Episode 26.3?

This is an interesting season so far that seems to currently mimic the first fans versus favorites. If that stays true, a favorite will be voted out today, but I don't know if that will happen yet or not. It is unfortunate that this season is so boring thus far. Survivor: Micronesia was a favorite season of Jeff Probst (and by the way, I'm sorry that your talk show was cancelled. But, seriously, you should have had more noticeable guests and less human interest stories). Maybe this season will get more interesting as time goes by. I'm starting to wonder also how many showmances have been successful in Survivor history. Has any of them? The most memorable was Boston Rob and Amber who have three children that are all potential Survivor contestants should the show last that long. Or they could compete on The Amazing Race. Or, maybe, they'll never appear on television. Their parents have an interesting and unique story among reality TV couples. I'm glad that there's has worked, for the most part, that we know of at least. It's strange how Survivor has had a successful romance and The Bachelor typically fails at it. That's the whole point of The Bachelor. But I'd rather not talk about The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. I'm not into that type of show. I'm sure that it has its fans; I'm just not one of them. And if any of you ever listen to the podcast that I once posted a link to in this blog (see quick link for it and hope that you have the right type of web browser and flash player is updated), I hope that you enjoy the information that I do when I listen to it. I learn that after this season was done filming, Reynold got married. In case you are wondering, it was not Allie. I also learned what Jeff Probst told the players about Malcolm, "he's a returning player from Survivor: Philippines, and that's all I'm going to tell you." Malcolm himself may tell them more if he wanted to, although this would probably not be seen on television. I also learned that if I were ever a contestant on Survivor, I might not be able to blog about my season or CBS might get mad at me. It's not like I'd say anything that would end up costing me 5 million dollars, but maybe it would be wise if that long shot of me appearing on the show ever happened. But enough of my ramblings.

Due to problems with recording the episode, I was unable to watch it. I looked up what happened on wikia. The fans went to tribal council and voted out Hope. I know that the first vote was a tie between her, Eddie, and Shamar. I don't know who Eddie even is. I don't know why the vote went this way. I know that the revote went to Hope who got voted out. If anyone who reads this blog has a way of commenting on it, please tell me the information in a reply to this post. Hopefully all will go well with the recording next week and I'll be able to watch it then. I also hope that the recap in the next episode is a good one that explains what happened in the episode that I missed. Sorry this isn't the blog post people wanted. Please reply with what happened in the episode. And to my readers on the west coast, I hope that this isn't a spoiler of any kind. Not sure what will happen next time. I will return and hopefully have a good way of explaining what happened from this episode in the blog post for the next one. NP, I hope that you watched this episode and can comment on what I missed so that you can tell me and my readers what I need to know. If anyone else who reads this blog saw this episode entitled There's Going to Be Hell to Pay, then please reply if you can so I can better understand what I missed. Sorry about this time. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 26.2

I hope that people have been able to use the quick link I posted here to the podcast that my sister used to help with. I would listen to it if I wasn't unable to for some reason. I'm sure that it's great. Fans versus favorites 2 is doing well so far. Once again, a favorite was voted out first. But I'm not sure that the fans will do well or even win this season, but I don't know for sure yet. I hope that Malcolm wins, but I don't know if he will or not. I can't think of anyone else to root for just yet. I'm not sure if there's a fan I'm crazy about yet. I do wonder if future seasons will start with three tribes again. The producers or at least Jeff has said that they did that to avoid day one majority alliances to rule the game. Also, I'm not 100% sure why they retired Exile Island. If anyone knows, I'd like you to mention it here. NP, whoever you are, I might enjoy more comments from you, although I haven't checked recently to see if this blog has more comments or not. I also notice that this season is not using Redemption Island, which seems okay, I guess. But since it didn't save Francesca the first time, it probably wouldn't the second time. I also don't know if they'll ever do more seasons in Palau or not. They probably won't as they don't typically reuse locations that often and if they do, they didn't want to. I just think that they should go there and make sure to bring back contestants from the tenth season to play in it as well. I'm not sure Palau is my favorite season, but it is pretty high up there. I do wish that if I could never be a contestant on Survivor, that I could at least be a creative consultant or maybe even a producer. There are lots of twists that could happen on Survivor that haven't happened yet. Some of them might never happen. I would suggest them, but they can't accept my ideas unless I work for them. Besides, they can probably create them without me anyways. But enough of my ramblings.

