Survivor 42 Premiere

There are some more thoughts on the previous season to mention throughout this post. I did read some of other Survivor blogs and do understand more why Xander lost. He was kind of an ass. And I want to talk some more about their thoughts on some twists on the show. There isn’t much else that I can think of for this section right now.

 

Let’s get to the one time challenges from the fourteenth season. There were a lot of them in the end. I don’t think that there was that much of a theme to them, although one of them was clearly about Fijian culture which hasn’t reappeared throughout the whole series of the show despite having been in Fiji a record number of times now.

 

Chariots of Mire (opening challenge from Something Cruel is About to Happen… Real Soon): In this challenge, two players will pull the rest of the tribe on a chariot while grabbing hanging bags. As a man, I know that such a thing might hurt and be considered a crime. Wait. Not that type of bag. Anyways, after they grab a tribe flag, everyone uses the puzzle pieces in the bags to solve three puzzles. This will reveal a spinning wheel combination which would help them find a knife to chop a rope and raise a flag. This does not seem like it could be done while social distancing, although maybe parts of it could work that way, I don’t think that all of it could.

 

Supply Ships (challenge from Snakes are Misunderstood… We Have an Understanding now): In this challenge, the players have to get floating crates, pull them to shore, and empty them to solve a puzzle pole that must be put in its place with the tribe flag on top. I have no idea where they got the name from. While parts of how fandom describes the challenge doesn’t seem to make sense with the way that they phrased or wrote it, I think that an individual version of this could be done while social distancing. That’s what I can understand about it. I wonder if these challenges are on YouTube or not. I don’t think that I’d include links to them in this blog, but I’d still want to watch them.

 

Crab Pots (immunity challenge from Let’s Just Call Jeff on the Jeff Phone): In this challenge, the players have to be rescued by others in cages where they then row to shore to unlock the last player. Maybe this could be done while social distancing, but I’m not sure if it can be. If it were a relay race, maybe it would work in the end after all.

 

So You Think You Can Meke? (reward challenge from the episode of the same name): In this challenge, the tribes must first learn a traditional Fijian dance called a meke and then do it in front of three judges. Whoever gets the most right in different terms wins the challenge. I couldn’t find out much about how a meke is done on Wikipedia as in whether or not it can be done individually or without touching another person at all. Thus, I have no idea if this could be done while social distancing or not.

 

Torched (immunity challenge from Blackmail or Betrayal): In this challenge, it is like the board game Battleship where the contestants pick three squares in a row to represent themselves. They get to pick squares. If people are hit, they are revealed with a burst of fire. The last person with at least one square not picked in it wins the challenge. This could be done while social distancing.

 

Keep on Truckin (first part of the reward challenge from I Wanna See if I Can Make a Deal): In this challenge, contestants are harnessed together in teams of three. They must cross different sized seesaws in different orders without falling, crawl through a net maze, dig up a buried hatchet, unwrap it, and then chop through a rope. This could not be done while social distancing.

 

An Axe to Grind (second part of the reward challenge from I Wanna See if I Can Make a Deal): In this challenge, all contestants have to do is throw a hatchet at a wall to break two ropes that are in a crisscrossing position. This will get them to win the reward that’s unraveled. This could easily be done while social distancing.

 

Grapple Perch (immunity challenge from I Wanna See if I Can Make a Deal): In this challenge, players have to use a ball and rope to snag and lower a balance beam to move on to the next round. After this is over, they repeat the round a second time. The third round has them crossing a final beam, stand on a perch, and use a grappling hook to get a buoy to float. This could be done while social distancing.

 

Hanging by a Thread (final immunity challenge from You’ve Got That Puzzled Look): In this challenge, contestants must lie over a platform while holding onto a handle while water spills out and the angle by which they are hanging keeps increasing. This could easily be done while social distancing.

 

Now I don’t talk much about current events in this blog since they often don’t affect the show that much in the end. The pandemic was a notable exception. Well, I’ve decided that I want to post paragraphs in foreign languages by using google translate. I used to do various ones in my Madam Secretary blog before the show ended. I did do this for a while in my Good Fight blog. But there aren’t any posts on any episodes to do in my Good Fight blog for now.

