Episode 41.10

I have talked some loosely here and there by using the phase: my OCD. I have used this to some sort of degree in some way over and over again. Some of you might wonder what I mean by that. Well, I might as well make it clear. I really do have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If you want to know what that is like, this video about it is nice. It’s called My OCD.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnzz-eFmKaw

 

Let’s get to the one time challenges from the tenth season. I have done some research into this season already when I wanted to see what all would work from it as a Redemption Island duel. But I’m going to look through these challenges again and hope that they all work out well.

 

Supply Dump (first tribal immunity and reward challenge from This Has Never Happened Before!): In this challenge, contestants have to go through a lot of obstacles and pick any objects from a supply dump before they take those supplies to a beach mat and get their tribe flag, winning only the items that they brought to the dump itself. This could probably not be done while social distancing as I’m not sure what all would work in it if done individually or as a relay race instead.

 

Heads Up (immunity challenge from Love is in the Air, Rats are Everywhere): In this challenge, players had to drag an underwater locker for 50 feet so that it could be opened. Once it could be, they would have to release mess kits that would be taken on shore to solve a Morse code puzzle. I don’t think that this challenge could be done while social distancing.

 

Water Tower (reward challenge from Exile Island): In this challenge, contestants have to solve a puzzle that is like scaffolding to make a climbable tower. They then have to use it to retrieve a pendant and then swim back to shore. I don’t think that this challenge could be done while social distancing. But it could maybe be done more individually, possibly?

 

Raft Rally (reward challenge from It Could All Backfire): In this challenge, contestants have to use a raft to get their color coded bag and use what’s in them to mark the distance between where they are (in this case, Palau) and five major world cities. I’m pretty sure that something like this could be done while social distancing and am honestly a bit surprised that it hasn’t happened again.

 

Tower of Domination (an immunity challenge from The Ultimate Shock): In this challenge, the players have to make their way through a tower, use hooks to retrieve keys, and raise a flag. The next part would have them going down to get another flag, which must be received from a combination box in the end. Raising it would finish part 2 of the challenge. As there is enough distance between some of what is going on, then this could be done while social distancing.

 

Bob-Bob Buoy (final immunity challenge from The Ultimate Shock): In this challenge, one that became the longest lasting one in Survivor history, a player would have to stand on a buoy for as long as possible to outlast the other players. It could be done while social distancing, although I doubt that it would appear again, lest it last too long again. Still, it should be done again due to how great it works.

 

By checking out another blog, I was able to better understand what Evvie was talking about in her exit confessional in the last episode. It turns out that Deshawn was wrongly thought to be in Evvie’s alliance and that is why she thought that someone flipped on her. I’m unsure where this came from, but guess that I have been missing a lot of the show. But enough of my ramblings.

 

In the first segment of the show, we get to the whole tribe reunited at once. People talk about how the votes went the way that they did. Shan is suspicious and unsure who to trust. What else is new? Do good things typically happen to paranoid players? It can be good at times like when Yau-Man knew to save himself with his idol at the final six. But constant paranoia is often bad in this game. San mentions that 2020 was a hard year. There is more emotion shown. I think that Shan is bonding with Deshawn. I missed some of what went on in writing this part.

 

We then get to the reward challenge. At it, you can tie yourself in horrible knots. They come in stripes and polka dots. Beware. Beware. Be a very wary bear. Ricard wins the “best reward of the season” and he takes first Shan then Heather then Xander on the reward. Danny thinks that Ricard is playing the jury and must be voted out.

 

In the second segment of the show, Danny wants to make a big move ®. They talk about wanting to get rid of Ricard without letting Shan know. Ricard and Shan want to be final two because they think that that might still be a thing. People want to vote out those that have advantages. Shan does her up to something music at the reward. It seems almost identical to Bittersweet Symphony is my mind.

 

In the third segment of the show, Liana gets emotional thinking of her summit with Shan and how they bonded as a result. Liana wants to work with Shan to hopefully win. Thus, Liana blabs the plan that they wanted to get rid of first Ricard then Shan. Shan is open at some point to getting rid of him, maybe. Shan is open about this to Ricard. He tries to talk about this in a fair and simple way, but can come off as mean and unsure what to say. Shan is probably neurotypical and you never know what will set those people off. Ricard is certain that he wants to win immunity to ensure his safety.