So the fans went to tribal council and voted off Allie. I'm surprised they didn't go with Shamar, but I guess the strategy of keeping hated people around to beat them at the final tribal council worked this time. Poor Allie. Also, this is kind of a side note, but does anyone realize that when they show the dream team doing the challenge while Jeff is explaining it, that typically the person they show to win is normally the person that loses the challenge? The dream team showed that the fans won the challenge, which I recognized as an age old trick they've been doing a while now which actually means that the favorites would win the immunity challenge. My prediction was right, but I don't think that it always is. I do hate it when Survivor is predictable, like in the third season where the opening of the episode showed the tribe that would win immunity and the tribe the read the treemail before a reward challenge typically won it. I'm not sure if any other season had obvious giveaways like that. If you don't believe me, you can watch that season again for yourself. Anyways, Reynold found the fans hidden immunity idol and because someone saw him with the bulge in his pocket, he had to reveal that he had an idol a la Malcolm in the last season. He still has it and could have used it to save Allie, but he obviously didn't know she was on the chopping block and he probably wanted to keep it for himself anyways. If there is a switch this season, which there probably will be, I hope that he winds up on the same tribe as Malcolm as the two of them are alike. No word yet on the favorites hidden immunity idol, but if a hashtag like that appears. Not sure what will happen in the next episode, except that Shamar goes crazy (really? A black guy going crazy? Do we really need more of that?) and Brandon continues to be cynical. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Caramoan Premiere 26.1

I don't know why they are reusing fans versus favorites. I thought that the first time they did it the fans were doomed from the very beginning. I will mention the cast as soon as I learn who they are. For simplicity's sake, I will only talk about the returning players at first. I will do a quick recap of their first time in the game. I understand why Jeff Probst would like the twist to be used again considering how the first time he did it, it became one of his favorite seasons. I do wish that they would stop bringing back returning players. I like seasons where every contestant is new. I guess that since recently, seasons with no returning player has been considered lame by some. In fact, every season which had returning players mixed with new ones, a returning player has always made it to the final tribal council. This season was filmed in the exact same location as the last one and not a single episode of the 25 season had yet aired when this season was filmed. And the supposed winner for this season has been leaked. It has been leaked by the same person who thought that Michael would win last season. I'm not going to mention who this person Survivor sucks says wins is in this blog. I will be surprised if it is that person and will mention in the blog if the prediction is right or not as soon as this person wins or gets voted out. There's a 5% chance that the prediction is right. And I don't buy it. I won't mention it here as I'm not into potential spoilers, although I will say if any are true or untrue when the time comes. And to the commenter who wanted to know where I heard the possible location for seasons 27 and 28: I can't find that information again. I wanted to find it the same way I did the first time (google search), but I can't find it again. Now the location for those two seasons is thought to be Tasmania, although the source that says that's where it is also says it could be a hoax. So I guess we'll have to wait until the reunion show this season until we find out the location for those two seasons. Besides, I think I heard about a storm that hit the Solomon Islands so I'm not sure if that would be the location if they can't even use it. Besides, the show hasn't even been officially renewed yet. Although, if it is, I'll be sure to tell all of you about it.

The returning players who were medically evacuated in previous seasons was a good twist for last season. I hope that they do it again. What's interesting is how far those three players had made it in the season when they were pulled from the game. All of them had been taken out of the game around the same time. Based on that, they could bring back Bruce, Joe, James, and Colton who had made it far the first time or they could bring back Dana, Kourtney, Mike (from Samoa), or Gary (Mike is the only one that got a torch, voted, and went to tribal council of the four) who didn't make it as far when they were pulled. If they do have to keep bringing back returning players, maybe it should be a valid rematch like it was in Redemption Island. Apparently the worse a season is, the less likely contestants from that season are of playing a second time. I don't think that's far, but I understand why a season with no interesting contestants would not return another time. They could always do returnees from the tenth season to lead a tribe or compete against one or two other tribes. I hope that they do three tribes again since that was interesting last season. Let's just hope that one doesn't lose every challenge again. If they bring back players from season ten, it could be these players for these reasons: Jonathan (didn't get a chance), Wanda (didn't get a chance), Jolanda (first voted out), Ashlee (could have done better), Jeff (injury hurt his chances in the game), Kim (chosen by wrong tribe), Willard (first voted out his tribe), Angie (sort of screwed during opening twist), James (strong competitor who helps add entertainment), Ibrehem (unlucky the first time), Coby (keeps gays happy), Gregg (since his girlfriend that season can't, he might as well), Caryn (she did well the first time and could do well the second), Ian (his move at the end cost him the game and a second chance wouldn't hurt), or Katie (runner-up could do well again). Wanda and Jonathan never voted, went to tribal council, or got a torch. Only three other people have done that and they all got medically evacuated. Besides, there's an argument over whether Dana quit or was evacuated. I think that she didn't quit, but I don't know for sure.

