the second ball matters as now there are two balls are in motion. Everyone then gets to three balls in the next portion. Angelina is out at this stage. Mike is out at the next stage leaving it to one David and one Goliath as the showdown at this part. Kara blunders at the part where she was about to get a walk and Nick wins the challenge as a result. She talks about being upset at her defeat. I guess the sun had turned red for a bit. He now has to figure out what choice to make next.

In the eighth segment of the show, Angelina is glad that her ally won the immunity challenge. A David now holds the cards. Different people make their cases as to why they should stay in the game. If I were him, I’d pick Kara to go to the end as the other two both have a shot at winning, but she doesn’t. What is weird is that he straight up says who he is going to pick and that Angelina will be safe. But is he being honest? He doesn’t have to be, but maybe he is. We then get to the tribe going to the last elimination of the season as the sort of tribal council happens.

Jeff tells them about what is going on. Nick is in a spot, according to him. He does pick Angelina to go to the final three with him. Mike and Kara are then the two that will compete against each other at the fire making challenge. Kara starts doing a fire, but it goes out. Mike then gets a fire going. It seems like it is a weak flame that doesn’t do much of anything. But Kara doesn’t make progress on her fire. I wonder why they made it seem like Mike had no chance if he now wins. Kara is eliminated from the game as a result as she is now out and on the jury. At least she gets to be Super Friends with the other jurors. She also does not get any special segment like Davie did.

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to the sun rising over Fiji. This would be the time for The Circle of Life, but that’s Africa and not Oceania. Angelina is glad that she made it this far. I don’t know if Nick is the underdog that he thinks himself is. Do a lot of lawyers not grow up in trailers? Mike talks about how he is still in the game. To date, the only other season with an Amazing Race contestant on it had that person win the game.

Mike talks about his moves in the game. He is here to win the game. You’d think that everyone is there for the same reason. I know that there have been people in the past who have just been there for the experience, but you don’t see that as much anymore. Jeff talks about some of the facts of this season thus far before the last break before the last tribal starts.

Total confessional count: Davie- 22, Mike- 34, Nick- 29, Kara- 24, Angelina- 31, Alison- 16. New confessionals this episode: Angelina- 7, Alison- 4, Davie- 1, Mike- 7, Nick- 6, Kara- 2.

In the tenth segment of the show, we get to the outwit part of the game. Elizabeth starts talking about what has happened so far in the game and she talks about how everyone is undecided. Christian wants to know what each of them did to outwit the game. Nick says that he built personal connections with people by playing with different people. John wants to know how Nick made moves after he was voted out. Angelina talks next instead of Mike. She talks about getting herself out of the weakest part of her game. Mike then talks about how he needed to get deals with everyone. But this isn’t what some people like about his game and feel it is more of a weakness.

Mike talks about having tons of people working for him. He talks about having people influence the game. And Nick talks about how he played a good game too and how he was more in control of his own game instead of having others control it for him. Angelina then tries to make a case for herself. Kara does think that Mike played a good game.

We get to the outplay part of the game next. Mike might not have done as well with other parts of the game outside of making fire at the end. Angelina has to explain how she is a David and Nick has to say why he is a Goliath. Angelina then talks about the fake idol and how she wanted to play with the game’s theatrics. Nick talks about how he is good at puzzles, a people person, and that he won more than one immunity challenge.

Last comes the outlast part of the game. Angelina explains why she is a Goliath in the game. Her story is about triumph, hopefully not the insult dog that poops on everything. Nick explains how he helps people who have struggled with drug addiction. He talks about how he did what he could to win in the game. Mike felt that he was never nervous in the game. I thought that was Gervase who was never nervous. He is looking for the rainbow, which is part of gay pride, even though he is bi-sexual, which is just a bit different. I wonder if Noah’s ark could play into a Survivor them. Jeff then gets a kid to vote like they normally have in the past.

In the eleventh segment of the show, we get to the votes in the game. I wish that I knew or could keep track of who all was on the jury. Nick is seen getting a vote. Christian votes for Mike instead of Nick, his once ally. I don’t think that Angelina got any votes. Will this be a landside vote? I guess that we will see in the near future. Jeff drags on the vote in the end as he tends to from time to time. There are at least three votes for each person who got votes and Nick wins. The kid gets it right again.

In the twelfth segment of the show, Jeff talks about what Nick did to win the game. He also talks about the theme of the season. Nick wanted to be a lawyer in order to be rich. But now he doesn’t have to work for a big firm. Mike was very successful before the game and turned down a job to be on Survivor. He wants to keep chasing the adventure of the game.

Jeff then talks to Angelina about how polarizing she is. She makes the usual claim that this isn’t how she normally is in life. Am I supposed to believe that whenever people say that? Jeff thinks that a man playing the same game wouldn’t have been thought of in the same that she was. We then see the jacket moment again. She now realizes some of her own blunders in the game. Dan talks about the twist that got him out of the game.

In the thirteenth segment of the show, Christian talks about his place in the game. He talks about the challenge where he talked a lot and possibly helped himself win this way. Survivor is like the first day of school, according to him. We learn about Gabby’s friendship and how it has survived. Natalie then talks about herself and how she didn’t like how she was portrayed in the game. Jeff doesn’t think that she got a bad rap, although it seemed like Angelina was about to defend her for a moment. A lot of weight loss has happened throughout this season, possibly more than usual.

In the fourteen segment of the show, we get to Pat talking about his departure from the game. We then talk about the next season of Survivor. Some of the players revealed are Wendy and Rick. They also talk about the four returning players in the game that I’ll mention later, probably not in this post. There is then a new layer to the game that they gloss over. It will be called Edge of Extinction. I hope that’s not a meta reference about this show possibly being in danger.

In the fifteenth segment of the show, Jeff more or less just closes out the show, not doing or saying much of anything as we get ready for the news to start. I wonder just how many newscasts start with something akin to “terrible things in the world today. Good evening.”

Points at reunion show: Pat: 1, Jessica: 0, Jeremy: 0, Bi: 0, Natalia: 0, Natalie: 1, Lyrsa: 0, Elizabeth: 0, John: 0, Dan: 1, Alec: -5, Carl: 0, Gabby: 1, Christian: 1, Davie: 0, Alison: 0, Kara: 0, Angelina: 1, Mike: 1, Nick: 1.

I’m fairly certain that Alec wasn’t at the reunion show, which is why he gets negative points. I couldn’t tell offhand if anyone else was banned besides him. He spoiled that he was a contestant on the show and that is why he wasn’t there at the reunion. Not sure what else there is to say about the reunion. I don’t think that it was as bad as others were, but there was room for improvement.

Now let’s get to the officially unofficial end of the season awards that I do at the end of each season. There are the three dumbest moves of the season, breakout character of the season, what I thought was the most memorable moment of the season, and the ranking of this season’s tribe swap and the season as a whole versus the other 37. I’ll then post any wrapping up and end the post.