 

Speaking of immunity, we get to the challenge and continue Jeff’s weird ball fetish. Keep your ball on your disc. Is that the place that people are sitting on right now? Jeff wants everyone to put their hand on their ball and then put your ball back up. Can it go back up if it comes down? These challenges are easy to make fun of if you have an immature mind like most people would in this situation. Shan’s ball is on the move and could go anywhere. Deshawn’s ball moves a lot and then finally drops. Jeff has to point out that people have been very solid with their balls. He has to be doing this on purpose, right? It turns out that as usual, Ricard wins a must win challenge. Danny is upset that Ricard won.

 

In the fourth segment of the show, wait- was that a tornado in the background? While I do maybe want to do a post on animal imagery which is always important and easy to miss, you’d think that weather related ones would be important too. Ricard wants to turn on Shan. He needs an extra vote. Deshawn lies about targeting Ricard when asked about it by Ricard. Ricard sees right through this crap. But it does convince Deshawn to target Shan. Erika wants to split the votes between Shan and Liana. But this makes Erika the target instead. What? Is all of this supposed to be confusing all the time? I guess they just don’t want us to know who is voted out until the very end.

 

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council and Xander admits that he knows that all of them know that he has an idol. Who was the one that blabbed the code to everyone and made all of the idols public? Erika thinks that she’s on the bottom. Insert dirty joke here. Sometimes you don’t know who you can trust until after tribal council. Shan thinks that people have to do a cost benefit analysis of whether or not to trust someone. You have to try something and hope that it works out.

 

It does seem to some like Erika is trustworthy. You’d think that she would have lost that element when she broke the hourglass. Someone is wrong about who to trust and whether or not things will work out in the end. Once we get to the votes cast, no idols or advantages are played. In the end, it is Shan that is voted out. She still thinks that she can trust Ricard, I think.

 

On the next Survivor, Liana is upset that Ricard voted the way he is, Ricard is seen as a growing threat that people must get rid of, Erika wants to make a big move of some sort, and the challenge in the next episode (or one of them, at least) comes with a dangerous twist.

 

Total confessional count: Danny- 17, Deshawn- 19, Shan- 25, Liana- 19, Heather- 4, Erika- 12, Ricard- 18, Xander- 21. New confessionals this episode: Deshawn- 5, Shan- 3, Liana- 2, Heather- 0, Erika- 2, Ricard- 3, Xander- 0, Danny- 3.

 

I might have a bit of confusion going on with the order of some of the confessionals which tends to happen toward the end of the seasons when there are less people to cover. I don’t know yet whether or not I will be back here on Wednesday next week or Thursday instead. Plan for Wednesday. I hope to be back as normal. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 41.9

In my strange, obsessive need to often reference something and make sure that you know what for sure it was that I did, here is a link to the song Sticky Situation that Baylor from San Juan del Sur did. It could be considered a Survivor song, but am unsure if this counts as it or not. Are there any?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YgH5uBmlcM

 

Now the last episode of this show made me think of Bathsheba and the story of her and David from the bible. I’d have to reread the last post to explain more why I felt this was relevant. This story is found in 2 Samuel 11 & 12, specifically 1-7 of chapter 12 which inspired the song There Once was a Man from VeggieTales. This makes me think that I should finally go back to reading the bible. I haven’t done that all year. Now I should again. I might have been just a bit past that story.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPwMo5rMCuQ

 

Let’s get to the one time challenges from the ninth season. This had more of a simple element to it and had some things that seemed similar to what we’d see elsewhere in Survivor. I do plan to cover every challenge on the show up to the present if at all possible. I just hope you don’t tire of this.

 

Fire Starter (challenge from They Came at Us with Spears!): In this challenge, contestants have to go through a mud pit, bring balls through a table maze, climb a ladder to cross a balance beam, slide back to the ground, use materials to light a torch, and end at some point by crossing a finish line. I think that an individual version of this or relay race version of this could be done while social distancing.