You know, I only own one season of Survivor and I'd probably want to own more if I could. The only problem is that I have no idea which season I would buy. I could go with the first one since I've never really seen it. Some could even wonder why one would rewatch a season that has already aired. The only reason that I ever got the tenth season on DVD is because a contestant from that season had died. So it would sound cruel if that's what would have to happen for me to buy that season and blog about it here, but I'm afraid that it's true. After 26 seasons, it is a surprise that only one of them has died, but I guess others will happen at some point. I had a dream that three time contestant James died and CBS aired a special about his time on Survivor. Besides, I don't think that he'll play again so maybe that would be the next time we hear from him on television. He probably would think that getting kicked in the balls or buried alive would be more pleasant than playing Survivor again.

I hope that they use Redemption Island again. Jeff has said that they haven't ruled out using it again while wikipedia thinks that it is too controversial to ever be used again. It's no more controversial than having returning players in every freaking new season. I don't think that they'll ever do a "normal" season of Survivor again (if such a term exists) considering how the first normal season after All Stars was China and the first normal season after Heroes Versus Villains has yet to happen. Although the returning players that unofficially lead a tribe is an interesting twist, it is kind of boring. Plus, there isn't any reason that they are bring back certain players anyways. At least every contestant gets money for being on the show. The further you get in the game, the more money you win in the game. They even give you money just for appearing on the reunion show, even if you aren't focused on that much during that hour.

I'm going to talk about the favorites tribe and how they fared on their previous seasons. I know that they are trying to be nice with the returning players, but I have the feeling that not all of them are technically favorites to the viewers. This is the first time that Survivor has reused a season twist like this a second time, I think. So the ten returning players are as follows. Malcolm, the ever popular contestant from the previous season, is a player. John Cochran, who prefers to be called by his last name but I will refer to as John. On his first season, he was known for betraying his tribe that ultimately didn't help him when he was voted out when his usefulness ran out. Erik, who was a fan on the first fans versus favorites returns as a favorite for this season. That makes him the first original contestant from Micronesia to return a second time as many favorites from that season have played a third time. He is known for falling for a woman's alliance and giving his immunity necklace away at a tribal council before getting voted out that night. Phillip, the most entertaining person to ever play the game (in my opinion at least, although I have never played and do not know if I'd be an entertaining player) is back for a second round. Will the federal agent from Redemption Island do well again? Will his craziness get the better of him? I see why they brought him back, considering how entertaining he was the first time. Although, just because I thought he was entertaining doesn't mean he's my favorite player. Rupert Boneham is. I'll never understand why people don't like him, but I do understand why he didn't win the Indiana election for governor. If he can't win Survivor, he can't win a general election. And he definitely can't win as a third party candidate. But I don't live in Indiana so I don't care about that state's politics. And Rupert, if you're reading this, I hope that you aren't offended by anything that I say. Brandon Hantz, the dumbest player ever is back which proves that the favorites label is used very loosely. Brenda, the Asian woman from Nicaragua, is back a second time. She was a crazy schemer whose ways got the better of her and ultimately got her voted out, although the reunion show that season implied that the reason she was voted out was lost somewhere in editing. Francesca from Redemption Island is also a returning player. She was the first one out her season which is the first time in Survivor history when someone who made it that short in the game got to play a second time. Corinne from Gabon is another contestant, but I don't remember who she is. She and Erik are the only favorites from before Heroes Versus Villains. None of these people have played a second time before. Andrea from Redemption Island is returning, although I don't know who she is either. Dawn from South Pacific is the last returning player. It's a bit surprising that no one from One World is returning. It's rumored that Troyzan was set to return and then was replaced by Malcolm. Some consider One World to be a lame season. I thought it was so interesting, I started this blog because of it. In fact, One World was the last season that aired before this current season was filmed. Survivor 25 was generally unknown by most people.

