Episode 40.3

With yesterday being the start of Lent, this will affect all the Wednesday shows that I watch. I had to give up a lot of what I normally watched last year when I cleaned two banks for my job and gave up the show SEAL Team as a result. I wasn’t into Riverdale for a while and thought that I’d be spending the hiatus of this show watching The Goldbergs and Schooled, which I did for just one week. Then the promos for Katy Keene came on and I was wanting to watch that while realizing that it was a spin-off of Riverdale. Ironically, I didn’t get into Katy Keene, but am now back into Riverdale for a while.

I realize that the Wednesday schedule is changing soon. They will be airing American Housewife after Modern Family so I’ll probably be able to see that after church. I doubt that I’ll see Modern Family or the other show that I watch at eight: Nancy Drew. While I like Lego Masters, I don’t think it will work out for me to see it again unless it is on after Lent is over. I will probably be able to see S.W.A.T. when it comes back at nine. I’ll keep track of any potential schedule changes for it in the future.

This is the 400^th post of this blog. It would have come sooner if I hadn’t gotten rid of old posts from the archive. Regardless of this coming later than I would like, I am glad to have gotten this far in this blog by writing this many blog posts. Before I get to the episode, here’s a reminder of what the fire token count in the game is right now. I wonder, in the unlikely event that someone leaves the Edge of Extinction, what would happen to their fire tokens?

Fire token count: Wendell- 1, Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 1, Rob- 2, Parvati- 1, Kim- 1, Denise- 2, Tony- 1, Nick- 1, Ethan- 1, Tyson- 1, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 0, Ben- 1, Michele- 1; Natalie- 2, Amber- 0, Danni- 0; Sandra- idol good for two more tribal councils, Jeremy- safety without power.

In the first segment of the show, Adam recounts some of what happened since there is no longer a recap of what went on. He is weary of Rob, but wants to make sure that Parvati is voted out next. Denise has a full idol right now. The old school players turned on one of their own. Adam wants Ethan in his corner. Adam tells Ethan of his plan to vote out Parvati, but Ethan doesn’t like this plan.

On the other tribe, Sandra wants to help people in the game that she hadn’t done before. Tyson wants to get rid of Sandra and so does Yul. Tony grabs a baby shark do do do do do do out of the water so they can eat it. I have tried shark bites at a great restaurant in St. Louis called Cybergs (unsure of spelling right now). Sandra learns that Tyson is going after her.

In the second segment of the show, Danni talks about life on the Edge of Extinction and how there are no coconuts around. And here I was thinking that there were six with the three women there. The women find a tree with a number box on it. Amber finds the numbers on the crates and writes it down. Natalie knows that it is on the shells and she alters them so that others don’t figure out what she knows in the end. She wins a steal the vote advantage for someone in the game. I guess that the white tree burns for some people and stays standing for King Aragon after the battle.

Sarah gets the clue to the steal a vote advantage and has to sneak to the other tribe’s camp to get it. She tells Tony about this so she can get back-up. She does make it to the other tribe’s camp while they are all asleep. She does get it, but it is possible that someone noticed her.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge that also has a reward element to it as well. I’ve never seen a puzzle finish that exciting before. The red tribe wins again. Denise thinks that the plan is still to vote out Parvati. Hopefully, she’s right about that. I wonder: if Denise is voted out, would she have to give all of her fire tokens to the same person?

In the fourth segment of the show, Rob talks about the stand-off that was going on when the tribe got back to camp. Michele notices this too. Jeremy walks away with Ben and Denise. Ben thinks that she is more of a threat than Rob or Ethan. Adam is concerned about going after The Godfather. He doesn’t want to sleep with the fishes.

Rob tells Michele and Jeremy to vote out Adam since he doesn’t like that the plan was revealed. Adam might have a death wish since Rob might make them an offer they can’t refuse. I need to see that movie sometime so I can make more references to it. Michele wants to make sure that she makes the right move. Also, I do think that she deserved her win. You may not like who wins a season, but they deserve it.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Ben explains how their tribe has lost so much in terms of challenges thus far. They weren’t willing to strategize at the start. Everyone is close to the others on the tribe, according to Adam. Michele compares playing Survivor to dating and you have to stick with those that make you feel better inside. Parvati knows that she is a threat and a target.

Adam somehow knows of the statue of Rob. But they would have taken that down after the season was over, right? It’s not like he has a permanent one of him as far as I know. Ethan wants to play right now. Jeff wonders if he plays to far ahead or not. He should be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the moment. No idols are played. Ethan is the person voted out of the game. Say what? When was he brought up as a target? That came out of nowhere. Ethan gives his fire token to Parvati.

On the next Survivor, people are sure that Adam or others with connections in the game have to be voted out next. There also might be a medical emergency on the Edge of Extinction or elsewhere in the game that is hard to tell what it might be or how serious it might be. “Why so serious?” as a now lesser known version of The Joker once said.

Total confessional count: Denise- 4, Tony- 7, Nick- 1, Ethan- 5, Tyson- 5, Sophie- 5, Jeremy- 5, Sandra- 6, Ben- 7, Michele- 4, Wendell- 2, Adam- 9, Yul- 6, Sarah- 4, Rob- 8, Parvati- 6, Kim- 2; Natalie- 6, Amber- 7, Danni- 5.