 

Tribal Tiles (immunity challenge from Now That’s a Reward!): In this challenge, we get one of those complicated mind games (not the kind that people play on each other, thankfully) where they have to figure out how to rearrange sixteen tiles with four colors and four designs into a 4 by 4 row without there being any repeat colors or designs in any rows. An individual version of this could easily be done while social distancing. They’d just need a different name for it.

 

Shoot Your Way Home (immunity challenge from Anger, Threat, Tears… and Coffee): In this challenge, contestants have to shoot out all 20 tiles of the opposing tribe. This could be done individually and could also be done while social distancing. This does seem similar to a different challenge on Survivor.

 

Jumper (immunity challenge from Now the Battle Really Begins): In this challenge, contestants would have to race up a tower, get a flag, bring it to a place, and repeat the process three times to get all of the flags that they need. A simplified version of this challenge could be done while social distancing.

 

Memory Mosaic (immunity challenge from Gender Wars… It’s Getting Ugly): In this challenge, those who are playing it must memorize what a mosaic looks like in a specific amount of time and then do their best to replicate it. This could be done while social distancing.

 

Played Out (reward challenge from Surprise and… Surprise Again!): In this challenge, the players were quizzed about challenges from earlier in the season. This could easily be done while social distancing. This should be done again.

 

Ready, Aim, Don’t Fire (final immunity challenge from Spirits and the Final Four): In this challenge, the contestants have to stand in a warrior pose holding a bow and arrow that they can’t release or they will be out of the challenge. This could be done while social distancing and should be done again.

 

I realize that some people don’t really like advantages in the modern version of Survivor. You might even remember a post that I wrote about it called The Disadvantages of Advantages. Well, I do have some appreciation for them now so I now plan to write a post about liking them nowadays. I think that they have done a lot of interesting things with them this season and look forward to seeing what else they come up with. But enough of my ramblings.

 

In the first segment of the show, we get to the fallout of the tribal council. They wanted to get rid of Heather. Whatever the world may be. What will be will be. They had to go with what Deshawn wanted. Xander voted for Naseer, but Heather is blamed for this by Naseer. She had told Evvie to vote for him in the end. Ricard talks about being deaf in his right ear. He wants to be the first winner of the show (in the US version, at least, although I don’t know much if anything about the other country’s versions) to be hard of hearing. Does this mean that he’s going to be portrayed negatively now? Why is this only now being brought up? Anyways, Erika is brought up as a potential target.

 

In the second segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge already. They are splitting into two groups and going to two different tribal councils to each vote out two different people. Is there a name for this twist yet? There should be, if there isn’t. The last person standing for their team wins the reward for their team. This has been done at times since Ghost Island. At least this time they are doing it with an even number of people on both sides.

 

Naseer gets disqualified from the challenge, not keeping his hand where he is supposed to. This gives Erika the win on yellow, but she drops out shortly afterwards giving the reward win to yellow. It is then Xander who wins it for the blue team. The yellow team has to go back to an old camp and vote out their player first, not allowed to return to their old tribe until after tribal council. The blue team will vote out someone second. Liana is upset that Xander is immune.

 

In the third segment of the show, we get to the tribe that won reward first. Some people on this group think that Evvie should be voted out, but an idol is at play. Xander has it. He calls himself the prom king since everyone is coming to him to make moves. Liana wants to have Xander’s idol, but he doesn’t fall for this ploy.

 

On the other team, both Naseer and Shan talk to each other about their idols and other advantages. The people here want to vote out Heather with Naseer openly admitting to her that she’s the target. It also seems that Erika wants to turn the tables on either Naseer or Shan, but not having the advantages to make this happen. But she does have the numbers if they don’t both play their idols and can get the other two people to vote with her.

 

While Evvie has an ally with her group, Xander thinks that he should play his idol on her to ensure that she is safe after the vote. Heather wants to make it seem like she is going home so they get rid of Naseer instead. Shan is the most paranoid player in Survivor history. She wonders whether or not to play her extra vote as there is once again friction between her and Ricard. It always has to be her way.