Something interesting to note is those people who play back to back seasons and how they fare well the second time. They normally seem to have an unfair advantage the second time as no one knows who they are. They also normally have the disadvantage of not being able to watch their first season to learn from it in preparation for the second one. Here's a quick rundown of those players and the seasons that they were on. It's also interesting that although they don't always do better the second time, they normally do. Pearl Islands had started airing when Rupert was filming All Stars. He did better the second time, making it to the jury on both occasions. Palau (by the way, I finally listened to all the commentaries that season and they were nothing special) had aired in its entirety (I think) when Bobby Jon and Stephenie did Guatemala While Bobby Jon didn't do that much better, he did make it to the jury and was voted out (instead of losing at a tiebreaker challenge with no votes against him). Stephenie had a great improvement in her game making it all the way to the final tribal council. Those two contestants were the first of only two people who had outlasted the rest of their tribe that wasn't a merged tribe. I doubt that they'd do that with Malcolm and Denise since they both made it to the final four, one of the won, and that other already playing again. Besides, they weren't the first contestants considered to be the two returnees that season. After China had starting airing, both James and Amanda, while still virtually unknown to the rest of their tribe, did improve on their game in Micronesia. James was on the jury both times and might have made it farther if he didn't have an injury that forced him out of the game. It was quite possibly the lamest life threatening injury in the game of Survivor. (In case you are wondering, an injury normally has to be that serious in order to be pulled from the game). He did place relatively the same both times. Amanda, on the other hand, made it to the final tribal council on both seasons while affectively choosing who would win both times. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't her either time. Russell Hantz had the advantage of being unknown to all the other players in Heroes Versus Villains as his time on Samoa had not even aired. This got him to ruthlessly get to the final tribal council both times. He technically did worse the second time, the only back to back player to do so. What's interesting to note is how often the back to back players replace other potential returning players. The reason I brought this up is because of Malcolm. Malcolm played a great game the first time. He had to reveal the fact that he had an idol due to circumstances beyond his control. In the end, his popularity was his downfall and he got voted out at the penultimate tribal council because everyone knew that he would win if he was in the finals. Since he's a player this season, no one on his tribe or the other tribe would have any idea who he is or what happened with him last season. What he would tell them about it is up to him but he could truthfully tell him that there's no way he won the last season. Malcolm is my favorite of the returning players and I hope that he wins. Unfortunately, the odds are against him doing better the second time. I also hope that Francesca is not the first voted out again, even though she was in the third episode of Redemption Island when she finally left.

I've already mentioned that I'm @IamAdamDecker on twitter. I'm following a lot of former Survivor contestants on that site. Every time I follow one they suggest even more that I have to start following as well. I don't know why, but Rupert Boneham is now following me on twitter. (Poor Rupert won't get much from me on twitter until the end of Lent. That's one of the three things I'm giving up for Lent.) That is the most awesome thing that has happened to a Survivor fan like me. Although, Jeff Probst and Russell Swan both replied to tweets of mine, I've never actually got one of them to follow me before. Besides, I know there are probably ways to get someone to follow you by hacking their accounts, but I don't know how to do that and I wouldn't want to anyways. Hacking is a bad thing. I also don't know how many accounts of Survivor contestants are actually real or not. I have no idea why someone would impersonate one, but twitter is a strange place. I'm sure that some of them could tell me more about the season than aired on television. What annoys me are all these contestants they want me to follow that I can't remember. Not only do I have to like the contestant, but I have to know who they are too. My apologies for the delayed blog posts, but until the end of Lent, I will have to record the episode and watch it later before I can blog about it. But enough of my ramblings.