New confessionals this episode: Kim- 0, Denise- 2, Tony- 2, Nick- 0, Ethan- 2, Tyson- 1, Sophie- 0, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 2, Ben- 2, Michele- 3, Wendell- 0, Adam- 3, Yul- 2, Sarah- 2, Rob- 1, Parvati- 1; Natalie- 1, Amber- 2, Danni- 1.

Fire token count: Nick- 1, Tyson- 1, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 0, Ben- 1, Michele- 1 Wendell- 1, Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 0, Rob- 2, Parvati- 2, Kim- 1, Denise- 2, Tony- 1; Natalie- 3, Amber- 0, Danni- 0, Ethan- 0; Sandra- idol good for two more tribal councils, Jeremy- safety without power, Sarah- steal a vote advantage, Denise- regular idol, I think

Sorry for the wrong count in the last episode. I added one for Michele that didn’t belong. The count has now been fixed from this post onward. Anyways, Nick, Kim, Wendell, and Sophie all tied for the lowest with no new confessionals this episode. Michele and Adam had the highest with three. In terms of the total confessionals, Nick has the lowest with just one. Adam has the highest with nine. I will be back at some point in time next week with the new episode. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 40.2

It is about time that I get to explaining to the readers of this blog about mistakes that were made and I have to give people an apology. I could have included this in two other blog posts, but had already done the introduction for them and didn’t want it in a random post. There were three posts in this blog that are now gone from the archives. I was talking about the links that dead contestants had with each other and I realize that these posts were mistakes and I got rid of them as a result. Lesson learned. I will not be making a post like that again in this or any other blog.

You see, it was an old post when I shared it in the Addicted to Survivor facebook group. I was hoping that the people there could give advice about what else could work in future posts like it. But they did not like the post. I do want to give these people thanks for the respectful way that they handled this by how they handled this by letting me know the error of my ways and not flaming me, giving me hate comments, or otherwise causing chaos. One of them did post a comment on the post that I was initially dismissive of before I got back on facebook and saw the shitstorm that was lurking. I got rid of that post as well in this blog.

I get defensive quite easily when people try to point out what I should do. It’s a character flaw, I know. I often get tired of criticism as that’s often the only thing that I hear from people. There aren’t that many people who praise me for anything and it can be tiring putting up with this. Now no one has to ever say that I’m doing things right. But if all I ever hear from you is what I’m doing wrong, that doesn’t do much to help me out in life.

Incidentally, regarding the posts, I was going to discontinue them anyways due to a lower viewer count on it which was effectively my only reason for sharing an old post on in that group anyways. Unless I had rushed a new post in 2020 with Rudy included with the other players, I wasn’t by my own rules going to get to write another one anyways. But it is better that one can’t find them in the archives now anyways. I don’t want to get rid of stuff that I spent a long time working on which is the reason that I copied these three posts onto a document I have on my laptop before I deleted them.

If you ever read a blog of mine and you are wondering why a certain annual post that I used to do at points during a year stopped happening, the reason why is due to a low view count. I will try to let the readers of that blog know that at some point. Also, I’ve had an issue with at least two blogs where they are not showing the view count that they used to and are showing zero across the board. This may mean two different issues as I tend to update another blog after any lowly read post is published past the last 25 posts that show up in a blog. I might have to abolish that rule for a while or you are going to see a lot of blogs constantly updated every time until the issue goes away, if it does at all. I normally have that as a rule so that I can’t update that old blog until a different one is. Since I have seven blogs, it could be quite a different blog scape for me to always do this and possibly impossible.

There was one single issue with the posts where someone in the Addicted to Survivor group felt that I should delete this whole entire blog. I find that to be a ludicrous idea. I spent a lot of time working on the nearly 400 posts of this blog. I’m not going to get rid of all of it just because of one post that people didn’t like that you can’t even find in the archives here anymore. If you don’t like this blog, don’t read it. No one is forcing you to read this blog. Well, I hope that no one is. I’m going to keep writing this blog and I am now even obsessively saving the old posts of this to different documents on my laptop. Now I don’t see a point in talking about the gone posts anymore so let’s get to the next part.

I’m going to keep track of fire tokens and other advantages here at the start of the post before I get into what happens next in the episode in question. I will post this same thing with changes at the end of this post before putting it to the next post. Hence, you may recognize this section outside of the minor change at the end of it. I hope that others keep track of this like Survivor fandom.

Fire token count: Ethan- 1, Tyson- 1, Danni- 1, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 2, Sandra- 0, Ben- 1, Michele- 1, Wendell- 1, Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 1, Rob- 2, Parvati- 1, Kim- 1, Denise- 1, Tony- 1, Nick- 1; Natalie- 1, Amber- 0; Sandra- idol good for two more tribal councils.

In the first segment of the show, Amber talks about how it feels weird to be on the Edge of Extinction in the game. Amber thinks about what will happen with her husband now. Rob gets a fire token and his first thought is that it could have been his wife. He tries to look on the bright side, thinking that maybe it was Sandra instead. He tells Parvati about his new fire token. Ben wants to work on his game and is here with Denise. Denise finds an idol, but has to split it in half. Ben doesn’t want the other half. She talks to Adam about the idol revealing some about it. Denise, probably not seriously, mentions giving the idol to Parvati as a possibility, but it is Adam who gets the idol half instead.