 

In the fourth segment of the show, we get to the first tribal council of the episode. Heather is brought up as the target of the vote this night. She wants to cue an idol, but a bug appears on Tiffany instead. Jeff talks about how there are no secrets with who has what advantage since loose lips sink ships. I do not think that Naseer had a confessional this episode unless I missed it. Does that mean that he won’t be voted out or does that mean that his story isn’t worth saying this time?

 

People talk about the power of advantages and knowing who has what. The votes are cast with no advantages or idols played. An extra vote was played and it becomes a tie between Naseer and Heather. A revote happens and we go to commercial before we see what happens next.

 

In the fifth segment of the show, we return with only possibly the second revote certain to be resolved that way. Naseer is voted off, although I don’t know why there were three votes read when that should have been enough at just two.

 

The other team arrives at their vote next. Danny is shocked over what happened. Xander talks about how they won stew. Is stew really that great? Xander talks about wanting to work with people or how they would want to work with him. Jeff asks everyone if they feel comfortable or not. They think that there is lying going around. Evvie is glad about surviving Survivor death. Someone is going to die. We then get to the vote at hand. Evvie is voted out since no idol was played in Evvie’s favor. This seems rather dumb. Who was said to possibly be part of that twosome anyways?

 

On the next Survivor, people want Ricard gone since he makes Shan powerful and people think that Deshawn could be voted out instead. That’s the gist of what I could get from the promo. I doubt that there is much else to say right now about the next episode. But I will including something else about this episode. Evvie is convinced during her exit confessional that someone flipped, but unless I missed something, she only had Xander as an ally. Was she thinking that Liana was with her? I thought that it was clear from the sort of merge tribal council that Liana wasn’t on their side anymore. Why else would she have tried to taken Xander’s idol away back then?

 

Total confessional count: Shan- 22, Liana- 17, Heather- 4, Erika- 10, Ricard- 15, Xander- 21, Evvie- 20, Danny- 14, Naseer- 10, Deshawn- 14.

 

New confessionals this episode: Liana- 3, Heather- 2, Erika- 1, Ricard- 2, Xander- 5, Evvie- 2, Danny- 2, Naseer- 0, Deshawn- 1, Shan- 4.

 

It is worth noting that my church is offering two services for Advent on Wednesdays. One will be at the usual time at 7 when I normally go. The other would be at 4 right after work. I might honestly go to the one at 4, have supper, then go back home to enjoy primetime shows. The only time that this won’t happen will be noted for sure around the time that I’m pretty sure Survivor’s finale would be. But we’ll have to see for sure what I might do in the end.

 

Planned December blog posts (if Survivor blog is largely on Thursday)

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Not December	Not December	Not December	1: CSI: Vegas	2: Survivor	3: The Good Wife	4: TV
5: CSI: Cyber	6: Elementary	7: Madam Secretary	8: CSI: Vegas	9: Survivor	10: The Good Wife	11: TV
12: freebie	13: freebie	14: freebie	15: CSI: Vegas (maybe)	16: Survivor	17: freebie	18: TV
19: freebie	20: freebie	21: freebie	22: freebie	23: Survivor (maybe)	24: freebie	25: TV
26: freebie	27: freebie	28: freebie	29: Survivor (maybe)	30: freebie	31: freebie	Not December

 

Planned December blog posts (if Survivor blog is largely on Wednesday)

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Not December	Not December	Not December	1: Survivor	2: The Good Fight	3: The Good Wife	4: TV
5: CSI: Vegas	6: CSI: Cyber	7: Madam Secretary	8: Survivor	9: The Good Wife	10: freebie	11: TV
12: CSI: Vegas	13: Elementary	14: freebie	15: CSI: Vegas (maybe)	16: Survivor	17: freebie	18: TV
19: freebie	20: freebie	21: freebie	22: Survivor (maybe)	23: freebie	24: freebie	25: TV
26: freebie	27: freebie	28: freebie	29: Survivor (maybe)	30: freebie	31: freebie	Not December

 

