Survivor: Gabon episodes 1 & 2: Want to See the Elephant Dung?

There’s actually a lot to talk about in this blog before I get to the episode in question. I had been waiting until I was done with watching Survivor: Borneo again before I got to replacing it with its replacement of Survivor: Gabon. That was the only thing that got to replace Survivor: Borneo as anything else that is waiting to be added will have to wait until later to be added. The current list of six shows that I roll for to see what I watch are now Charmed season 4, Farscape season 4, Moonlight the Complete series, this season of Survivor (of course), now number 4 on the list of things to roll, The Walking Dead season 1, and recorded shows on tape. I have a whole lot to watch once I'm done with any of these.

The day after the last season finale of Survivor, another player from a past season had died. Her name was Ashley Massaro and she played in Survivor: China. An official cause had not been determined last I checked, but all signs point to suicide. I have Survivor: China ranked as 31 out of 38 seasons. I will be wanting that season now on DVD so it might be a good Christmas present for me.

https://nypost.com/2019/05/17/ex-wwe-star-ashley-massaro-died-of-apparent-suicide-report/

Getting back to all the hidden immunity idols from past seasons, I’m going to split up the Ghost Island idols into one a post. So here are the idols from Ghost Island part 1. Back in Survivor: Caramoan, Andrea had an idol that pretty much everyone knew she had. She didn’t think she was a target and was voted out with it in her possession. It was reused in Ghost Island. Domenick found it and played it the last time idols could be used. No one had voted against him that time so it was considered a waste.

I created a new blog. This one is about the TV show The Good Fight. It is a spin-off of The Good Wife, another show that I have blogged about in the past. When it aired this past summer for free on TV, I was able to start blogging about it as a result. Here is a link to it.

https://adamdeckerthegoodfighttvshow.blogspot.com/

For some reason, there is a lot of information out about the season after Island of the Idols. SPOILER. It will be an all winners season and the cast has already been revealed. I will not mention the cast in this post, but I will in a future post before the season starts. It is reusing Edge of Extinction, which is quite a terrible idea. Will this be like Redemption Island where they keep doing it again until it finally works? Or will this be a temporary thing? And what’s with this idea of Survivor currency? People aren’t trying to break the game of Survivor. They are making it completely unrecognizable. END SPOILER.

I will keep you updated as to when the episodes of Survivor: Gabon are rolled. The first one was rolled on 9-21-2019. One of my blogs will be updated each time I watch an episode. It will probably be the TV blog, but might be others under other circumstances. But enough of my ramblings.

We begin with Jeff talking about Gabon, one of the last untouched places in the world. A lot of the players give confessionals now, although not all of them are labeled. The contestants introduce who they are at the beginning. Crystal lies about her profession. Corrine and Randy both admit to their own character flaws that we’ll see. Now Corrine may call herself a bitch, but I think that deep down, she does want to be liked by others. Bob and Gillian get to start choose their tribes. Bob chooses Ace. Gillian chooses Crystal. Ace chooses Sugar. Crystal chooses Susie. Sugar chooses Marcus. Susie chooses Matty. Marcus chooses Charlie. Matty chooses Randy. Charlie chooses Paloma. Randy chooses Dan. Paloma chooses Kelly. Dan chooses GC. Kelly chooses Jacquie. GC chooses Ken. Jacquie chooses Corrine. Michelle is on the last tribe by default. Bob’s tribe is the yellow one: Kota. Gillian’s tribe is the red one: Fang.

Jeff then asks the tribes if they are ready for their first challenge. Each tribe has an idol good for their first tribal council as a group. The tribe that finishes first gets a reward of an extra bag of rice. Marcus wins the idol on his tribe. GC gets the idol on her tribe. Michelle may have been the last person picked to be on a tribe, but she was the first woman from either tribe to finish. Kota wins the reward. Matty thinks that Gillian is a liability for her tribe. In the first of many failures for herself, Crystal doesn’t do well which she blames on her dress and uncomfortable tennis shoes.

The Kota tribe arrives to their camp. Corrine likes Bob and the way he works. He learns how to do things himself. Apparently being from Maine affects him in some way. Meanwhile, Fang arrives at their camp and Gillian gives a speech of encouragement to her tribe. She is hoping to keep the tribe happy. She wants people to get elephant dung since it burns very well according to her. Randy thinks that Gillian is annoying. Well, it takes one to know one. He thinks that she doesn’t know crap, but she clearly does. Ken talks to Michelle when she eats a termite. I know people who have done that. Ken is attracted to Michelle, but I don’t think that anything comes from it.

Ace gets on people’s nerves on his tribe. He has a villainous way of thinking about things and is certain that he could win the money. Charlie is attracted to Marcus, but Marcus is straight. I’m straight too, but I can see Marcus as good looking. At night on the Fang tribe, they all react to an elephant in the area. Randy hurts his head on the branch and seeks the advice of Gillian. Medical is brought in to help. They put stitches in him and he is worried that this will take him out of the game. But he thinks that it will be fine in a couple of days.

Michelle is cold at night and is mostly bones. There was an old lady all skinny and bones. Ooo, ooo, ooo. Wait, she is young and bones. The Kota tribe gets the treemail. If they are not the first to finish, they may be the first to leave the game. Ace leads the tribe through yoga.

Jeff brings the tribes together for a challenge where they are linked together for a challenge. Bob talks about how physics helps him solve challenges. Fang is only briefly in the lead. But Kota is able to win the challenge after a big enough lead.