At their camp, Yul and Kim talk about their respective games. Kim goes out looking for an idol. She does find an idol, but Tony and another player find her. She does not seem to be caught. Kim gives the idol half to Sophie. Sophie thinks that Kim should be trusting Tyson. But Sophie takes the idol and now is a bit weary of Kim as a result.

In the second segment of the show, we return to the edge of extinction. Natalie and Amber read one of the messages and Natalie understands it meaning that they will have to barter for a new token. Amber talks about how this is all new to her, the advantages. After Amber gives up, Natalie finds the advantage at the watering hole. She gives the advantage to Jeremy who gives her a fire token to order to take this safety without power advantage. He is convinced that this advantage could change everything.

Tony convinces his tribe to take a ladder from the tribe to a tree where he wants to use it to climb up a tree in order to get fruit from it. People are worried about him in different ways. This is like when I do my typical antics with the owner of the gym in town. Tony and Sarah reinstate their old alliance and it might actually last this time around.

In the third segment of the show, the tribes arrive for the next challenge and Rob confirms that his wife was voted out of the game. His tribe loses the challenge, not making up time at the puzzle part of the challenge. Parvati wants to make sure that there is no older players versus newer players faction. But who is old and who is new? And is there a middle?

In the fourth segment of the show, Rob talks about his failure at the challenge. But he isn’t too worried about being voted out. He wants to eliminate a newer school player. He thinks that either Ben or Jeremy are the targets at the vote. Danni realizes that no one is strategizing with her. She talks with Ben and Ethan, spilling the fact that there is, or at least could be, an old school and new school alliance. Danni tells Rob and she wants to vote out Parvati. This leads Rob wanting to vote out Danni instead. Adam wants to vote out Rob, but thinks that going after The Godfather is dangerous. Jeremy might want to try to turn the tables. Parvati seems to be the main target in the game as Adam wants to win the game by taking risks in it.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council as Adam somehow can’t put his torch in the slot or find where the hole is so Ben has to help him out. Rob talks about how the game is now more complex this season than it has ever been in previous seasons. Ethan hasn’t been playing this game for quite a while so he doesn’t know how things have changed. Michele admits to being left out of the vote the last time they were there. Parvati doesn’t know if others have adapted to the new game or not. Danni talks about how she doesn’t feel like she was included. Parvati thinks that Danni might not be explaining herself well.

Ben talks about how there could be an alliance between the groups and things blow out from there. There is secret whispering after this that he talks about. Rob wants everyone to openly look through their bags in front of everyone to show their idols. Denise and Adam are sneaky with their two halves and no one seems to notice that they have them. Thus, Rob is convinced that no one has an idol. Parvati hopes that they know what to do before the vote. Jeremy does not use his advantage. No one plays an idol and the votes are read. Danni is voted out of the game. I guess she sealed her own fate here. She gives her fire token to Denise.

On the next Survivor, people want to get rid of the big dogs or bigger animals from the game, while it seems that Sandra is out for anyone who is against her. What might be going on? I guess that we’ll see what craziness exists with the shark or bigger fish in the game.

Total confessional count: Wendell- 2, Adam- 6, Yul- 4, Sarah- 2, Rob- 7, Parvati- 5, Kim- 2, Denise- 2, Tony- 5, Nick- 1, Ethan- 3, Tyson- 4, Danni- 4, Sophie- 5, Jeremy- 4, Sandra- 4, Ben- 5, Michele- 2; Natalie- 5, Amber- 5.

New confessionals this episode: Michele-1, Wendell- 1, Adam- 3, Yul- 1, Sarah- 1, Rob- 3, Parvati- 1, Kim- 1, Denise- 1, Tony- 2, Nick- 0, Ethan- 1, Tyson- 2, Danni- 2, Sophie- 3, Jeremy- 2, Sandra- 0, Ben- 2; Natalie- 2, Amber- 2.

Fire token count: Wendell- 1, Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 1, Rob- 2, Parvati- 1, Kim- 1, Denise- 2, Tony- 1, Nick- 1, Ethan- 1, Tyson- 1, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 0, Ben- 1, Michele- 1; Natalie- 2, Amber- 0, Danni- 0; Sandra- idol good for two more tribal councils, Jeremy- safety without power.

Remember that I’m only going to talk about the confessional count here and not anything else. I am also not at the moment going to cover the “normal” idols not related to the fire tokens. I might later. Now Rob has the most confessionals total right now with seven. Nick is the lowest with just one. He and Sandra tie for the lowest this episode with zero a piece. As for the highest this episode, that is a tie between Adam, Sophie, and Rob with three.