I am a bit unsure when I’ll be back with this blog and new episodes on it. I might be back here at the usual time as I’m planning. I don’t yet know why I wouldn’t be. I just know that Thanksgiving is next week and things can get rather swapped then for me. At least I won’t have to work that night so that’s a relief. We’ll see when I’ll be back then. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 41.8

The more that I think about it, the more that I think that the song or music that Shan does is more or less identical to one by the Verve called Bittersweet Symphony. The name of this song was actually driving me a bit crazy for a while as it is one of those songs that you probably hear a lot, but don’t know the name of. If it weren’t in an episode of Riverdale, I may not know for sure.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opEOYvNfCp4

 

When I shared a song from Thomas the Tank Engine in the last blog post, it ended with a different song that they did. The other sound is called Sounds and I’m sharing the classic show version of it in this blog of mine now. Thankfully, I won’t have to do that again as this other song at the end of this one is not one that I’m interesting in sharing or even listening to in its entirety once.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEv74Lz_nDo

 

Doing the research on past challenges, I found out that only one challenge from the eighth season was used once. This makes sense as they would have wanted to do as many old challenges as they wanted to from previous seasons so they did.

 

Floating Puzzle (challenge from Sorry… I Blew it): In this challenge, players have to assemble a puzzle boat, row to shore, have one race to raise a flag, lower more paddles, and then paddle back to the start. A relay race version or possible individual one of this could be done while social distancing.

 

After the last episode, I had to take notice of Xander’s move from the last episode and wonder if his fake idol might appear again. I do like his move a lot. In the chess world, they would call that a swindle. Now as this is the merge now, I’m also wondering about contestants who are likely not winning this season. I don’t think that there is anything in Heather’s edit that indicates that she will get far. If she does, she won’t stand any chance of winning. Ricard didn’t get a confessional after his immunity win and we did not see much of Erika after her game changing decision. There are others too that aren’t worth talking about right now. But enough of my ramblings.

 

In the first segment of the show, a lot of things happened at the tribal council that are then talked about now. Evvie mentioned that Xander had an idol, something that Danny blabbed to the others at tribal council. Xander talks about playing Liana and Liana talks about having gotten played. A lot more had happened with the camp life and it seems like the yellow tribe is no longer working together.

 

There is an advantage at the sit out bench. Erika draws the sit out rock and Xander decides that he wants to swap with her which he does as Jeff allows this. The blue team wins the challenge with Evvie having remembered this puzzle from the Edge of Extinction. Xander didn’t take the advantage. Will it appear again? I guess we’ll have to see.

 

In the second segment of the show, Erika is glad that she got the reward of sandwich and chips. Tiffany was largely with the same people who failed at the last group challenge. She wants to put food out of her mind completely. Meanwhile, people talk about getting rid of Evvie. That is what Liana wants. And we learn that Xander wanted to sit out because being with the losers gives him the information. Shan thinks that Ricard is selfish by winning the reward and then still eating food later. There once was a man who took the lamb from the poor man instead of eating one of his many lambs. This is in the bible. He, as in Ricard, is worried about this move of his.

 

In the third segment of the show, we get to the challenge and a sit out option is included. It is agreed that if five people sit out, they will get rice for the whole tribe. This is taken down to four. I just wonder how many of them will be like that one woman from not too long ago who chose to sit out a challenge in order to give her tribe rice and demanded lots of credit for it. I can’t remember her name or that season offhand right now. Four people do sit out and Evvie wins the short lasting challenge. Evvie mentions this victory in a confessional.

 

In the fourth segment of the show, the others think that either Xander or Tiffany should be voted out tonight. Naseer says that he isn’t going home today. Shan is convinced that Xander should be voted out while Deshawn thinks that she should be voted out instead. Naseer’s name is brought up as well, but Shan doesn’t want him voted out since he is helpful around camp. Shan thinks that being a pastor means that her way is the best way. What kind of church does she run anyways? What do the people who go to her church think of her now?