For the bronze award for dumbest move of the season, that will go to Carl’s cocky game play. The silver will go to Natalie for her game play. And the gold will go to Angelina’s for hers. I did think about putting Alec on here, but I felt that his controversy was largely unrelated to the game. Some of what happened regarding Pat’s evacuation might belong on here instead of Carl’s moves.

I could mention the nominees that would qualify under the breakout character of the season award, but I don’t think that I’ll do that since it me, it seems too much of a no brainer. Christian wins the award this time around. I don’t think that anyone except Natalie would come close to winning it.

Now I should talk about the most memorable moment of the season. I might have a hard time thinking about it right now. I’ve been a bit exhausted in life lately. There are tons of different things that I could pick, but I think that the tribal council where Dan was voted out is the best fitting one.

Lastly, let’s get to the ranking of the tribe swap and then the ranking of the season. I have 28 swaps ranked right now, although there should probably be more of them on the list. I’ve decided that this swap will rank as 24^th best of them, with few ranking as worse than it. Out of the 37 seasons, I will rank this season as number 22.

While I do have Survivor: Gabon on DVD, I don’t yet know when I’ll be able to start watching it. What I know is that I do also want Survivor: Blood versus Water on DVD. When I’m done watching Survivor: Borneo again, I’ll start watching Survivor: Gabon again for the first time since it first aired. Keep an eye out for posts on Sundays when I’d blog about an old season like it. Also keep an eye out for Fridays in case I do get a second old season to blog about as well. I’m not interested in any other old seasons of the show right now. Blog posts will be on Wednesdays again starting next week. There will not be any random posts if I start blogging about Gabon on Sundays. That’s all that I need to keep you updated on for now. This is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.12

I’ve probably mentioned in this blog before about how I want Survivor: Blood versus Water on DVD at some point. Well, since Christmas is soon and it is possible that people who know me read this blog and might wonder what they should get me for Christmas, then it is a good idea if they get me that season of Survivor as a gift. Just know that it is only available at Amazon’s website and make sure that no one else has gotten me it first.

While I don’t know yet if I’ll watch every old season of Survivor again in the future, something that I was a bit confused about when looking it up was the idol information on Wikia, which is where I’ve gotten all of the information that I have shared with you in each random post thus far. I am a bit confused as to who can get an idol from whom and how long they can keep it. What I know is that Marty found an idol in Nicaragua. He gave it to Sash, only Sash might have demanded it to keep him safe. I’d have to check when this transfer happened because Sash did successfully vote out Marty later. Thus, he pulled the ultimate con of Survivor by getting another player’s idol and getting rid of them later.

The other idol in the game was found by NaOnka who, among tons of infamous moments in the game, tackled a one legged woman in order to get a clue to it. She did successfully find an idol and decided very late into the game that she would just randomly quit it, despite being likely to make the end (but not likely to get a majority of the votes). Before quitting, she gave the idol to Chase. At the very last time idols could be played, both Sash and Chase made sure that they were safe by playing both of theirs at the same time, neither of them needing to.

Sorry for saying that I was doing prayers for people this season, only to run out of people partway into the season in question. If I ever hear anything from the other two missionaries that my church supports, I will put them in here. For now, enjoy this Christmas silly song from VeggieTales.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD5pqOsW1PU

I heard something about season 39 that I will talk about now. SPOILER. If the rumors are to be believed, they are doing a twist called Extinction Island. All of the voted out people will go there to spend time until day 38 or they decide to leave the game beforehand. This could serious affect the jury and a lot of the game in tons of ways that I don’t think we want to see. It seems like none of the island twists have been that good thus far. And they keep getting worse, it seems. I hope that I have details wrong. One other thing to not is that there might be four returning players in that as well. Who? I don’t know. I may look it up later. END SPOILER.

Now I’m going to talk about people’s chances going into the end of this season regarding who will win. It could be Mike, but I’m not sure what he had done this far. Nick could be a winner, although there are enough negative parts to his edit to make me question that. Still, he seems a likely contender. Christian seems likely, but almost too likely, to be the winner.

Kara hasn’t done as much to me in order to justify as win, although we’ll see what happens. Angelina has such a negative edit that I don’t think would lead to her winning, but you could say the same thing about Sophie from South Pacific. Alison has been far too invisible to have a chance at winning. Davie could win, but I just don’t see it as his edit has no real substance to it. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Christian talks about how he played his idol and wonders how he got five votes. Nick wants to find a new idol and make a fake one with the real parchment. He then pretends to find it right there in front of people. Is that the best idea? Now people are going to think that you have a real idol, which you do. Davie actually questions whether or not this idol is real so he looks for one himself. He does not find one, but tells Christian about Nick’s idols. We then get to the reward challenge. Davie wins reward and chooses Nick and Kara despite Angelina prying to be a pick. Angelina thinks that Davie made a mistake by doing this.

In the second segment of the show, we get back to the people after the challenge. Angelina is pissed off about his pick. She makes revenge rice in a big pot, using all that she can so there’s less. Davie thinks that Kara is a friend while Nick is his frienemy. Davie tells Kara about the two idols. Kara connects with Alison. I don’t think that we’ve seen them together before. But we haven’t seen much of Alison this whole season. Alison talks to Mike about what to do.

In the third segment of the show, Davie looks for an idol again. Maybe he’ll find a nice, big dog to play with. He found a clue to an advantage. He has to return to the spot of the merge feast. It is a short term idol power and he’s given a game of chance to increase its power. He goes through various options on what to do. He calls on God for advice and decides not to play the game of chance.

We then get to the immunity challenge. It is yet another ball challenge. “Grab your ball.” They put them on discs. “If your ball drops, you are out.” They can’t hit puberty? “He gets his ball back where he wants it.” “His ball is taking a little journey.” To a vagina? “You have two balls you got to balance on a disc.” “Angelina is trying to get control of her balls.” Okay, Jeff just has to be making all these word choices on purpose. “Grab your balls.” “Is it worse for balls to separate or cling together?” Wobbly balls are the worst, aren’t they? “Mike’s balls are on the move.” I missed a lot of these. Mike wins the challenge and has full control over his balls. Mike talks about his move afterwards.

In the fourth segment of the show, we see a bird diving into the water. What does it mean? Nick wants to get rid of Alison. They want to get rid of Christmas later. Kara thinks that Nick is going to be voted out. She wants to be part of a blindside. Well, I guess we all know what will happen to her now. But will it be this episode? Mike wants to get rid of Christian. He thinks that Alison isn’t going to win.

Nick reveals to Davie about his fake second idol. Davie now doesn’t want to get rid of Nick as a result. Mike says to Nick that Davie is trying to get rid of him (Nick). The vote is up in the air. There are a lot of possibilities going into the vote.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Nick thinks that the right moves need to be made next. Angelina thinks that you can’t trust people, but still need to use others to get to the end of the game. Christian thinks that everyone has voted for him thus far. Is that right? I’m not sure. Kara is certain that the votes are all in the moment. Mike thinks that it is a free for all.