As I close this post, I might as well tell you that the posts of this blog aren’t going to be on Wednesdays for a while as they will be moving to Thursdays. This is since next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and thus, the start of Lent. I will be at church when the show is on so I won’t be able to see it or blog about it until later, as in, the next day. I don’t know if I’ll try to put the final season of Modern Family on tape instead of Survivor so I can put this show on my laptop while using a different one that I have to write about the post and publish it. I’ll probably just go without the final season since I’m likely to see the last episode which is all I care about for now. I’ll explain more about Wednesday shows in the next post of this blog. Note that any potential posts on Survivor: Gabon will remain on Sundays as long as I don't miss a planned date. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Winners at War Premiere

I never thought until recently that the show would be ending. I am a bit worried that it will. Maybe I still have nothing to worry about. You’d think that this would be an unlikely event, the show ending. But you also might think that this would be an ideal season to end with. I have no idea what the future, if any, of this show will be. People have been a bit irritated at some of the recent seasons. But they thought that after the first few seasons that aired after Heroes versus Villains.

I don’t have the same hatred of a lot of the seasons that some of the fans do. It depends on the season. All I know is that if enough fans stop their support of the show by not tuning in anymore, there will not be a show on anymore. It has not been a thing that has happened yet. I don’t even know what shows it has happened to offhand. I hope that there aren’t people hate watching it. Don’t watch anything if you are just going to hate watch it. We’ll see what happens in the future.

Something that I’m wondering right now is about the potential alliances due to former season links. Some of these contestants have played the same season as each other and two are married to each other. I wouldn’t say that means automatic alliance, but I would say that it is something everyone should look out for going into this season. I don't know why it wouldn't be important.

I wonder about the Edge of Extinction factors going into this season. It is like climate change because it changes everything about the known game. We are in the fuck it weather stage of this planet. I hope that this is the last time that Edge of Extinction is used. If they want to give the winners a second chance, they should have just used Redemption Island instead. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Tony talks about this being the Super Bowl of Survivor seasons. Ethan thinks that it is a miracle that he is still here today. Parvati misses being her diabolic self. Amber wants to beat her husband again. The contestants arrive at a sand area where the men gather first. Yep. It is just like what God did. He made men and then something better came along. The women come next to the sandy area and gather with the men. Sandra feels betrayed to see Rob here since she didn’t know that he was playing again. Wendell is glad that he won and then gets to play again. Yul talks about how the game has changed, as does Amber. Jeff thinks that they should have a toast to celebrate the occasion. He pops open a bottle of alcohol. Ben talks about some of what is going on. Jeff reveals that they are not doing a men versus women season of all star players. I might like to see that at some point.

We get the red tribes and blue tribes revealed. I wonder who took care of Rob and Amber’s kids while they were away. Jeff talks about fire tokens that are being introduced and he tells them about the Edge of Extinction, being open about it this time. They also learn that the grand prize has been doubled this season. I don’t know how much the runner-up will get, but I do hope that it is less than a million.

Jeff explains that the first challenge is for both immunity and reward. This might be the first time that a person will be voted out this soon in the game. But when is tribal council? And how many twists will be in this new season? I guess that we’ll find out. What role will the fire tokens play? We don’t know yet what it might do, although it likely won’t take place until after the challenge. The red tribe wins. The blue tribe will not be voting someone out tonight, but will vote someone out the next night. Adam thinks that there is no easy target, but someone has to go.

In the second segment of the show, the red tribe learns more about the fire tokens and how it can help them at or before any challenge. But they would have to work together, combining their money to pay for more than one thing at the moment. Sarah, Amber, and Tyson talk about leaving their families and others behind. Sandra might be looking for revenge against Sarah and tries to make amends with Tony. But is this sincere?Meanwhile, Sele arrives at their camp and talks about what to do going ahead this season.

Rob is upset that they have lost right away. Parvati is now married… with children, er, a child. This will change some of her strategy in the game. Ethan thinks that playing Survivor is living. He feared death. I don’t fear death. I have accepted that it will happen. If Davy Jones asks if you fear death, you stab him so he knows that you mean no.

Denise doesn’t want to go to every tribal council this time around and is upset that she will once again have to go to tribal council and forms an alliance with Adam, but the others notice them wondering off. Tony wants to find an idol again, but has to play and keep it cool, not wanting to repeat his mistakes from the second time he played the game. He is the person who came in worst at another season of all the winners in this season, if not all the winners who ever played the game. Amber is emotional as she looks for tribe materials and look for an idol. She can’t be gone too long. Yul wants to align with Sophie as he is concerned that others might have alliances including from a poker game that was on TV.

Rob and Parvati might be working together this time around. She is a bit skeptical of this choice. Danni thinks that they should get rid of Rob right away due to him being well connected. Ben reveals this to Rob after being initially hesitate of it. Rob confronts Danni about this. She owns it, but tries to play it off as not only him being targeted. Now they might be working together, doing an old school alliance.

In the third segment of the show, Ben is glad that people aren’t after him. The vote might be between Denise and Adam. But Adam seeks to go after Natalie and Jeremy since Natalie admits that she will be willing to work with him again. Rob is sure that he knows how to dictate the vote. They still don’t know how the vote might go this time around even as they are set to go to tribal council next. They go off to tribal council with many possibilities in the air.

In the fourth segment of the show, Ethan talks about how the game has changed this time around. Rob talks about how Denise and Adam left on their own with each other at some point. Natalie is worried that she might suffer her sister’s fate in the game. Michele talks about how everything could change this season. There is whispering going on while someone else is talking. The votes are cast and we go to a commercial break next instead of getting straight to the results.