 

Xander’s betraydar is going up and hoping that no stupid errors are happening. Tiffany doesn’t know what the plan is. Does she still have the idol? She might go rouge. Heather doesn’t like Shan as Shan is dictating too much about what to do. Heather doesn’t like that her name was brought up. Shan thinks that she needs a prayer for tribal council and mentions that the shot in the dark could come up.

 

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. It’s a new era of the game. Shan wants them to be able to eat which is why she did what she did. Jeff talks to all the four people who gave up their spot in the challenge, Shan, Ricard, Naseer, and Xander. He then talks to those that didn’t sit out. There were a lot of things changed after the last tribal council. A comment might drop and cause whispering. Was the last one technically a post merge one? Or is this the first? Danny mentions that people are quite crazy in a way.

 

Heather then openly whispers right before Jeff wants others to vote. She wants to change the vote to Naseer and now people want to vote for Heather. If this is how she leaves, this would be the quickest game lost at tribal council ever. I can’t make some sense out of a lot of this. What even just happened? I can’t quite get it. This time, it really is time to vote. When asked about advantages or idols, no one winds up playing theirs this time. The votes are all over the place with four people getting votes. In the end, it is Tiffany that gets voted out and joins the jury. And I’ll have to branch out to do another post on Ponderosa, which I will be doing for every new season starting with this one and every old season that I blog about should it have one.

 

On the next Survivor, Xander likes people being crazy, Shan is causing more issues with people, and there is some more that I can’t quite understand so that’s all worth mentioning because it is easy to miss. So I guess we’ll see what strange type of church Shan currently has. And brace yourself: next week’s post will contain a bible lesson.

 

Total confessional count: Xander- 16, Evvie- 18, Danny- 12, Naseer- 10, Deshawn- 13, Tiffany- 16, Shan- 18, Liana- 14, Heather- 2, Erika- 9, Ricard- 13.

 

New confessionals this episode: Evvie- 4, Danny- 0, Naseer- 2, Deshawn- 2, Tiffany- 3, Shan- 3, Liana- 1, Heather- 1, Erika- 1, Ricard- 1, Xander- 4.

 

It is possible that Danny did get a confessional this episode and I missed it. I also might have gotten a bit confused at times who was giving what confessional. Also, who from the blue tribe remains in the game as I think that only one of them is out now, right? Or are they all still left? It’s hard for me to keep track of this sometimes. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 41.7

I mentioned that there were songs or music to think of that relates to the one that Shan keeps humming when she is up to something. I imagine that Survivor’s producers will use it since it works well and can even be better than the animal imagery we keep seeing from time to time. I mean, this is more than just a camera shot that doesn’t last long and can easily be missed. (I still need to do a blog post on the topic of animal imagery from throughout the seasons.) I feel that Shan’s song, or whatever you’d call it, is quite possibly the worst Survivor earworm since Sticky Situation *.

 

* Credit for this joke goes to the people at the defunct Survivor website, Survivor Shade, although I forget who for sure made it.

 

Well, one of the pieces of music that I think it could be if she’s doing one that exists is called Hurry Along from the Pokémon video game series. There is another one that could be similar to one that I think that I could find the name of and have for the next post of this blog, should I be able to find it and get it up and posted on time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf9hWgLrx_I

 

Now I had mentioned a past Survivor challenge from Amazon that used a name that was similar if not almost identical to the title of Gone Fishing. Well, the song, Gone Fishing, was also used once in the show Thomas the Tank Engine. Here’s a link to a video from it. I like it because it is from the good era of Thomas the Tank Engine and I may share one from the questionable era. There are different eras with that show. They are series 1-4 (good), series 5 & 6 (great), series 7 & maybe 8 (questionable), series 9-the end of the live action series (bad), and the CGI series (worse).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X5noqCjew8

 

Now it’s time to get to the one time challenges from the seventh season. I had thought that this would be quicker to write, but hadn’t realized that there were TWELVE of them from just one season that would take a long time to look at and through. This was the main reason that this post was late and not on Wednesday when it should have been. If I had all of the part before the recap done, this would not have been the case at all. Heck, if I had gotten everything except the end done, keeping track of these challenges wouldn’t have been that hard to maybe finish the rest of the post on time. I do wonder if this is the season that has the most onetime challenges. I’ll have to see when I check the others. Now don’t get me wrong: I love the challenges from this season and their pirate themes.