After watching the episode, I'm not sure what to say. I guess I see why those that are voted out first aren't typically invited back again since they apparently don't do well the second time. The favorites won the first reward, but the fans won the first immunity challenge. Poor Francesca. Apparently she was scheming too much in the game or was otherwise unworthy of lasting longer in the game. I hope that she didn't eat that rock like she said she would. She now wants a fan to win and not a favorite. If returning players works like it has in the past, there will be at least one at the final tribal council. But Phillip successfully screwed Francesca out of the game again. What Sandra did for the winners, Francesca did for the losers. Nobody even voted for Phillip yet. But he sure is annoying this season and I hope he doesn't make it that far. Last season he was on, he got a record number of votes cast against him. I'm kind of disappointed with how obvious the vote went. I don't know why they thought she was such a schemer the first time or this time. But it's apparently enough to get her voted out. The episode wasn't as good as others have been, so it looks like my sister may not have to buy this season on DVD when/if it comes out. I do feel sorry for her because she can't watch this season or the next three (should more be made). I wish that she could watch the version of Survivor that the country she lives in makes, but I don't think she has a TV anyways and that country's version may be defunct (no longer making new seasons). She could still read this blog and learn a lot about this season. It is pretty lame with this first episode, but I'm sure that it won't fail to entertain us. Even the worst seasons have interesting aspects and I doubt that this will be a bad one. So, sorry Francesca on your second chance in the game. Maybe you should do a different reality show and you'd do better there. As for the fan tribe, I don't particularly like or hate anyone just yet. We are at 9 favorites to 10 fans. John got a terrible sunburn and seems to carry his loser persona from his first season. I'd be surprised if he does well this season. I'm not sure any Survivor contestant got a sunburn before. I think that they give the contestants unlimited lotion to prevent that. Looks like in the next episode, Brandon will be going crazy. What else is new? For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Philippines Finale

Michael, Lisa, Denise, or Malcolm: One of them will win this season. I don't know who. Survivor Whispers says that the winner is not Michael. As to whether that rumor is true or not, we don't know for sure just yet. As much as I like Lisa, I'm not really sure that she has to win. I'm okay with her not winning. It doesn't matter in my mind as she probably has enough money left from doing the Facts of Life. But that could be an unfair assumption that isn't true. Malcolm would be a nice winner, although he isn't my favorite to win. I hope that he does well regardless. Michael is doing much better than he was the first time he played. Although, had things gone different, he might have been in this exact spot on the second season the first time he played. Some say that with him returning, it keeps the classic Survivor fans into the new seasons. Denise is the person that I want to win. She has gone to every tribal council this season. Not even Stephenie in Palau went to every tribal council. The vote at the final tribal could be a tie and whatever the producers have prearranged to do to resolve the tie would happen. They showed the votes to the camera when they were cast at the final tribal council so somebody must already know who won or if it was a tie. Also, if former Survivor contestants read this blog, I want you to know that I'm following a lot more of you on twitter. So if an account without a picture called @IamAdamDecker is following you, that would be the reason why. And I'm glad that someone posted a reply to this blog. I do not know where I found the location for 27 and 28 but I believe it was a google search possibly linking to www.survivorsucks.com. But I do not know for sure if they are using the Solomon Islands for those two seasons are not. Besides, locations could be changed. But enough of my ramblings. (PS Whoever you are, I'm glad that you read my blog).

There were a lot of delays on the east coast (although I'm from the Midwest, I technically get the east coast airing an hour earlier/at the same time as them) before this episode aired. So the delays were numerous due to sports, CBS airing a brief 60 Minutes, and a special broadcast of CBS news on the school shootings. Since this is not a political blog, I will not make any second amendment rants regarding how it talks about more than just guns and talks about virtually every weapon. But I'm for guns rights. In fact, if someone would want to get rid of our guns and keep our nuclear weapons, they are hypocrites. The atomic bomb is much more dangerous than a gun. But whether there were delays in airing Survivor or not in your region, at least the episode aired unedited in its entirety. And I honestly have no idea how the time zones work for those in the mountain region.

After the long recap of the whole season, the tribe got an interesting treemail. A reward challenge took place. The reward was an advantage in the final immunity challenge. I do not think that they have ever done a reward challenge this late into the season before. The only exception I can think of is Australia where they had 42 days of game instead of 39. But I'm glad that they keep the game fresh with interesting twists to the format like this. And I don't think that this has ever been a reward offered before. The reward challenge is interesting and apparently nobody ever tells Jeff that no one likes his endless commentaries. He knows that, but no contestant has ever said that to him during a challenge. Malcolm won the reward.

In the next segment of the show, the rest of the tribe was bummed out that Malcolm had won the reward as they want him to be voted out. The scrambling seemed to happen instantly back at the beach and nobody even won immunity yet. Everyone wants to know who to sit next to at the final three. And before going to the final immunity challenge, they went through the fallen comrades. I still don't know if they consider Dana a medical evacuation or a quit. The torch wasn't laid down on the walk so maybe she wasn't actually a quitter. I still wish that she could have lasted longer and I don't know if she could have played more or not. The contestants who were voted out had interesting things to say in the flashbacks/montage while the final four talked about them. I really wish that we had gotten more out of these voted out contestants on the air as we didn't get much of them on air. I still don't know if I would get any airtime or not if I played the game.