If you aren’t a threat, you can be off people’s hit list, but there could still be issues as a result. It gets complicated going into the vote and Mike wants more of an impact in the game. The votes are cast next. Davie plays his idol on himself. Nick then plays his fake idol and then uses his real idol on himself. Davie got votes. Christian got the most, regardless of Davie’s idol play on himself, and gets voted out. Nick got no votes. I guess that John remains the nerdiest Survivor winner.

On the next Survivor, the season finale happens. There might be a fake idol played. People are very emotional. Who will be the target? Will Kara be blindsided? Who will win? I don’t think that I can think of a vote offhand from right before the finale where it seemed like the most likely person to win was voted out. Does that make this Nick’s game to lose?

Total confessional count: Mike- 27, Nick- 23, Christian- 31, Kara- 22, Angelina- 24, Alison- 12, Davie- 21. New confessionals this episode: Nick- 2, Christian- 2, Kara- 2, Angelina- 2, Alison- 1, Davie- 4, Mike- 4.

Christian had two confessionals this episode, the same number as Nick, Kara, and Angelina. The only person who is lower is Alison with one. Davie and Mike are both higher with four. As for the total count, Christian was the highest with thirty-one. Everyone else is lower. Mike is second highest with twenty-seven and Angelina is third highest with twenty-four. Nick is fourth highest with twenty-three. As for the lowest, that is Alison with twelve. I will be back a week from now with the season finale. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.11

I’ll admit, there hasn’t been as many good shows on Wednesdays this season like there have been in other seasons. I watch this show, SEAL Team, and Modern Family. That’s it. If this show didn’t compete against other shows that I like, I might watch the shows Riverdale, The Goldbergs, American Housewife, and Chicago Med as well. Of course, I can’t currently watch four shows at once and I don’t think that I care as much about Chicago Med anymore. I do watch Riverdale online at times. I need to get caught up on it so I understand the Gargoyle King. If you read my Madam Secretary blog, it will mention in January what I’ll watch on Wednesdays when this show is on hiatus.

In Heroes versus Villains, the season was crazy with various idols. Tom found won for his tribe and used it to successfully save himself. He also used a flipper to prevent someone from his alliance to be voted out instead of him. Later, Russell used his idol on Parvati, a successful gamble that caused someone not in his alliance to get voted out instead as it could have easily been him voted out. JT then found an idol and in a famous dumb move (which you can’t say was good because it didn’t work), he gave the idol to a member of the other tribe, that member being Russell. With him wanting to save Parvati, he gave the idol to her. Little did Russell know, she already had an idol.

Parvati ended up giving both idols away. One went to Sandra and the other went to Jerri. The idol that was played on Jerri was successful as that is who the other side had targeted and who was saved as a result. Russell found another idol and his paranoia caused him to waste it. Sandra then found an idol and played it at the last time it could be played. It was sort of a waste, but not really as it could have saved her. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Nick is upset over the vote of Carl being voted out. He now regrets that he saved Christian through his three advantages. I thought it was two. The Mason-Dixon Line is dead. Who would have thought that such a thing would cause divisions? Oh, wait… We then get to the loved ones reward challenge. The pair of Angelina and Nick win the challenge and invite David and Mike with them. It seems like they want to be in the final four, the people on the reward, but Davie questions whether or not he wants to be part of it or not.

Gabby now questions Christian’s motivations after he had done to his girlfriend what he had done to her. People want to vote Christian out. Part of Gabby’s reasoning as to why she wants to do that is that she wants to be seen as making a big move apart from him. But is betraying your ally a good idea? It did not work out well for Tai.

In the next segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. They finally brought back the when it rains, it pours challenge. How long has it been? I know it is a different variation of it. Mike is the first person out of the challenge. Gabby falls out when switching to phase two of the challenge. That’s my favorite phase! I wonder why they are doing it. Alison is the next person out. Angelina is then out. Nick is out next. Christian is randomly out because the wobbly person is normally safe. After a fly distracts him, Davie drops out and Kara, Supergirl, wins the challenge. Alison thinks that they should move forward with the plan to get rid of Christian, but thinks that he could cause issues. He does have an idol.

In the next segment of the show, Gabby talks about possibly blindsiding Christian and what she has to do in order to win the game. She’s been shown as too emotional and I wonder if she could. But I also think that a Christian win might be too obvious. Nick is on board with voting out Christian. They want to get rid of Gabby if Christian plays his idol. Davie doesn’t want to get rid of his shield in the game, that shield being Christian. Davie tells Christian about the threat against him. This makes Christian question what he should do. He talks to Nick about it. Nick isn’t buying Christian’s apology. Christian still wants to vote out Alison for some reason and ponders over whether he should play his idol.

In the next segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Nick talks about how he is upset at Christian. Nick says that they rebuilt their relationship. But I don’t know if he’s being honest or not. Gabby wants to make moves on her own from now on. Jeff talks to Alison about how she might be a threat. Mike thinks that they might not always vote out the right person. After the votes are cast, Christian decides to play his idol. A majority of people voted for him. Gabby is somehow voted out. What? Was Christian the only person who voted for Alison? I did not see that coming.

On the next Survivor, there are tons of people who could be the target in the future. As usual, it is hard to gather much, if anything, from the promo. Why do they always have to be so vague? Well, I guess that it would be worse if they just straight up told us what was going to happen.

Total confessional count: Christian- 29, Kara- 20, Angelina- 22, Gabby- 23, Alison- 11, Davie- 17, Mike- 23, Nick- 21. New confessionals this episode: Alison- 1, Davie- 2, Mike- 0, Nick- 3, Christian- 2, Kara- 1, Angelina- 0, Gabby- 2.

Gabby had two confessionals this episode, with Davie and Christian tying her. The only person higher than her was Nick with three. Everyone else was lower with Angelina and Mike as the lowest with zero a piece. As for total confessionals, Gabby had twenty-three, the same number as Mike. The only person who is higher is Christian with twenty-nine. Everyone else is lower with Alison as the lowest with eleven. We’ll see what happens in the next episode. I might even do an analysis on who might win based on the edits that I’ve seen. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.10

This season is ending in the near future. Well, it won’t be for a while yet as we are still on the final ten of them. I do wonder when they will do the random, double length episode that they often don’t tell us is two hours in advance. I don’t like that they often do that. Well, it is once a season, but normally not as much as they could do.

Let’s get now to the Idols from Samoa. Russell Hantz found an idol and wasted it. Erik found an idol and never used it, being voted out with it in his possession at the same tribal council that Russell wasted his at. Russell found another one and then used it successfully. He then found yet another one and used it for leverage in order to show his control over the game. But he wasn’t as in control as he thought he was as he didn’t wind up winning. Why people think that he should have won that season is beyond my understanding. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, people are glad that the advantages were played correctly. Angelina is upset over the votes against her. She believes that the Goliath tribe is dead. Davie and Nick look for an idol in the morning. They have to wait until the night to potentially find the idol. We then get to the next challenge for reward. The reward is a Survivor picnic. Is it just me, or did they not tell us who was on the two teams? The orange tribe of whoever wins the challenge.