 

Cannon Carry (immunity challenge from Beg, Barter, Steal): In this challenge, the tribes had to get their cannon taken apart and through obstacles before crossing the finish line with it together, all of the main accessories like the tribe flag and torch, and all of the members of their tribe. I do not think that this challenge could be done while social distancing.

 

Bountiful Chest (reward challenge from To Quit or Not to Quit): In this challenge, contestants had to put items in a treasure chest and then take the chest ashore and take it back to win. This could not be done while social distancing.

 

All Tied Up (immunity challenge from To Quit or Not to Quit): In this challenge, contestants would have to pull others to the shore while they untied themselves and each other to free themselves to get a clue and then use the info to dig and find a flag which they would have to raise to win. I don’t think that this could be done while social distancing and it seems like a rather complicated one.

 

Pull Your Weight (immunity challenge from United We Stand, Divided We…?): In this challenge, there is a player harnessed on a rope above the water with the other players having to hold on for as long as they can, but one player at the front of the rope must let go. I’d have to see this challenge again to see how it works (or doesn’t). I’d say that it is quite possible for this to be done while social distancing.

 

Float-it notes (reward challenge from Pick a Castaway… Any Castaway): In this challenge, contestants would have to get puzzle pieces that are either tied up underwater or buried under the sand together and solve the puzzle. An individual version of this challenge could be done while social distancing.

 

Boarding Party (immunity challenge from Pick a Castaway… Any Castaway): In this challenge, each player has to move one platform at a time to the other tribe’s platform. If they block each other from moving, they will have to physically confront each other with the loser going back to start. As this involved physical contact, it could not be done while social distancing.

 

Paddle for Paddles (reward challenge from Everyone’s Hero): In this challenge, contestants have to get ladder rungs from floating platforms before rowing to shore. One person then has to get an idol out of an old well while the others solve a puzzle ladder that the runner then has to reach the top first with an idol. I don’t think that this could be done while social distancing.

 

Ready, Aim, Fire (reward challenge from Me and My Snake): In this challenge, tribes must use cannons to hit targets on the beach and taking out all targets wins you the challenge. It would be easy to do an individual version of this challenge while social distancing.

 

Killer (immunity challenge from Swimming with Sharks): In this challenge, you use blowdarts to get a killer status and get rid of other’s same status with only three lives available. I think that this could be done while social distancing, although I don’t know how much it works.

 

Water Obstacle Course (reward challenge from Would You be my Brutus Today?): In this challenge, the players have to do some sort of obstacle course that involves water based things instead of the usual land based things. I won’t bother getting into more details about it this time. Note that it had the players gaining more as it went along. A relay version of this could be done while social distancing.

 

Corks and Keys (immunity challenge from Mutiny): In this challenge, contestants have to get water from a canteen across a balance beam and get five keys and lower five beams to get their flag and win. This seems almost like if not identical to Vertigo, only including a balance beam and keeping contestants on the move instead of just in one place. I think that it could be done while social distancing.

 

Tribal Draft (an immunity challenge from Flames and Endurance): In this challenge, players had to get questions about survival and pirate trivia right in order to win. It is known for an infamous twist in which all of the jury could compete as one against the individuals in the final four, wining immunity themselves instead of any of them getting it. I could see a properly done version of this being done while social distancing, even if it is basically just like other Survivor trivia challenges.

 

Since Naseer (I think) had called Evvie by the name Eevee in the last episode, I felt that I should get to mentioning all of the Eevee evolutions or eeveelutions from Pokémon since it seems relevant in my mind. I feel like referencing anything that I feel works well in my mind so here’s some now. Maybe there could be a Survivor challenge working all of these elements in it at some point in time.