Anyways, the final immunity challenge of the game happened. The challenge was strange and not the regular type of endurance challenge that they typically do. Malcolm's reward is a second chance in this challenge. The challenge probably looks easier than it is. Wood is added to each part of the challenge which makes keeping a ball on it more difficult. Malcolm needed the second chance so it's a good thing that he got it. They might vote him out if he loses. He ended up being the first one out of the challenge even though he had the advantage. Denise was the second person out of the challenge so poor Matsing really is the losing tribe. Just ask Russell Swan. He was on the dominate tribe the first time and this time his tribe sucked. But as for the final immunity challenge, it came to Lisa and Michael, the original members of Tandang. Michael is the winner of the final immunity challenge.

In the next segment of the show, Michael tried to figure out who would be voted out and who would go to the final tribal council. Poor Malcolm's idol isn't good anymore and there is no way he can use it next season. He could have it as a personal item, but he couldn't play it as it would not be a new idol. I do not know who will get voted out. It's interesting how the alliance of Matsing fell apart when both of them voted for each other. Poor Malcolm was voted out. I wish him the best of luck in the next season since he didn't win this one. I see why he would return for the next season as he was the last voted out this one. Alas, people considered him too popular and thus made sure he was voted out now and wouldn't win the game. In fact, they wanted to get rid of him for quite some time so they won't end up like some other seasons where the players waited too long to vote someone out and that person ended up winning. That happened in seasons 21, 9, 4, 5, 8, 22, and probably others as well. Meanwhile, the final three were wondering what would happen next.

The final tribal council happened and Lisa, Michael, or Denise will win the game. The jury remarks happened. Artis gave badass black guy comments. Carter questioned Michael about getting rid of him. Pete questioned Denise about her motives in the game. RC congratulated Denise on her game and questioned Michael with how he was voted out. Malcolm was mad at Denise and said that he might vote for Lisa, although I wouldn't be surprised if Lisa got no votes. Jeff wanted to know more about Michael's role in the game. He also thought that Lisa was floating by in the game and not doing much for herself in terms of the game. Abby said that she didn't know who she'd vote for so she asked the final three why she would vote for them. She was the first person to ask every person a comment. Jonathan made a speech. He talked to each person about themselves and revealed Lisa's secret as a teen star. Lisa mentioned that it didn't actually matter. I just realized that it's possible that the final three may have avoided getting votes in the actual game. I know Denise has at least one vote, but I do not think that anyone has ever voted for Michael or Lisa. That could be a first, in a way. For those who remember the second season, nobody voted for Michael that season either throughout the entire game and he left with no votes.

So, the final tribal council would come to an end. Something that I've noticed them do all the time is reveal who got a vote and have an equal number of votes revealed for each of the possible people. Everyone in the final three got a vote which hasn't happened since China. There is a jury of eight and one of the three of them will win. Denise won. I think she got every vote not otherwise mentioned. I'm sure that Stephanie would be proud. And I guess Michael might have only thought he won because he made it to the final tribal council. But Survivor Whispers is correct. And I hope that none of you on the west coast were spoiled to the winner before it aired in your region. Lisa wasn't bummed out about losing, which is good. Michael thought that he might have won, but didn't. Lisa was talking crazy about the whole Christian aspect of the game. I could do a religious blog if I wanted to, but I'm not sure that I ever will. I don't know why some people are so hell bent on the idea that there is no God, but I'm not one of those morons. If you read this blog and you aren't a Christian, then I'm sorry of my opinion offends you. And with that I'm not talking about religion anymore. Not really sure what else there is to say as the reunion show is very boring. Lisa was the player of the season. Poor Jeff got kissed again. Season 26 is reusing the fans versus favorites twist again. It is called Survivor: Caramoan and will feature five men and five women from previous seasons with five new men and women. And for those of you who know that Jeff Probst is a pastor, it is with the Universal Life Church and isn't a biblical church. I have no idea what type of church it might be, but if anyone knows, feel free to tell me. From what I understand, next season will have Erik, who was originally new on the first fans versus favorites. It would only seem appropriate for him to return to the next one. Also, if anyone knows who voted for whom at the final tribal council and if Denise did, in fact, get all the other votes that weren't shown, I would very much appreciate it. Besides, it probably doesn't matter anyways. You'd think that they would have shown more votes for other people if they actually got more votes. So maybe they didn't. I guess this means that there is no second runner-up, which hasn't happened since Fiji.