In the fifth segment of the show, Natalie is voted out and she is forced to go to the edge of extinction. She gives her fire token to Jeremy. She didn’t have to give it to someone on her tribe. She is now in limbo and has the chance to earn more fire tokens in the game. Sandra talks about her philosophy. Is it AM philosophy like the kids from ABC? Sandra is upset still that Rob is playing again when he said that he wouldn’t do that. Meanwhile, Yul forms an alliance with other men on the tribe.

In the sixth segment of the show, Michele talks about being left out of the vote. She feels that she has more to prove as a winner. I hate that people don’t like her. There might be a new school alliance in the game. Jeremy gets a second fire token that was Natalie’s that makes him the richest person in the game. On Extinction Island, Natalie follows a clue to find a fire token. Is this the same Extinction Island as the last time that they had it in the game? She gets an idol she can sell to someone on the losing tribe. But how will she do that? The idol only lasts for three tribal councils.

In the seventh segment of the show, we get to the next challenge. It is an immunity challenge that will be going on this time around. Despite setbacks at part of the challenge, the blue tribe wins giving Denise her first ever tribal immunity win. Rob is worried that his wife will be the target.

In the eighth segment of the show, the tribe wonders who to vote out and Tony actually asks if there are any volunteers. Many names are brought up at the start. Everyone is a threat. Everyone is out for blood. Sandra sows discord since she got the idol in exchange for her fire token. I might have to do a running tally as to who has what numbered fire token. I mean, I keep track of confessionals.

Tyson is brought up as the name as to who should be voted out. There are talks of a supposed poker alliance. Tyson realizes that he should do more to survive the vote. Kim thinks that she is in danger since no one is talking to her. All the votes are up in the air this time around. She thinks it is certain that someone from the poker alliance will be voted out.

In the ninth segment of the show, Amber talks about how the game has changed when she is at tribal council with the rest of the tribe. Tony came to play. Amber hasn’t been around for a while. She and Ethan are the two players this season who had the longest gap of play ever. Kim admits that she knows that she is a target due to the poker alliance.

Kim tries to convince others that this three hour game of poker wasn’t something that affects the game now. Does she know when to hold? Know when to fold? Sandra talks about how things will change since double the money is at stake. We get to the votes next. While Kim gets a lot of votes, it is Amber who is voted out of the game. She gives her fire token to her husband as she goes to the edge of extinction. Who else would she have given it to?

On the next Survivor, Rob wonders who voted out his wife. Someone has to do something dangerous with a ladder or otherwise does it for some odd reason. Will there be a medical evacuation? I guess we will have to see what will go on later. Amber talks some as she arrives on Extinction Island, but we do not know how the votes fall, yet at least.

Total confessional count: Natalie- 3, Tyson- 2, Danni- 2, Sophie- 2, Jeremy- 2, Sandra- 4, Ben- 3, Michele- 1, Wendell- 1, Adam- 3, Yul- 3, Sarah- 1, Amber- 3, Rob- 4, Parvati- 4, Kim- 1, Denise- 1, Tony- 3, Nick- 1, Ethan- 2.

Fire token count: Ethan- 1, Tyson- 1, Danni- 1, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 2, Sandra- 0, Ben- 1, Michele- 1, Wendell- 1, Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 1, Rob- 2, Parvati- 1, Kim- 1, Denise- 1, Tony- 1, Nick- 1; Natalie- 1, Amber- 0.

Jeremy and Rob have the highest amount of fire tokens with two a piece whereas Sandra has none, but does have an idol good for two more tribal councils. Rob, Sandra, and Parvati have the highest number of confessionals right now. The lowest is a tie between Michele, Wendell, Sarah, Kim, Denise, and Nick. We will see what goes on with them later. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Gabon episode 6- He’s a Snake, but He’s My Snake

While this post won’t be published until after the Survivor: Island of the Idols season finale, in my time, it is before Halloween has happened and I’m hoping to watch the Community Halloween episode before the holiday has happened. What I know is that recording a lot more on tape due to missing shows due to work means that I’ll have to be more caught up on that than usual in order to make sure that I am not too far behind on them. Maybe I’ll be able to see it in time or I might have to take it off the list at some point. I’m honestly not sure what will happen just yet.

Let’s get to the idol from Ghost Island part 5. JT had made dumb moves with idols. In the first one, he gave his idol away and it arguably caused his own elimination. The second time, he found an idol, but did not play it and was voted out with it in his possession. Somehow, the idol would wind up with an even worse owner.

Chris was able to find it upon learning that a secret visit to Ghost Island was in his grasp. He knew he was a target and learned that the idol was only good for the next tribal council. It was logical for him to just use the idol. But he took a random game of chance to extend the life of the idol. He extended it once, then failed the second time. Thus, he lost this vote. He was voted out at that tribal council upon not playing the idol, making JT no longer the worst player to hold the idol.

I was, through somewhat cheating through my own methods, able to see the Community Halloween episode both regularly then again with commentary before October ended. There was a bit of a change with the choices that I have of stuff to watch. Now mystery choice #1 is mystery choice #2. This will not affect where Survivor: Gabon is placed on the list.