 

There are a whole lot of languages that I could do in this blog and it will vary season by season. In fact, I’m going to start doing Chinese paragraphs in my posts on China to finish that out. For all of this season, though, I’m going to do paragraphs relating to the recent past in Ukrainian.

 

Незабаром розслідування Мюллера закінчилося численними арештами та засудженнями, але нікого з критиків Трампа це не хвилювало, тому що він ніколи не говорив, що Трамп розмовляв по телефону та зробив один із багатьох актів імпічменту, намагаючись вимагати Україну за перевага на президентських виборах 2020 року. Таким чином, цей параграф буде розміщено як російською, так і українською мовами. Це покаже вам, наскільки схожі ці мови. Я буду продовжувати публікувати відповідні речі російською, оскільки вони все ще будуть тут, щоб знову і знову втручатися у вибори в США, а республіканців це не хвилює, тому що вони виграють від цього і вважають, що все це брехня, оскільки вона ніколи не вказувала на Трампа в їхні думки, незважаючи на те, що Мюллер сказав, що це жодним чином не звільняє Трампа. Це також буде мій спосіб представити будь-які пости, пов’язані з Україною та скандалом, через який Трампу вперше оголосили імпічмент.

 

Movie update: I am putting updates about what movie that I watch from my movie watching lists here in the blog posts of this season. They were in the posts on China, but have left that forever with me doing the updates here. They will last here until either this season ends or the right thing winds up being watched at some point in the future.

 

Here’s the way that the lists stand up at this point in early 2022. Wednesday’s list is Aladdin, Celtic Woman: Destiny, Field of Dreams, Gran Torino, Pot O’ Gold, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Thursday’s list is Bella, crossover tape, The Devil Wears Prada, nature documentaries, The Rookie, and That Darn Cat. Saturday’s list is Crazy People, Dances with Wolves, Grumpier Old Men, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and Shrek. Sunday’s list is Bend it Like Beckham, Ghost Town, The Lion King 1 ½, Runaway Bride, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, and A Wrinkle in Time. It is Wednesday that I will talk about first in season 42’s posts.

 

Anyways, on Wednesday, I watched Celtic Woman: Destiny. I replaced that with Celtic Woman’s original concert. Now I last left people in this blog posted somewhere in Madam Secretary before stopping at the conclusion of Gabon’s posts. This is linked into the Celtic Woman: Destiny watch. The place where I left you in that blog was here:

 

http://adamdeckermadamsecretaryblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/episode-from-3-20-2016.html

 

On Thursday, I watched The Rookie. I replaced that with The Polar Express. On Saturday, I watched Shrek. I replaced that with Shrek 2. On Sunday, I had other plans with lunch so no movie for me. I do like supporting restaurants during this pandemic era. On Wednesday, I watched Celtic Woman’s original concert. I replaced it with Celtic Woman: A New Journey. On that next Thursday, I didn’t watch a movie so I could see a home video instead.

 

On Saturday, I watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I replaced that with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. On Sunday, I watched Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. I replaced that with Tower Heist. On Wednesday, I watched Field of Dreams. I don’t know if I’ll watch it again. It wasn’t bad, just uninteresting. I replaced that with Elf. On Thursday, I did not watch a movie.

 

On Saturday, I watched The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I replaced that with Kingsman: The Secret Service. On Sunday, I had different plans for lunch so I didn’t see a movie. On Wednesday, I saw Gran Torino. I replaced that with Night at the Museum. On Thursday, I watched The Devil Wears Prada. I replaced that with Dumbo.

 

On Saturday, I watched Shrek 2. I replaced that with Pocahontas. On Sunday, I watched The Lion King 1 ½. I replaced that with Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue. On Wednesday, I watched Aladdin. I replaced that with Back to the Future. On Thursday, I watched The Polar Express. I replaced that with Raising Arizona. I was originally going to have other plans on Thursday, but that didn’t wind up happening. I was going to get my booster shot of Moderna, but that was moved to Monday instead.

 

On Saturday, I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I replaced that with The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. On Sunday, I had lunch plans with family instead of doing anything with movies then. That was Sunday afternoon. I decided to create a Sunday night list for the moment.