In the second segment of this show, we see the people on the reward. The Davids probably have the power, according to Gabby. I have the power! The reward winners get letters from home and they get very emotional over it. Carl wants to get rid of Alec. But Kara doesn’t seem to like that idea. Alec eats too much at the reward. How does that happen? Other people are sick as well. Nick then goes on his quest to find an idol. Davie worries about covering for him. Why is an idol just on display like that? I got it last season due to Ghost Island, but this seems too straightforward.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. People are given the option to sit out of the challenge for food. Angelina, Carl, and Nick are eating instead of competing. Christian then starts talking, possibly trying to annoy his last bit of competition, Alec, out of the game, when it comes down to just the two of them. I was going to do that if I ever competed. Christian talks for hours and, for one reason or another, Alec drops out and Christian wins. Christian wonders if they should still vote out Alec. What do you think? Well, you don’t have to wonder for long.

In the fourth segment of the show, Alec is upset over his loss. He literally let go of his chances in the game. But this is Survivor. There is likely some other target going down. Gabby thinks that Carl is being far too obvious about who he is targeting. Gabby gets emotional after being called paranoid, and also emotional too. She’s calling Carl the Godfather. Perhaps they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I am a godfather. But I don’t work for the mafia, as far as you know at least.

There is talk now about getting rid of Carl. Some people want to get rid of him, including members of his own “alliance.” Christian wants to get rid of Carl since Alec is a shield. Where will Christian vote? And will any of this come out at tribal council?

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Christian thinks that he won’t play the game again. I doubt that. Alec explains his loss at the challenge. Carl tries to justify sitting out of the challenge for nachos. Angelina thinks that a nachos decision is more than a nachos decision. Carl thinks that his decision was a good one at the time. Those are famous last words and should be written on tombstones. After the votes are cast, Alec is voted out. I think that’s a good move in the end. Did Kara even vote with him? That seems odd that she doesn’t appear to have.

The show is still going after eight. TELL US IF IT IS 2 HOURS AND DON’T SAY IT IS 2 TRIBAL COUNCILS AS WE ALL NOW THAT 2 TRIBAL COUNCILS CAN HAPPEN IN 1 HOUR! Sorry for yelling there. Nick is glad that the vote went the way it did. Alison is worried that she is next. She prays that she can work with the David tribe. We then get to a reward challenge where a person sits out as there are only two teams despite the fact that they could do three. Christian is the sit out. The orange team wins. Angelina has not won a reward yet. Kara thinks that she can work with the Davids.

In the sixth segment of the show, Carl is glad that he is on his first reward. Did he win won before the merge? I don’t know for sure as I’m not as good as keeping track of things. Kara doesn’t want the next target to be Alison. Davie is glad that he proved himself to be an athlete. Kara doesn’t want to play as a pawn. They are essential, though, in pawn games, and can get promoted in regular games to something more valuable.

Gabby thinks that they have to off the godfather. Just make sure that you are at this baptism in question while others do your bidding. The people back at camp make plans to get rid of Carl. He probably won’t be able to escape the vote if he wins immunity. Who is Carl trying to get rid of? Christian is working on trying to get rid of Carl. Alison is compared to Wonder Woman.

In the seventh segment of the show, Christian tells Gabby that Alison is the target. Angelina notices that the rice is almost out of supplies and wants to exchange things to get more rice. She has taken some classes in negotiation. Maybe I need to do that, if I had the time to do so. I hope that I wouldn’t have to make a case as to why I’d have to be in the class. I’d probably fail the entrance exam. Angelina then goes through her spiel at the start of the immunity challenge. Will someone give up immunity to get the rice? Yes. Angelina does this herself in a risky move. But will this backfire? I’m not sure that it is a bad one just yet. Even if she is voted out, then it wouldn’t be that much of a waste as a whole. Davie wins immunity and Angelina thinks that she’s safe.

In the eighth segment of the show, we get to the tribe getting back to camp after the challenge. Carl thinks that everyone is on board to vote out Alison. She thinks that it will be a five-four vote. Mike wants to make sure that both sides think that he is on their side. Christian is worried that Mike might be on either side of the vote. He thinks correctly. But will Mike be the target? Gabby thinks that the plan has to be executed flawlessly in order to work. It’s going to be utter chaos, isn’t it?

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Jeff talks about the dynamics of the vote. There are scrambled eggs, according to a person, in terms of new tribe dynamics. Christian thinks that it could be more like poached eggs. Carl thinks that he knows whether or not someone is vulnerable and if they should use his help or not. Blurred lines is a common theme of this season in addition to the whole Goliath strong theme. Forgive me for not wanting to share that video of that song with you. I haven’t even seen the Robin Thicke song in question, although I heard it once at a wedding reception. Does that seem like a good wedding song? At least it isn’t like the movie Made of Honor where they are expecting us to believe that a DJ would play Gold Digger at a wedding.

I sadly miss a lot of tribal due to thinking about these references. But I do not think that I can gain much about what’s going on. Between Carl and Alison, it is Carl that gets the boot in this episode. Now the godfather will be taking a dirt nap. I need to see that movie sometime. Maybe then I could make better references to it.

On the next Survivor, the family visit happens. The ultimate betrayal might happen next as well. Will the other players get rid of Christian or is this another red herring? It is hard to tell for sure what all is going on with this game for sure. Christian is either an obvious winner or obvious blindside. And that is why nothing ever is really obvious.

Total confessional count: Carl- 13, Christian- 27, Kara- 19, Angelina- 22, Alec- 17, Gabby- 21, Alison- 10, Davie- 15, Mike- 23, Nick- 18. New confessionals this episode: Kara- 4, Angelina- 6, Alec- 4, Gabby- 5, Alison- 3, Davie- 3, Mike- 4, Nick- 3, Carl- 6, Christian- 6.

Let’s look at the last confessional counts of Alec and Carl. Combining the two hours into one episode does have some complications in question. Alec had four confessionals, the same number as Mike, Kara, and Alec. Gabby had five. Carl had six in this episode, the same number as Christian and Angelina. All the other players are lower than four, tying at three. Those people are Alison, Davie, and Nick. Then we get to the total confessional count. Alec had seventeen. Carl had thirteen. The only person who has less confessionals than Carl is Alison with ten. Davie had less than Alec. Everyone else is higher than Alec with Christian as the highest with twenty-seven.