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Eevee (normal)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Jolteon (electric)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Flareon (fire)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Vaporeon (water)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Espeon (psychic)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Umbreon (dark)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Leafeon (grass)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Glaceon (ice)

 

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Sylveon (fairy)

 

As I think about this episode going into it, I remember that in Fiji, they did a twist where half of the merged tribe was immune and none of them went to tribal council as a result of this immunity. I think that this episode will bring about something like that twist in another way. It is a better way as all of the immune contestants are still coming to tribal council. I also realize that the merged tribal council in Fiji would tie the final six of Game Changers with five contestants immune at the same tribal council. This episode will break that record with seven contestants all immune at the same tribal council. But enough of my ramblings.

 

In the first segment of the show, we finally get a recap for the first time in a very long time. We are reminded of some of the advantages and alliances in the game. Erika talks about being on exile and thus becoming the most authentic version of herself. We do not know her decision just yet. But the tribe does gather for the challenge. They learn of the twist at hand. We then learn that her decision was to break the hourglass which hopefully doesn’t break her game.

 

In the second segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge that Ricard winds up winning. Erika talks about having to own her decision. Deshawn thinks that Evvie should be voted out of the game next since they have no alliance or tribe bonds. Liana wants to join this voting group when she tells Shan about this. But Xander wants to save Evvie with his idol as does Tiffany. Evvie tells the others about Liana’s steal advantage while Deshawn is also brought up as a target. Xander is worried about his idol being gone before he can play it. They should give it to Tiffany then, right? No one would believe that she has the idol and then Tiffany can give it to Evvie.

 

In the next segment of the show, Xander reveals more of Liana’s power to Deshawn, not seeing any potential downside to this. That was unbeknownst to the others but knownst to us. This knowledge is brought back to Liana who then has to make sure that she asks the right person. Loose lips sink ships. Why would anyone reveal secrets on this show? Too much scrambling is going on. Sydney even brings up her own potential risk of being voted out. Liana wants to make sure she outplays the others.

 

We then get to tribal council. People are craving different things. It is different seeing this play out on TV versus actually being there. The shot in the dark keeps coming up, but will it be like the mutiny in Pirate Master where not one of them ever voted for them?

 

People bring up Xander’s secret and he brings it or something that might be like it out. He says that he is willing to give it away. I really hope that he was not dumb enough to just whip out the actual idol a la Lauren from Heroes versus Healers versus Hustlers because that would be bad. It turns out that it was a fake that Liana asks for and gets. He plays the player in the game. Now people think the Evvie has the idol and they scramble to figure out who they should vote for instead, all whispering in groups. Did you hear about Manhattan Melodies?

 

Jeff takes this all in as different names are brought up like Deshawn, Sydney, and Evvie. A lot of people seem to be undecided and whether or not they bring in advantages to the game are all issues as well. One side wants to split the votes. I think that the yellow tribe has the power. They go from this to voting in the game. Sydney plays her shot in the dark and she’s not safe. They decide not to play an idol on Evvie as they aren’t sure that she got votes. Who was Sydney supposed to vote for? I don’t think that it matters as she is voted out, thinking that she should have kept her vote.

 

On the next Survivor, many different names are brought up as targets for the future: Tiffany, Xander, Heather, and others. An extra vote was played at tribal council. And I’m wondering why we saw only three people from the yellow tribe work together since there are four of them still left.

 

Total confessional count: Tiffany- 13, Sydney- 9, Shan- 15, Liana- 13, Heather- 1, Erika- 8, Ricard- 12, Xander- 12, Evvie- 14, Danny- 12, Naseer- 8, Deshawn- 11.

 

New confessionals this episode: Sydney- 1, Shan- 0, Liana- 4, Heather- 0, Erika- 2, Ricard- 0, Xander- 3, Evvie- 2, Danny- 0, Naseer- 0, Deshawn- 2, Tiffany- 0.

 

In this last episode, we saw no new confessionals of Danny, Naseer, Tiffany, Shan, Heather, and Ricard. The highest was four with Liana. In terms of total confessionals, Shan has the most with fifteen. Those that are not yet in double digits are Naseer, Sydney, Heather, and Erika with Heather still the lowest with a mere one confessional. What’s up with Heather’s dismal confessional count? This makes me as confused as a goat on Astroturf. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.