 

What are the choices put on this list? They are The Little Rascals, Catch Me if You Can, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Rain Man, Despicable Me, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The one that I wound up rolling first was Catch Me if You Can. I replaced that with Copacabana. I will still finishing that movie on Monday, even though I didn’t want to be watching a movie then. On Tuesday, I was still too tired from the booster shot to want to watch another movie or so I decided. I would have been stuck with a scab list and didn’t want to risk being stuck with certain choices when I had other things that I wanted to be done. On Wednesday, I didn’t watch a movie, even though I could have made one work potentially. It didn’t that day.

 

On Thursday, I watched Bella. I replaced that with Absolute Power. On Friday, I had the potential to start a new list of movies, but one of them could have sucked too much time away, so I did other things with my time instead of watching a movie. On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, I was spending time with family and thus didn’t have time for movies then.

 

On Sunday night, I wasn’t watching the Super Bowl for various reasons at least at some points, but did decide to watch The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I replaced that with True to the Game. On Monday, I would not have had the time for a movie even if I wanted to. On Tuesday, watching a movie with a new list did not work out. On Wednesday, I watched Night at the Museum. I replaced that with Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. On Thursday, I watched The Ultimate Gift instead of something that was on my list of things to watch. While I was still finishing this movie on Friday, I still decided to start a new list on that day of the week. This makes six lists. I’ve never had that many at once before.

 

What are the new choices on this list? They are Blast from the Past, Monsters University, Air Force One, I am Sam, Toy Story, and Forrest Gump. The first thing that I rolled was Blast from the Past. I replaced that with Baby Geniuses. On Saturday, I watched Kingsman: The Secret Service. I replaced that with its sequel called The Golden Circle. On Sunday afternoon, there was no movie watched because of conflicting lunch plans. On Sunday night, I watched the Olympics closing ceremony instead of a movie. I might have had the chance to watch a movie on Monday from a scab list, but it didn’t work out.

 

On Wednesday, I watched Celtic Woman: A New Journey. I replaced that with Celtic Woman: Songs from the Heart. On Thursday, I watched Raising Arizona. This continued on Friday so no movie on Friday. I replaced it with The Return of Jafar.

 

On Saturday, I watched Pocahontas. I replaced it with A River Runs Through it. On Sunday afternoon, I watched Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue. I replaced that with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I did not watch a movie on Sunday night. That will actually be a regular thing. You might wonder, then, why I created that list. Well, it’s more for when it does work out than when it doesn’t, even though it won’t be used too much.

 

On Tuesday, I decided that it would be better to put Wednesday’s list now instead of keeping it on Wednesday. Thus, I watched Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. I replaced that with Invictus. On Thursday, I watched Dumbo. I replaced that with The Fugitive. On Friday, I watched Forrest Gump. I replaced that with The Great Race.

 

On Saturday, I watched Dances with Wolves. I replaced that with Front of the Class. On Sunday, I did not have time to watch movies from either of that day’s lists. On Monday, I decided that to free up time, I would want to put Thursday’s list on Monday instead of when it was. I then watched The Return of Jafar. I replaced that with The Omega Code. I didn’t have time for a movie on Tuesday. Which brings us to here, now. The updates will be weekly starting next post. That means that they shouldn’t cover this much time until either this season is over or the updates are removed from it.

 

Now I had mentioned at one point that I would talk about some more relating to last season. When I think about the beware idols, I believe that they could be better this season if people would just keep their mouths shut about it. I also think that some other bloggers are confused about the shot in the dark. Some people think that the odds would be affected after they are used. But it is more like an actual die being rolled. What they don’t seem to realize is that after someone uses a die, they would replace whatever positive or negative advantage was used for the next round. The only way that it would be different would be if more than one person played it during the same tribal council. But that would only ensure that one of the people there isn’t safe, unless we are at the point where there are two safe options in the game.