Well, Advent begins next week so this blog is moving to Thursdays for the rest of this season. I don’t yet think or have any reason to believe that this blog will be delayed for more than that. I don’t know if I have told you that I’m watching Survivor: Borneo on DVD and how Survivor: Gabon is going to be on the list after it. I also don’t know if I’ll get Survivor: Blood versus Water on DVD yet. Well, I plan to get it at some point in time (or hope that someone gets it for me as a gift) so we’ll see when or if I get it. What I do know is that you should keep an eye out for Sunday posts for this blog. I just don’t yet know when it will be. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.9

It is a good thing for me that they don’t air any new episodes of TV shows the day after Thanksgiving. I normally don’t watch what they air then, but I’m glad that they aren’t airing new episodes of show that I like. Otherwise, the shows that I could wind up missing are Blindspot, MacGyver, Dynasty, Fresh off the Boat, Hawaii Five-0, and Blue Bloods. There are even times that I watch 20/20. I have seen Dateline on occasion, but I normally don’t tune into that.

With this episode setting up possible issues with the showmance of this season, I might as well figure that they are headed into Endangered Love. This video will hopefully explain what I mean by that. One cannot do all that they want to with love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpcf_qD3GW4

The idol from Tocantins was found by Brendan who was voted out with it in his possession. Taj found the other idol and gave it to Stephen. Stephen never used it and was able to blindside her at the final four when I don’t think that the idol could have been used anyways.

Now while I know that I mentioned that this blog would probably be late, I thought that I would explain why. I had to work last Wednesday night and waiting until after the show was over would be a very bad idea. I did not have time later on Wednesday to watch the tape of the show. On Thursday, I was too busy with Thanksgiving to have any time for this. Thankfully, there’s nothing good to do on the Friday after Thanksgiving so I was able to watch the episode then. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Davie seems a bit cocky after the vote. Some women talk about what they want to do next. Alison wants to figure out where her loyalties lie. Alec points out that the Goliaths still have an advantage, but he isn’t sure that he wants to stick with them. Dan feels that he has been taken advantage of. Kara thinks that Dan is too emotional. Dan thinks that he wasted his idol. Who is the person who still has an idol? We then get to the reward challenge.

Angelina, Christian, Gabby, Alison, and Nick are the purple team. The orange team is Mike, Davie, Alec, Dan, and Kara. Carl is not on a team and won’t be a reward as a result. The orange team makes a bit of a mistake by not covering their answers. But they still win reward despite the mistake. Gabby thinks that she can get Alison on her side.

In the second segment of the show, Angelina is emotional over the loss for some reason. Gabby and Alison talk and I’m getting tired of the phrase Goliath strong. Mike wants his tribe to stick together. Kara wants to get rid of Dan. Kara tells them about Dan’s second idol.

In the third segment of the show, Davie and the rest of the Davids look for another idol. Christian wants to make sure that he does a through all search everywhere. He finds an idol. We then get to the next challenge for immunity. It has been a while since we got to a ball challenge. There are changes when the ball drops. Make sure that you work well on your second ball. Land the balls in the right spot. Dan lands a ball. Others work on landing their balls. Are the balls in the right place? People can’t get second balls in this game. Alec wins immunity, becoming the third straight Goliath to win immunity. Dan wants to make sure that Christian is voted out next.

In the fourth segment of the show, Kara wants to get rid of Dan. She wants to split the votes between Angelina and Dan. But Alison isn’t sure that this is what she thinks will happen. Alec wonders who he should trust. Kara wants to vote out Dan. Nick is worried about what is going on. The Davids tell each other about all of the powers that they have. Christian thinks that things can go wrong and that they can’t screw up the vote. What will happen next?

In the fifth segment of the show, Alison is glad that they know what to do after the last tribal council. Many think that the vote was a wakeup call. Mike doesn’t want to be seen as a traitor. Nick thought that they were supposed to vote out Angelina at the previous tribal council. Not much is gathered from what is talked about at tribal council.

Nick decides to steal the vote of Alison. Dan wonders if he should play his idol for Alison or not. Dan plays his idol on himself. Jeff pulls out the idol nullifier and it was played correctly against Dan. Christian has votes against him. Dan is not the man and is voted out. Carl then bings, revealing that he played the nullifier. Have the lines blurred? I hate these blurred lines.

On the next Survivor, betrayal causes a woman to have fury. I wonder if a good hell analogy would be good in a season like this or not. I guess that we will see in the future what all will happen. I just wish that I knew for sure when the next post will be. I’ll explain at the end.

Total confessional count: Nick- 15, Carl- 7, Christian- 21, Kara- 15, Angelina- 16, Alec- 13, Gabby- 16, Alison- 7, Dan- 15, Davie- 12, Mike- 19. New confessionals this episode: Davie- 2, Mike- 1, Nick- 1, Carl- 0, Christian- 2, Kara- 5, Angelina- 1, Alec- 3, Gabby- 2, Alison- 3, Dan- 2.

In terms of confessionals this episode, Dan had two, the same number as Christian, Gabby, and Davie. The only people who are higher are Kara, Alec, and Alison with Kara as the highest with five. Carl is the lowest with zero. As for the total confessional count, Dan had fifteen, the same number as Nick and Kara had. The people who are higher are Mike, Christian, Angelina, and Gabby, with Christian as the highest with twenty-one. Everyone else is lower with Alison and Carl as the lowest with seven, the only two who are still left in the single digits.

Advent services do not start next week, but I’m still not sure when the blog will be updated as I have yet another family visit taking place during the near future. While I can hope that I can be back here on the next Wednesday as I normally am, if I’m not, then at least you would know why. I wish that I wasn’t as bad with these posts since they are normally not updated late. I might have to share with you the post of someone who doesn’t update their blog late (as far as I know). I’m glad that I can get it to you at all. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.8

I don’t yet know if I will include more than one other VeggieTales song in the future. I don’t know how many of them could be relevant to this show in question. I need to be more familiar with some of the works of it. There’s a lot of it I haven’t seen. But that might be a good thing. The series itself had a point to how one shouldn’t have to have everything. That was in the episode Madam Blueberry, among a lot of others with similar points. Besides, I wouldn't like the newer episodes with the changed animation style.

There is someone to do prayers for this time around as I wait for responses for my church’s two other missionaries as to whether I should put it in this blog. But after seeing the results of a safety check on facebook, I think that a Survivor contestant we should pray for is Phillip Sheppard from Redemption Island and Caramoan due to him being in the area affected by the Woolsey Fire. While we are at it, we should pray for everyone affected by the fire in question that is affecting areas in California.

Going now to the idols from Gabon, Sugar is the next contestant who found one. She gave her idol to Ace only to get it back from him. She was so certain to find the idol from constant visits to Exile Island (of which she went a record five consecutive times). I’m not sure if the rules of idol possession are the same each season. What I do know is that Ace might not have been able to hang on to the idol since it was Sugar who found it. He might have just been holding it as long as she let it happen.