Here are all the known instances of when the Survivor rules were broken from Wikia as I promised to put in this blog in a previous post. In the first season, Pagong voted out Jeff Probst and had to redo their vote. Later, Richard would be jailed for not paying taxes on his winnings. In the second season, Colby removed coral from the Great Barrier Reef and CBS was fined for it. In the fourth season, Paschal was not able to attend a tribal council as a jury member. In the fifth season, contestants broke rules during a challenge, leading them to lose the challenge “by a bunch of rules.” Also in the fifth season, the player Helen wrote a column for her paper with behind the scenes information about the show that she was not allowed to share with it being within three years of her being on the show.

In the sixth season, Jenna brought a hat with metal wires that she used for fishing. In the seventh season of the show, Jon tried to provoke Rupert into hitting him with the hopes that Rupert would be ejected from the game. In the eighth season, Richard brought matches up his butt. In the tenth season, there was a tribal council at the challenge site without the jury being present. In the thirteenth season, some of the tribe members went to the other tribe’s camp by accident. Later that season, a contestant was voted out without another jury member who was just voted out being present. In the fourteenth season of the show, a twist gave a tribe allowed a tribe to forfeit a challenge.

In the nineteenth season, Russell Hantz burned socks that another player had, even though one is not allowed to destroy another player’s belongings. Ben was also forced out of a challenge later that season. There was also a case later that same season when Russell Swan’s evacuation lead to neither tribe being declared the winner of a challenge. In the twentieth season, Sandra destroyed Russell’s hat. In the twenty-first season, Jane claimed that Sash tried to bribe her into getting jury votes. Also that season, Jane buried another player’s shoes. In the twenty-second season, Julie hid Phillip’s shorts.

In the twenty-third season, Sophie tried to get another player to help her win a challenge, but Jeff put a stop to this before it happened. In the twenty-fourth season, Bill threw Colton’s immunity idol into the sea. Also the same season, Manono gave up immunity after winning it in a unanimous decision that I am sure Bill regrets making. In the twenty-fifth season, a tribe made a deal that was allowed and ended the challenge without a winner it would have had otherwise.

In the twenty-sixth season, Brandon’s tribe voted him out at the challenge with the other tribe present that they were allowed to quit before they even competed in the challenge. Later that season, Phillip sat out an individual challenge and just so happened to be voted out that same night.

In the twenty-ninth season, Missy created an usual situation where she had an injury that didn’t need her pulled from the game but left her unable to compete in many challenges. This rightfully angered a lot of fans of the show, but I’m not sure there was a better way around this. In the thirty-fourth season, Jeff Varner was voted out in a verbal vote and was the only player thus far who didn’t vote at a tribal council who hadn’t lost the right due to a twist. In the thirty-seventh season, Alec ended up breaking the non-disclosure agreement intentionally, spoiling himself and another contestant as players. He did not get paid for being on the show or was able to attend the reunion show. In the next post of this season’s posts, I will get into the lawsuits and legal action, a separate page.

While I’m not sure that I’ll be able to see this episode and thus post about it when I was wanting too originally, I might as well share with you a link from an old Madam Secretary episode that I had blogged about in the past. I was sharing some of these in my Elementary blog before that show ended. Now, I think that I shall continue at the exact episode I left off with there since it is set around after Christmas and it would thus seem like a good time to share it here now. I hope this episode isn’t too late.

http://adamdeckermadamsecretaryblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/episode-from-1-10-2016.html

Movie updates: It has been a while since I’ve told people in this blog about the movies that I watch. I have only one list right now as the other list is slowly being dissolved. I will let you know if I go with the oldest six choices which are another list. There are some overlap between the two. For now, I’m using my time on Saturdays to watch Christmas stuff I haven’t seen when it was available. The list that I have right now for Sundays are the choices of Copacabana (a play recording), The Lion King 1 ½, Madagascar with commentary, The Pelican Brief, Survivor: Borneo- The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments, and Titanic. I started the year by watching The Lion King 1 ½ and replacing it with Nature Documentaries from Saturday’s old list.

After a while of not being able to see any movies, I was able to watch Madagascar with commentary and will replace it with Madagascar 2 with commentary. I still have more stuff to move from Saturday’s list, but have finished watching all of the Christmas stuff that I want to until December or late November. I might go with the oldest list of choices when I can to see more choices. When I have just one list of six choices, I will let you know.

I rolled the episode on 2-4-2020, which was a Tuesday. This means that I’ll have to update my TV blogs on Tuesdays now since they were vacant of posts since I moved my Madam Secretary blog updates to Saturdays. I plan to get rid of the Monday updates of the TV blog in the future. I only hope that this does not mess up too much the other blogs’ updates since I only do one blog on one day.

We begin with people talking about tribal council. Ace wonders what to do and thinks that he needs to get someone to betray the others. Matty thinks about his girlfriend, Jamie. He makes a ring for her. He then talks to Ace who make a pact to work together.

At Kota, Bob and Corrine complain about Dan eating too much food. Ken points out that his tribe is also running low on rice. They are at rock bottom or, perhaps, rice bottom. Ace and Sugar talk to each other which leads to Sugar giving her idol to Ace for safe keeping since people know she has the idol. He thinks that things are going well for him.