 

Also, I had mentioned some about the last season relating to the missionaries in Haiti that had been kidnapped at the time. The good news is that they have been released. I hope that nothing bad had happened to them while they were kidnapped.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/americas/haiti-missionaries-released-intl/index.html

 

As long as there are new spring seasons of Survivor airing, I will probably now be talking about March Madness in this blog for a while. With teams still unknown, I’m still planning on mentioning locations that I find important to cover for this blog. Note that the states from last year where I rooted for any team are largely still there. The only one that isn’t is Virginia. The other states of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Washington, Oregon, California, New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, and New Mexico are all important ones that I’ll keep caring about for now. Also, here’s an update on the planned hosting locations of previous years versus the current one now.

 

Dayton, Ohio is hosting the first four. They always seem to do that. They always host, but only seem able to host just that part of it all the time. They were meant to host in 2020 and 2021. This gives them the place that they were wanting to hold previously and takes Dayton out of the potential teams to root for as a result of this.

 

While Indianapolis, Indiana wasn’t entirely screwed by hosting the sweet sixteen and elite eight in 2020, it did not matter for the city too much since they hosted the championship in 2021 and was the hub for the whole tournament that same year as well. This year, it will be hosting the first and second rounds of the tournament, getting back in it and also ensuring that like Dayton, they will never get special teams to root for as a result, although if Butler is in it, I’ll still root for them. That, and some other teams as well that I mentioned in one of the last Gabon posts.

 

Still haven’t hosted yet: Albany, New York; Spokane, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Tampa, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; Omaha, Nebraska; Sacramento, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; New York City, New York; and Atlanta, Georgia from 2020’s planned hosts and Providence, Rhode Island; Boise, Idaho; Detroit, Michigan; Dallas, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Lexington, Kentucky; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Jose, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Memphis, Tennessee; and Brooklyn, New York from 2021’s planned hosts.

 

While I will be talking about Lent some and Wednesday shows later in this blog, note that only one post of this season should be on a Thursday after all. The rest of them, such as this one, will all be normal in terms of how it is updated. I am annoyed again not be the fact that this is a two hour premiere, but by the fact that there was a lack of notice of this being a 2 hour episode in the promos themselves. I will make this complaint as often as I need to until this show finally learns note to do this. You can do a two hour episode. Just be sure to promote it as such. But enough of my ramblings.

 

In the first segment of the show, various contestants are seen. We see Jonathan and Drea. Lydia doesn’t like sand. It is coarse and gets everywhere. We get to the start of the roller coaster. Roller coaster. Roller coaster ride. Roller coaster. Ooh ooh ooh ooh. She dreams about being on Survivor. Mike is star struck by Jeff. Jeff is convinced that it will go away. Zach says something, but it was more lame than he was intending to be. The introductory challenge happens next. Daniel seems to be hurt at the challenge. There are people who get to the second stage and have to make a decision.

 

The three of them, one of them Hai, decide to help each other out and take an advantage. I do like that there is way of making it seem like there is good reason for them to be late. The other two on this are Drea and Lindsay. It is the blue tribe that wins. Daniel gets treated by medical and his shoulder gets fixed which will hopefully last. Mike doesn’t like the start of the game thus far.

 

In the second segment of the show, we see Ika, the blue tribe, arrive at camp. They all introduce each other. Swati is from the National Guard. That name makes her sound like she should be a shooter. Tori is a therapist lying about what she does by saying that she does something else instead. What is it about therapy and lying? People lie there. This makes me wonder, how does Tori lying about not being a therapist make you feel? I also think that she’s sort of like the character from Power Rangers: Ninja Storm. Also, is there really not a Mr. Universe? There should be beauty challenges for men too.

 

People on the green tribe learn of what to do. Mike doesn’t want to do heavy lifting. He convinces the tribe to figure out the triangle puzzle. Taku, the orange tribe, decided to try the triangle as well. The number turns out to be 51 which both tribes get right.

 

In the third segment of the show, Rocksroy doesn’t like the other members of his tribe doing their own thing by goofing off and doing the Survivor theme song. Well, someone has to do the Survivor theme song since the show won’t anymore. Meanwhile, the contestants from the second leg in the challenge go through what they have. They learn that they have an advantage armlet which gets more powerful as the others are played. Thus, they have to be careful when they play it. All three of them in the game are an extra vote. Just two is a steal a vote. And only one remaining is a full idol.