Whatever the rules, she gave it to Matty and he played it by default at the last chance it could be played. It was a play that was wasted in the end. Another idol was found that was technically Randy’s, although he never used it as it was the one that was infamously throw into the ocean and hopefully taken out of it by production as it has enough litter in it. Do you know what NASA does to certain satellites? It sends them to die in the oceans and become junk there. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Angelina is upset over her name being dragged through the mud, in her words, at least. She lies about why she revealed the name. Dan sees through this. People besides him also sort through her lies. Christian then talks about the strike force alliance and how they should vote against Angelina. People are worried about Gabby and how she was during the tribal. If she didn’t want to risk a David getting voted out, then why did she vote against Elizabeth? People search for an idol and find some sort of weird clue. A vote steal is found. Nick finds it. Only Carl and Davie know about all of the advantages that they have, I think.

We then get to the reward challenge. The winning six will get a dozen pizzas. Is that two pizzas for each of the winners? That doesn’t make sense. Why would they need that much pizza? Are these smaller sizes? This challenge seems like the around the circle one that we see with people having to drop out of it at some point. Angelina doesn’t understand what the dream team is. They test the challenges. The only contestant who has been part of the dream team was Hunter from the fourth season. Dan loses his challenge for the purple team, given orange the win. Mike tells Jeff that they have nothing for him, which is something Jeff has been waiting to hear for years.

In the second segment of the show, the tribe arrives back at their camp and the reward happens. Mike wants to talk about how he should stay focused on the game. Mike doesn’t want to be screwed over in the end. He wants to target Christian.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. It comes down to a showdown between Angelina and Dan. The flies come out for both of them. It has been a while since we have seen the flies on Survivor. Dan wins the challenge. Mike wants to vote out Christian.

In the fourth segment of the show, John wants to vote out Christian. What is the hashtag? Why can’t it just be a regular blindside hashtag? Angelina is worried that she might be voted out next. Some other players want to vote her out. Christian figures out that he might be the target. Davie doesn’t know if he should use his idol to save Christian. Nick wants to use his steal a vote, but thinks that it might not be a good move in the end. What’s this surprise ending that promos were talking about?

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to the tribal council at hand. Jeff wonders if the last tribal would put Angelina in trouble. I am distracted some with this part, which is one of the most important parts, so I miss some of what goes on. Christian thinks that he should be better at threat management and might have made himself one at the very beginning. Angelina thinks that there will be issues after the vote. There are not advantages used at this part of the game.

Davie plays his idol for Christian. Will it be the right move? Dan then plays one of his idols for Angelina. Sadly, I don’t think that Davie can do his idol nullifier at this point. Christian got the most votes, but none of them count. Who randomly voted against John? Was there a split vote that we didn’t know about? Or did Davie and someone else know when to flip? I don’t think that they read all the votes. I think that they faked out the promo in a way when they did surprise ending on a parchment.

On the next Survivor, there’s a bad break-up between people and Dan might be voted out. I have been waiting to post another video until it was relevant. But it is likely that if the relationship that is in danger is the one between Alec and Kara, that it is more for the cameras as they are or were together after the show was done filming, based on information that I have.

Total confessional count: Angelina- 15, Alec- 10, Gabby- 14, Alison- 4, Dan- 13, Davie- 10, Mike- 18, Nick- 14, Carl- 7, John- 7, Christian- 19, Kara- 10. New confessionals this episode: Carl- 0, John- 1, Christian- 2, Kara- 0, Angelina- 2, Alec- 1, Gabby- 0, Alison- 0, Dan- 1, Davie- 1, Mike- 1, Nick- 3.

I know that I missed some people’s confessionals, which is likely to happen when they only show who the person is, but not their name. I still don’t know the difference between everyone yet, especially when we get similar looking people to each other. I still have a hard time telling the male Friends apart when I watch that show. Anyways, John had just one confessional this episode, the same number as Alec, Dan, Davie, and Mike. The people lower with zero were Kara, Gabby, Alison, and Carl. Everyone else was higher with Nick as the highest with three. As for the total confessional count, John had seven, the same number as Carl. The only person lower is Alison with four. Everyone else is higher than the rest of them with Christian as the highest with nineteen.

It is hard to believe that next week’s episode will air the day before Thanksgiving. That sure snuck up on all of us, didn’t it? I don’t think that I’ll be able to live watch next week’s episode and while I should be more than likely to record it for later, I don’t think that I’ll be able to watch it on Wednesday like I want to meaning that this blog won’t be updated on Wednesday next week like it normally is. I will be at work as soon as I can be and doubt that I will have much time to myself later that day to watch it, nor do I need to see it that quickly. We’ll see what happens or when this blog will be updated in the future. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.7

A good song that I think describes the contestant of Christian this season is a Weird Al song called White and Nerdy. That describes him well and his nerdiness which has proven to be quite an asset thus far for his smart ways. But will they get rid of him? I guess we’ll see. For now, enjoy this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

Let’s get to the hidden immunity idols from Micronesia next. Ozzy found one but never used it as he got voted out with it left at camp. Jason then found the rehidden idol. This was after he had previously used a fake idol on another player, thinking it was real. He was also voted out without using the idol. We then get to Amanda who did find an idol and used it to save herself from elimination. She is the first woman to have found an idol. While it wasn’t shown, Parvati also found an idol and left it there on Exile Island as she wanted to prevent trouble and correctly thought that she wouldn’t need it.

I can’t think of any contestants right now that should be prayed for. I also haven’t yet got permission from my church’s other two missionaries about if I could include links to them in this blog. But what I do know is that I could pray over some sort of current event. Since the midterms happened yesterday, then we have something that we should pray over.

Let’s pray for the future of this country over the next two years until the next election happens. Although, I guess it would be two years for Congressmen, four years for most governors, and six years for the senators sans Tina Smith and whoever winds up winning the run-off in Mississippi. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, the green tribe is awakened to see the other two tribes arrive at their beach. But this isn’t when the game starts and it has already started for everyone a while ago. The new tribe gathers for the merge feast. Since we reached the merge or halfway point, enjoy this silly song that Larry did halfway through the David and Goliath story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF-XYBVwR5Q

Gabby wonders if an idol is hidden somewhere. Angelina learns of the blindside of Natalia and that it was Alec who was responsible for it. Dan learns from a drunk Carl about a potential target. Christian is glad that Nick is still around and learns that Dan has an idol. Christian is the Dixon and finds a huge piece of wood. Dan tells Kara about his second idol. The Goliaths keep thinking about how they should get rid of an idol. This is so obvious that a Goliath has to be voted out tonight. A Goliath does want to flip. I did not catch for sure who it was.

In the second segment of the show, Elizabeth notices that Dan and Kara are too close. But this seems to be unrelated to what comes next. Mike wants to get an alliance of solid six people, but I didn’t catch who all of them were. They discuss what to do. Christian realizes that a counter Goliath insurgency is happening. He uses a lot of big words. Elizabeth knows that they have to work with a Goliath at some point in the game. Dan learns that he is a target. This makes him anxious. Will he be able to keep his cool or could this be the end of his game?