We then get to the reward challenge. The tribes have to chase each other while a snake is attached to all of them and some of them can drop out so it might help others on the tribe. Fang does terrible as it is Kota who once again wins the challenge. Crystal is upset over the loss. Randy gloats over their loss to the point of openly mocking her hurt.

After the challenge, Kota decides that they have to ration their food reward since Dan eats too much. Corrine wants to make it as fair as possible. Randy is even getting annoyed by Dan. Randy thinks that he should turn on Dan, his old member. On Exile Island, Sugar is said that her tribe doesn’t get food, even though she does at the Sugar shack. Kelly thinks that Crystal is too emotional. Crystal confronts Kelly about this in general and tries to explain that it is not a sign of weakness. Back at Kota, they find and catch a giant turtle. They are feeling high thus far in the game.

We then get to the immunity challenge. This challenge was more back and forth at certain parts with the Fang ahead at certain points. At the final part, Ace tries to do things by himself and helps fail as a result. Crystal wants to get rid of Ace since they haven’t won anything with him on the tribe. Back at camp after their loss, Ace wants to get rid of Kelly. Matty wants to flush the idol and others want to get rid of Sugar as well. Ace doesn’t want to reveal the fact that he has the idol.

Crystal tries to dictate the vote against Ace while worried about what Matty will do. Meanwhile, there are others that still talk about trying to get rid of Kelly. Ken learns from Sugar that she gave the idol of hers to Ace. Ken convinces Sugar to take her idol back from Ace. Ace is worried about if he will last since he doesn’t have the idol.

We get to tribal council next. Jeff thinks that they don’t have the teamwork aspect nailed down. You do not want someone to drown because you aren’t helping each other when the group room is filled with water. Kelly thinks that Crystal is unstable. Crystal gets defensive. Kelly earns Ace’s ire as well. It could be any one of them getting voted out tonight.

When the votes are cast, Kelly votes for Crystal. Everyone else on the tribe, Crystal, Sugar, Matty, Ken, and Ace all vote against Kelly. Did she end her fate here at tribal council? It is hard to tell for sure what went wrong as the edit isn’t that clear. Kelly is voted out of the game as a result.

On the next Survivor, both tribes will vote someone out and various people are brought up as the target on each tribe with Susie even admitting to Corrine that Corrine is Susie’s target. Why would someone do that? I guess I’ll have to see the episode again sometime at some point.

Total confessional count: Crystal- 15, Kelly- 4, Dan- 4, Corrine- 8, Bob- 5, Sugar- 8, Randy- 16, Charlie- 10, Marcus- 8, Matty- 8, Susie- 2, Ken- 10, Ace- 13.

New confessionals this episode: Ace- 4, Crystal- 4, Kelly- 2, Dan- 0, Corrine- 2, Bob- 1, Sugar- 1, Randy- 2, Charlie- 0, Marcus- 2, Matty- 1, Susie- 0, Ken- 2.

Kelly didn’t really seem to leave that much of a mark on the season. Even her exit from the game does not make as much sense as it otherwise could since she didn’t get much of an edit going into it. But I think that might have been the point as she didn’t do much in the season in the end. Could she come back for a future season? I’d give her about a 37% chance of that happening. There’s not much else to say in this post so I will let you go. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor at 40: Greatest Moments and Players

There is a Survivor special airing a week before the season premiere so I figured that I might as well do a blog post on it. I might explain in a blog post for the next season what I was doing with my time that I normally devote to this show on Wednesdays and see what else is in store for the future. I won’t do that now as instead, I will get to the blog post in question.

In the first segment of the show, we are reminded of some of what happened in the first season of this show. We are going to be given new insights into the game with a sneak peak of what will happen next season. We are reminded of Jonny Fairplay’s lie about his grandmother who had not died. We learn more of Cirie’s struggle with one of the challenges that she was able to complete after losing it. Alliances were formed and present as long ago as the first season. Rob and Amber had the greatest alliance on the show thanks to their romance with each other. They are still together, four kids later.

In the second segment of the show, we are reminded of how people adapt to the game for all the twists in the game. Tony lied about his idol. Sarah used a secret advantage meant for another. We then learn about the fire making twist and how it affected the game going forward. For some reason, they make it seem like it was exciting in Cook Island when that season made it the most boring of them all. They then tell us of how Chris Underwood gave up immunity to get rid of Rick, a risk that paid off.

In the third segment of the show, we are given a segment on idols in the game. Parvati has two idols and she knew how to use them. She knew which two players weren’t safe. James in China didn’t know how to play either of his idols and say safe. Russell Hantz became notorious for finding idols. They ended up hiding idols at challenges. Some contestants started hiding fake idols which lead to great moments when others had tried to play them.

In the fourth segment of the show, we are given tribal council moments that had happened over all of the seasons throughout the game. They had to explain what happened in Cambodia after all of those had immunity and only a unanimous decision could decide what went on. In Blood versus Water, Ciera voted out her own mother, even though she didn’t have to as Laura would have been voted out either way. In Game Changers, Cirie was voted out since no one was eligible for elimination. In Ghost Island, there was a tie at the final tribal council. We are then reminded of the epic blindside that had happened of Erik at Micronesia. Everyone played their roll perfectly.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get the first sneak peak of the 40^th season of the show. People have been waiting a while to see the Super Bowl of Survivor seasons. Parvati hasn’t been able to be her old diabolical self lately since she hasn’t been on Survivor. Amber wants to beat her husband, whom she is competing against now. The contestants arrive at the challenge side. The men arrive first and the other group is the women. Sandra feels betrayed that Rob is playing again. People point out that his wife is here too. We’ll have to wait to find out what happens next week when next season starts.