 

In the fourth segment of the show, Jackson comes out as trans to his tribe. He had originally applied as a woman before he transitioned. Lydia isn’t close to crying yet. Wait, isn’t she supposed to be a tattooed lady? Daniel likes everyone on his tribe. He also talks about his scar from surviving leukemia as a child. Zach wants to make an ally on his tribe. He bonds with Romeo. They are the skinny dudes. Tori thinks that people would believe her lie about not looking for an idol. Seriously? Maybe she was looking for food, but she realizes her mistake.

 

In the fifth segment of the show, Maryanne, Drea, and Jenny gather for the summit. One of them is familiar with prisoner’s dilemma. Jenny decides to protect her vote. That’s what I would do. The other two both risk their vote.

 

In the sixth segment of the show, Jeff arrives the orange tribe’s camp. He comes for Jackson. Jackson has been having some issues. Jackson didn’t disclose something to them until right before the game was about to start. He was on lithium. What does that even mean? I’m confused. I guess that I’ll ask my brother-in-law about it this weekend if I have a chance to. Jeff makes it seem like he won’t be able to play the game at all. This is very unusual. He can’t play the show without the medicine and they can’t give it to him for some reason. Is this like an ejection? I’m confused a bit.

 

In the seventh segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. If more was discussed about Jackson’s departure, it wasn’t seen in the episode. Jeff then introduces the shot in the dark die. The blue tribe loses the challenge and Zach feels responsible.

 

In the eighth segment of the show, Zach tries to own his mistake. Tori thinks that others think that she has an idol and says that she doesn’t. People think that she’s being paranoid. Rocksroy is brought up as a target. But it seems like it will be either Tori or Zach.

 

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Zach says what Jeff normally says about the first tribal council. Jeff talks about the difference between camping, watching the show, and actually playing it. Jeff asks about the shot in the dark. Swati would lose a finger to not be here. I think that Kathy from Micronesia was similarly minded in that way.

 

Tori says that she’s trustworthy and loyal, but Zach doesn’t think that she is being honest. Tori is convinced that she was looking for food. If that were the case, why didn’t she mention something more well known as food? Plus, we are long past the days of Borneo where someone would actually be looking for tapioca and not an idol. There weren’t idols back then. Zach decides to play his shot in the dark. He’s not safe. And he does get votes. He was right to think that he was in danger. He thinks that it was cool to be voted out of Survivor. Has that ever happened before?

 

On the next Survivor, the game is shifting, Mike is a target, and I can’t really get much else out of the promo as they are dumb with promos. Have I covered that in my TV blog yet? I hope so. Zach then becomes the first contestant to mention the Survivor Wiki or fandom as it is now known on the show. I wonder if he’s an editor of it.

 

Total confessional count: Rocksroy- 1, Lindsay- 1, Romeo- 2, Jackson- 2, Hai- 1, Swati- 1, Chanelle- 1, Jenny- 1, Tori- 2, Lydia- 2, Maryanne- 3, Marya- 2, Daniel- 2, Mike- 2, Drea- 3, Zach- 3, Jonathan- 2, Omar- 3.

 

While I know that I missed some confessionals, it is worth noting that the highest of those that now remain in the game are Omar, Maryanne, and Drea. I hope that I don’t get confused too much between Marya and Maryanne. I might have to change the order that I have of them right now. It is also worth noting that I plan to post each month’s planned blog posts until at least August until I know for sure when the premiere of at least Survivor is if not CSI: Vegas as well.

 

Planned April blog posts

 

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

 

All of the posts sans for one will actually be on Wednesdays during Lent this year instead of the usual Thursday lateness that I’m sure that you are used to. I’ll explain more in that post when I’m late that day and I’ll try to warn you the week before. Also, in case there is any confusion about it, in the event that this blog has a current season post delayed past when it normally should be updated and this probably happens again, I would be able to use the same one that I used before to not risk bumping back the potential posting of other old seasons to after this season is done being covered in this blog. I hope that what I just said makes sense.

 

For instance, if a post of this season winds up on a Friday, I can still do a post of this on other Fridays until this season is over instead of posting any next delayed ones until Sunday or even Tuesday. Now with there not being any CSI: Vegas to post instead of this blog, it should be way less likely that I fail to get this done in time. Well, that’s the hope now, anyways. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.