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. It is kind of dumb. It seems like it is what is losing momentum, not all the people in it. Alison is the person that wins it. I don’t know why Jeff called her Ally when I can confuse that with the Alec in the game. Dan wants Elizabeth to be voted out of the game next. All because she might be targeting him?

In the fourth segment of the show, Christian might be the target. That is what Angelina wants to do. Dan doesn’t want to get rid of Christian yet. I wouldn’t be too sure that Christian isn’t a threat. He could be the person who wins or he could be a vote out before it. Alec doesn’t want to get rid of Christian. It does seem like people want to vote out Elizabeth. Dan still wants to do it. Angelina tells Elizabeth about the fact that Elizabeth is likely the target. Elizabeth then works to get Angelina voted out.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to the tribal council in question. Alison talks about how there are a lot of people in the game and a lot of things to factor. People pause when asking if things are going their way. Elizabeth then outs Angelina as to what is going on. This leads to a lot of conversations going on at once. People whisper side conversations that we don’t see.

Gabby gets emotional. Angelina also gets emotional as well. Did she bury her own grave? Elizabeth is right in that Goliath had his head cut off and David carried it around. You don’t hear that part in Sunday school. There’s a lot of those stories that you don’t see the whole part of in the bible. Once it gets to the vote, it is Elizabeth who gets voted out. It seemed that no one voted with her. Has anyone gotten that many votes against them in a single tribal council before?

On the next Survivor, trust has dissolved and it might lead to issues with Angelina, Gabby, and some man in the game that we can’t quite tell yet during the promo in question due to not mention who the he is and thus, playing the pronoun game.

Total confessional count: Dan- 12, Davie- 9, Mike- 17, Nick- 11, Carl- 7, John- 6, Christian- 17, Kara- 10, Angelina- 13, Alec- 9, Elizabeth- 13, Gabby- 14, Alison- 4. New confessionals this episode: Mike- 1, Nick- 1, Carl- 1, John- 1, Christian- 2, Kara- 2, Angelina- 2, Alec- 4, Elizabeth- 3, Gabby- 2, Alison- 0, Dan- 5, Davie- 0.

Elizabeth had three confessionals this episode. Only two people (Alec and Dan) were higher with Dan as the highest with five. Everyone else was lower with Alison and Davie as the lowest with zero. While I am pretty sure that I missed one, if the immunity winner doesn’t get a confessional, that is typically a very bad sign for their chances. As for the total confessional count, Elizabeth had thirteen. Interestingly, the person with the same number is Angelina. The people who are higher are Gabby, Mike, and Christian. Mike and Christian are the highest with seventeen a piece. Everyone else is lower with Alison as the lowest with four. I’ll see you all next week as usual. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.6

I had a dream about the season of Survivor called Redemption Island. There wasn’t much to the dream. It just seemed to imply that a contestant from it had died. It didn’t say who. I wouldn’t know who would be the first to die from that season or why they would die. I guess that we’ll have to wait and find out what will happen later.

There’s another missionary that I think that you should pray for. His name is Duane Meissner and he is based in Belize. He doesn’t work there alone so if you wanted to find other people in this country to support, it would work out well too. There’s a video as well about him.

https://www.lcms.org/meissner

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQs0T73--nM

I forgot to keep track of how many men have found idols. But China brought two more men to the count of who has found idols. In Survivor: China, Todd found an idol and gave it to James. James then found the other idol, being the first person in Survivor history to hold two idols at once. Ultimately, in one of the best Survivor blindsides ever, both idols were flushed as he was voted out without playing either of them at a tribal council.

What’s interesting about today, October 31^st, is that it is Reformation Day, the day that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the door of a church. It is widely celebrated among Lutherans to this very day. So I like the fact that a season of this theme can air an episode on an important church day. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Angelina explains that she only voted against Lyrsa since she wanted Natalie’s jacket. Lyrsa thinks that this should have been beneath her. Meanwhile, everyone seems to enjoy the fact that Natalie was voted out. The rest of the tribe thinks that Angelina should be voted out next. Christian continues to be nerdy on his tribe. I might share a video about that in the future. We then get to the reward challenge. The green tribe comes in first and the purple tribe comes in second. After the challenge, Mike wonders if he shouldn’t vote out Angelina due to the reaction that the other tribes had to her departure.

In the second segment of the show, Dan is glad that Tiva keeps winning and that he has two idols. It seems that Christian is unsure of his place on this tribe. I think that they are setting up Christian to be the nerdiest winner in Survivor history, a spot currently held by John Cochran. Gabby is upset as usual and Alison empathizes with her. Alison wants to vote out Dan. Which tribe is Davie on? I can’t even keep track as well. He is on the orange tribe. Davie thinks that there is not enough time to do a shelter thing that Elizabeth wants to do. Elizabeth gets emotional about her bad back. Carl wants her voted out now. Who isn’t a target this season?

In the third segment of the show, we get to what must be the immunity challenge. The green tribe pulls off to an early lead with all of their water releasing what it needs to the first time. The orange tribe gets it on the second trip while the purple tribe takes more than two. They have a very poor performance at this challenge in question due to people not working as well. They lose the challenge as a result. Mike is the one that did the worst in the challenge. He gets emotional talking about it afterwards. He doesn’t want to dash anyone’s dreams.

In the fourth segment of the show, Jabeni is back from their loss and Mike is thinking about the future of the game as a whole. Hopefully he doesn’t do a Travis like a Vanuatu contestant did. Angelina wants to vote out Lyrsa and Lyrsa wants to vote out Angelina. I do find it interesting that, if you check the voting records of various seasons, if two people vote against each other, one of them is often voted out. Nick wants to work with Mike. Mike is worried about the future of the other Goliaths. Maybe there is a good meme out there for him. He turns on the Goliaths and Kylo Ren shouts out: Traitor!

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council and there could be an evil hand afoot ahead. Jeff asks Nick about the strong bond between the four of them. Mike worries about a merge. The only way there wouldn’t be a merge is if there is only one member left on a tribe. Angelina thinks that there are three different things to stay in the game.

Angelina wants to stick to the plan. Those are dangerous words to live by in Survivor. Everyone has a plan. People are being flattering and this tribe seems to know only lively tribal councils. Mike thinks that everyone trusts each other. Who doesn’t actually have the trust of the tribe? I guess we will see. After the vote, it is Lyrsa who is voted out. I don’t know if that’s a good move or not.

On the next Survivor, we get to the merge and strategic plans can go awry. I had a hard time spelling that word for a bit so I didn’t know if it would work or not. Hopefully that is the word that they used in the promo. What will happen with Christian? Are they setting him up to be too obvious a target? Those people are not always voted out. They often aren’t.