So this special didn’t really offer much to it, but I guess that I’ll keep this post the way it is written since no other post is ready for Wednesday like their otherwise could be. There will be a post this Sunday. I will be back then with the next post. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: All-Stars- Hero or Villain

I have done this before with some randomly seeming seasons and need to get more caught up on them if I can. I have to rewatch some other seasons that I was wanting to do, but should otherwise be able to get this post in since I know this cast better than others. Let’s get to this season where I talk about each one of the players and decide whether they are a hero, villain, or neither. This will largely apply them to only this season and not any others that they played.

Tina: While her time in the game was short and she had to worry about being targeted as she had won a previous season, she managed to do as well as she could until her tribe lost the first challenge. I would put her as a hero this season, not losing that status from other seasons.

Rudy: I don’t think that someone could make the case that he was anything other than a hero when he played the game. Even his tribe was sad when they had to vote him out of the game so early into what had happened in it. He was still great that time around.

Jenna Morasca: She knew when she had to leave this game to be with her mother before she died. I just can’t think of a better way she was a hero (or heroine) this time she played. She may not have had that much of an influence in the final game that much, but I think that she left a memorable mark this season as a result of her exit.

Rob Cesternino: He might have been more of a villain the first time he played according to what some people thought at the reunion show. He seems like such a nice person on his podcast that it is hard to tell for sure why he might have seen that way. From what I remember on his All-Stars game, he did not come off as a villain. He was neither that nor a hero.

Richard: His old ways didn’t die easily or at all when he played again. In fact, if anything, he became more of an asshole the second time around. While the players had the sense to get rid of him this time around, his status as a villain has not yet died.

Susan: While she is only remembered this time around for the disturbing events that lead to her quitting the game, one might wonder whether or not she was a villain or a hero. Some might say that she was a victim or just playing a victim. To me, she was neither this time around.

Colby: It would seem that one of the strongest players had a game that just didn’t live up to potential the second time around, even if it would hardly be as bad as the third time he played where he actually made it farther. As for whether he was a hero or villain, I would say that he was neither when he played the second time. He didn't do as much this time around.

Ethan: A hero to many, I would say that he remains a hero this time around when he played again. He had struggled to stay in the game and made it farther than all the other finalists of previous seasons when he returned to the game.

Jerri: This season might be hard to label Jerri. She was a villain the first time and the last time she had played. I think that she was probably still a villain now this time as well, even if she didn’t have that much of a notable game this time around.

Lex: Undoubtedly a villain both times he played, he may have come off as a sore loser this time around, but he did what he could to prevent Rob Mariano from winning, even if that meant voting for Amber, Rob’s girlfriend. And that one vote cost Rob that game. Villains can be bitter and he was the second of only two people I can think of whose vote against someone caused their loss.

Kathy: It is hard for me to think of which two categories, if either, she would fit into this time around. I would say that she was more of a hero for sticking with her allies, even if she was going to lose with them. It’s not like she could have gotten anywhere flipping on them.

Alicia: She was totally a villain both times she played. She may come off as annoying and callous, but I do think that she has her fans in the end. She took at lot of hits and had to deal with her own tribe turning on her after the merge. But she still found a bit of a following.

Shii Ann: Maybe this is once a villain always a villain? Snide in her ways, even with a majority of people who were against her, she outright said who she thought was going to win the game by voting against this person. Not one was she right, she even openly voted for her (Amber) as well. I’d have to say that while her ways wound up falling her short, she placed where she would have in Thailand if there had not been a fake merge that got her voted out instead.

Tom: I would find it easy to call him a hero in the game. To me, no other label would make sense. He was not a villain and to call him neither would be doing him a disservice. He might not have been seen as much this time around, but still found his way to the end.

Rupert: Maybe not lovable to all the fans like he once seemed to be, he is still a hero in the end and even won a million dollars by a fan vote. He may seem crazy and be crazy, but he is quite a good person, even if they’ll never let him reach the end of the game.

Jenna Lewis: This time around, she was only known for flipping on her ally at the end in order to prevent her own potential elimination since none of them knew of the fire-making challenge. I don’t think that she could have won against anyone in the final four. But I do think that she deserves to be a villain in this season for her double-cross.

Rob Mariano: He was well hated this time around to the point of having people wonder whether or not he deserved to win. He came within one vote of doing it and some fans still think he was, well, robbed of a win this time around. I say that his villain credit this season was well deserved.

Amber: While perhaps a bit underrated, she is still nonetheless as devious as her now husband turned out to be that many jurors hated the both of them that season. She was a villain and might have played an underhanded game just well enough that all the hatred fell on her partner and she was able to win as a result of her ways.

Well, that’s all for this post. Did you think that I had good labels for the players? Did I get any wrong? Did I get them right, but for the wrong reasons? Feel free to comment on this blog and let me know if you think I did a good job labeling these contestants as heroes or villains this season. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.