GC feels down after the loss. He is safe so far in the game. Some people want Michelle voted out, but Randy is trying to push the vote against Gillian. People like Ken believe that Gillian is the weakest one on the tribe. Michelle is openly against her whole tribe and everyone. She’s being a negative Nancy. That’s what the other players seem to think, at least.

We get to the tribal council next. Dan is still hopeful about the tribe despite the dysfunction. Michelle causes a lot of discussion back and forth about what’s going on. Jeff points out that they ignored the question he had asked. There is another time that they talk over each other. GC seems to take up the leadership role in the tribe. I don’t think that he wanted this role. Michelle talks about being the last picked on the tribe. She still thinks that she does well on the tribe. After the votes are cast, Michelle votes for Gillian. Everyone else in the tribe votes for Michelle and she is voted out as a result. The tribe is excited that they get flint and fire on their way back to camp.

The tribe returns from the tribal council and GC talks about being the leader of the tribe. He feels that he will have a bigger target on his back as a result of this role. Charlie talks about Marcus and his role on the Kota tribe thus far. Marcus talks about Charlie and how he is like an onion because he comes in layers. Isn’t that an ogre? Marcus talks about forming an onion alliance full of these layered individuals. We will see more of that as the season progresses.

Randy had issues with how GC is working with the water since he’ll have to do work twice boiling the water twice. Randy wants to be quiet for now and watch his tribe self destruct. Corrine wonders what to do with her tribe in terms of alliances. This must be more of the onion alliance. She thinks that Bob should be brought into their alliance.

Gillian is worried that people are doing bad on her tribe since there are people in the night working instead of waiting until the morning. GC quits being the leader right on the spot. Randy thinks that this was a good move. Dan thinks that this was a poor decision for a leader to make. He wants to be a silent leader.

The Fang tribe gets treemail about the upcoming challenge. One tribe will be fishing. The other will be heading to tribal council. Jeff asks the Fang tribe about the face paint that they put on. The challenge involves moving a bolder around and getting keys to complete the challenge. Jeff introduces the concept of Exile Island which will happen to a member of the losing tribe. Gillian is asked to stay out of the way of the bolder to help their chances in the challenge. Fang isn’t as bad at this challenge, but they still lose it this time around.

After the challenge, they send Dan to Exile Island. He will return in time for tribal council. He is told some of where to go and given a map. The vote won’t happen until the next night. Charlie talks about his tribe’s win and how their tribe has been doing well in the game thus far. People on the tribe don’t think that they will lose a challenge. Dan arrives at Exile Island and is given the choice between clue and comfort. He picks a clue. He seeks out a clearing, but thinks that the idol could be in the lake. He doesn’t venture far away. He can’t figure out the clue and can’t find the idol in question. If only he looked farther away.

Back at the Fang camp, people face a lack of morale due to their constant losing. Ken wants to vote out Gillian and it seems like she is the target. She considers voting against Ken. Susie seems to be on board with this plan for now. Randy breaks his glasses apart in order to help form fishing equipment. Doesn’t he need glasses to see better? They still catch fish and Dan returns from Exile Island. Dan says that he could not find the idol. GC thinks that Dan was acting strange. Others are convinced that Dan does have the idol. People still need to figure out who to vote for and Dan is brought up as a target.

The tribe then gets to tribal council. Jeff asks GC about being the leader and GC admits that he does not want to be the leader of the group anymore. Jeff thinks that there are too many disruptive forces in the tribe. There is no current leader on the group. Crystal doesn’t think that they need a leader. Gillian thinks that they need to learn to work together or they will be doomed as a tribe. Dan talks about how he went to Exile Island. People think that he has the idol and Dan dumps his bag to prove that he does not have the idol. We then get to the vote at hand. Gillian votes against Ken. The rest of the tribe votes against Gillian and she is voted out as a result.

On the next Survivor: Gabon, Randy is not the leader of the tribe (yet) and Fang seems to remain quite a dysfunctional tribe. Meanwhile, Gillian gets her last words wishing her tribe good luck, feeling that they will need it going forward. Keep moving forward, just like in Meet the Robinsons.

Confessional count: Dan- 2, Corrine- 3, Bob- 3, Sugar- 1, Randy- 8, Charlie- 6, Marcus- 3, Michelle- 2, Matty- 2, Susie- 0, Ken- 4, Ace- 2, Crystal- 3, Gillian- 5, GC- 5, Jacquie- 0, Paloma- 0, Kelly- 0.

Michelle didn’t seem to have much of a chance in the game, being the only one not picked for a tribe. She still could have been a better player. She was too obnoxious in different places and could have tried to align with more than just one person. Will she play again? I’d say that it might be possible. I’d give her a 51% chance of returning to the game again.

Gillian may not have lasted long either, but she had quite a good impact on the Survivor community. She created Reality Rally, a gathering of reality TV fans and people like that. Despite being older, there is still a chance that she could appear on the show again. I’d give it a 60% chance that we’ll see her again.

I don’t yet know when I’ll be back with the next post of this season. Keep an eye out for Sundays and this blog will be updated if I’ve seen the next episode of it. Survivor returns on Wednesday and I will be back with the newest season then (I hope). We’ll see what all happens with this blog. I’ll try to keep the more primary parts of this blog with the new episodes. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.