Total confessional count: Christian- 15, Kara- 8, Angelina- 11, Alec- 5, Elizabeth- 10, Gabby- 12, Alison- 4, Dan- 7, Davie- 9, Lyrsa- 8, Mike- 16, Nick- 10, Carl- 6, John- 5. New confessionals this episode: John- 0, Christian- 2, Kara- 1, Angelina- 2, Alec- 0, Elizabeth- 2, Gabby- 1, Alison- 1, Dan- 1, Davie- 1, Lyrsa- 3, Mike- 4, Nick- 2, Carl- 1.

Lyrsa had three confessionals this episode. The only person who is higher than her is Mike with four. Everyone else is lower with John and Alec as the lowest with zero. As for the total confessional count, Lyrsa had eight, which is the same number as Kara. The people that are lower than her are Dan, Carl, John, Alec, and Alison with Alison as the lowest with four. Everyone else is higher with Mike as the new highest with sixteen. There’s not much else to say about this so I’ll finish this post. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 37.5

It is interesting to think that this is the first season where the names of the tribes changed partway through it. We’ve never seen that before. I don’t know if Exile Island will return for any more of this season or not. What I do know is that there was some contestant this season who might have had some sort of controversy with a social media account of theirs. I forget who it might be. Maybe if I knew of someone who could shed some light on it, then things would make sense. What was the controversy? I should look it up somewhere because I don’t know myself.

Last episode mentioned a contestant as having friends on the other side. There was a song called that from the movie The Princess and the Frog. I still haven’t seen that movie. I really should. It is one of the few cell animated movies not to be on VHS. I wonder if people care that they don’t make cell animated movies anymore. Anyways, enjoy this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g00kEcGh4j8

Going back to the idol count, I should point out that Fiji was the first season to have the idol as we know it today. There were lots of different firsts with it. Yau-Man found it at camp after learning that it was there in the first place. He kept it and used it to save himself from elimination. The other camp’s idol was found by Mookie. He gave it to Alex to play and Alex wasted it when another was successfully voted out instead. Earl found the last idol of the season and played it by default when he last could. He did not get rid of any votes this time because of it. There are still no women in this timeline who have found an idol. That makes the running tally men: 6, women: 0.

I don’t know offhand if there are other contestants that might need praying for. I might want to check at least one of them to make sure that they are good now. But I figured that I might as well get into all of the missionaries that I support right now. There are four of them and the one that I’ve been supporting the longest are my aunt and uncle, Cindy and Steve Schumacher. They are both Survivor fans and have not seen any season since Cagayan was on. Once they are back here long term, I might buy them all of the seasons that they missed. What I do know if that they work in Ghana and if you would like to learn more about them, then click on this link for more information about them.

https://www.lcms.org/schumacher

There was a comment on an old blog post in this blog. I might have to go back to the old post to do more of a proper reply to what they said. It was a while ago that I did the top ten jury speeches in my mind. But I don’t think that I should have done it because of my lack of knowledge about such things and the fact that I don’t really remember as well what all of them were.

I planned to do other jury based posts, but never wrote them and deleted the ideas since I couldn’t think of what to say in them. But I will, if I can remember to, that is, reply to this commenter about what he or she said. I do like the comment even if this person disagreed in a way. This person was respectful about it, which not everyone is. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Carl is introduced to the tribe. Kara is confused by what happened at the tribal council and Alec’s betrayal. She has some scrambling to do. Meanwhile, we see the Tiva camp. Gabby was worried until she saw the sun. And here I was thinking that Tony and Ziva had a daughter together. Natalie is happy about the weather that is storming around her. That cements her as a villain. When do heroes enjoy terrible weather? The weather floods the Tiva camp. People are evacuated from the island for the first time since season 33.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the Jabeni tribe after the storm. I wonder if they had to separate the three tribes in three different areas or if they were put together. All of the tribe see one disaster after another. But we don’t get much time back as we get to the reward challenge. The reward this time is chickens. The second place tribe gets a dozen eggs. The orange tribe wins and purple tribe winds up second.

Kara wants to turn on her charm on her tribe after the vote. She tries to bond with Elizabeth but Elizabeth wants to vote her out. There are arguments over the eggs that Lyrsa thinks is causing problems. Everyone hates Natalie, it seems.

In the third segment of the show, Christian wants to be part of the tribe of men. Dan looks for a second idol. He finds a clue to an idol which is at the challenge. I wonder why they don’t normally do this. He needs to not be caught doing it. The orange and green tribes win immunity with the purple tribe just barely losing. I couldn’t tell for sure if Dan got the idol. I think that he did, but it’s a bit hard to tell. Lyrsa wants to vote out Natalie, although the odds are against the Davids.

In the fourth segment of the show, Natalie wants Nick to be voted out. Angelina wants Lyrsa’s jacket and she gets Natalie to do the dirty work. Nick learns that Lyrsa is actually the target. Natalie wants to get Nick’s jacket. Nick wants to get rid of Natalie and tells Mike about this plan. Mike wants Natalie voted out only he wants to make sure that Angelina is okay with it first. I still don’t know what’s with the jacket thing. Angelina questions if they should vote out another Goliath. But will the vote matter?

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Angelina wants to stick Goliath strong. But Lyrsa doesn’t think that this should be the case. Natalie is never the center of controversy on her tribe. Lyrsa knows how to cook right. Mike has issues with Natalie. Angelina has had difference with her. All that Natalie is interested in is jackets. It is someone or the jackets.

Natalie wants help with the jackets and Angelina was the one who was interested in it. Mike talks about all of the things that are going on with the vote. She has the last word saying that she doesn’t want it. Yeah, sure, right, uh-huh. After the votes are cast, it is Natalie who is thankfully voted out. Angelina asks for her jacket as she leaves. Natalie keeps it.

On the next Survivor, Mike doesn’t trust Angelina, enemies become friends, and Elizabeth cannot stand stupid people. That’s a modern day problem. Nobody can stand them and that’s how many issues in this world happen because there are far too many stupid people in them.

Total confessional count: Alison- 3, Dan- 6, Davie- 8, Lyrsa- 5, Mike- 12, Nick- 8, Carl- 5, Natalie- 9, John- 5, Christian- 13, Kara- 7, Angelina- 9, Alec- 5, Elizabeth- 8, Gabby- 11. New confessionals this episode: Alec- 1, Elizabeth- 1, Gabby- 2, Alison- 1, Dan- 1, Davie- 1, Lyrsa- 1, Mike- 2, Nick- 2, Carl- 1, Natalie- 2, John- 0, Christian- 1, Kara- 2, Angelina- 3.

I know that I have missed or probably missed some confessionals as usual and might have given some to the wrong people. But I think that you should know that by now. Anyways, Natalie had two new ones this episode, the same number as Kara, Gabby, Mike, and Nick. The only person higher than them is Angelina with three. Everyone else is lower with John as the lowest with zero. As for the total number of confessionals, Natalie had nine, the same number as Angelina. The people who are higher are Christian, Gabby, and Mike, with Christian being the highest with thirteen. Everyone else is lower with Alison as the lowest with three. I’m not sure what else there is to say so I’ll end this post. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.