The three stupidest moves this season: #1- Abby for the way she played the game, #2- Jonathan rejecting a deal to be in the finals, #3- Zane for being too strange. Stay tuned for my thoughts on next season, although they might not come until the next season's premiere. I hope that you enjoyed this blog so far and I hope that you will enjoy it in seasons to come. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 25.13

You know, I've always wondered something about the contestants. If they are fans of Survivor, they aren't always able to watch every episode. They used to film the spring seasons while the fall was still airing and thus, make it impossible for the people to see both seasons. Nowadays, since both the fall and spring are filmed a month apart, the contestants from both seasons would get to see both seasons. But there are always problems between the filming dates and airing dates of each varying season. These contestants never got to see what happened in One World. But I don't think that they would care and I'm not sure that most people would. They'd just be happy to be on the show to compete for a million dollars. From what I understand, seasons 27 and 28 are pretty much guaranteed to happen. They just need an official renewal. Although, they could be guaranteed like how they were casting for a second season of Pirate Master before that show was cancelled in its first season. And I do wonder who might be back for season 26. I hope that they have some contestants from Survivor: Guatemala or Micronesia who haven't played a second time. Or, they could get anyone from seasons 21-25 and that would be nice as well. I still want them to do a season where contestants from the tenth season lead the new contestants, whoever they are. And in regards to spoilers, if you care about them, I don't know for 100% fact where you can find one that is completely accurate. They've been worrying about them since Survivor began. I already know two of the contestants for next season, and I shouldn't be able to have that information. Although, it could easily be complete bull. I don't know for sure. There are plenty of great ideas for All Stars seasons that they could do but haven't. They could have the contestants known for being smart players versus the ones known for being dumb. They could do an all stars men versus women. They could do runners up versus winners. They could do a season with every contestant who was the last voted out in their season or the first for that matter. In fact, normally most returning contestants made it to the merge in their first season. Also, to those affected by the typhoon in the Philippines, I'm praying for you. You'd think that someone could set up a charity for those people or some way of helping them. The people who do Survivor are probably already working on some sort of help for them. At least this won't affect the next season, which has already been filmed. I wonder how often they have this sort of problem where a disaster occurs when they are done using a location. After the 20^th season finished filming, the Samoan earthquake happened. And there was political unrest in Fiji when they were doing a season there. Those could have been the only seasons where something like that happened. But I should stop rambling and get to the episode.

So they finally got rid of Abby. Of course, I saw the promo for the finale before I say this episode so I already knew that she would be voted out. I'm not surprised. She really wasn't that nice a person and she really didn't do much to help the game. Michael won the reward challenge and took Lisa and Malcolm on the reward with him. There was a helicopter part of the reward, which they didn't show. Michael probably doesn't like helicopters due to his experience with them in Australia. He is injury prone this season, but at least none of them are so serious that he has to be taken out of the game. Malcolm went on to win the immunity challenge. His idol was never used. So he gets a memento of his Survivor experience with an idol. It's a shame that he can't keep it and use it in his next season. Abby wanted to stay around longer in the game solely because she thought that others could beat her in the final tribal council. But that wouldn't happen. The final four deal was kept and these people got exactly what they wanted. Since there isn't a final two this season, one of them will be voted out in the penultimate tribal council and the other three will compete for the million dollars. I'd be happy with any of the three of them, although some I'd prefer to others. Stay tuned for the last blog post of mine about this season. I will include a list of the three dumbest moves this season as well as a look at the next season. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 25.12

So there will be a loved ones challenge in this episode. It might change the game. And the poor jury will not experience the loved ones challenge. That must be the part of the game with the most potential spoilers in it. All of the loved ones has to sign confidentiality statements and will know potentially more than the average viewer. They will especially know more than the other loved ones of this contestant who weren't chosen for this challenge. There could potentially be problems with the challenge as the player may want a different person. Or they may want their best friend so they can have a lie already rehearsed about their grandmother dying while they were away. And the contestant can play a trick on their loved one. In Survivor: Vanuatu, Chris thought that he would lose the game if he lost the immunity challenge. He did lose the challenge, but he was not voted out. He went on to win the game. And he told his wife that he was voted out that episode. And she believed him. Until the episode aired, of course. I know about this because Jeff talked about it in the reunion show. I don't know if I'd want to be the loved one of a contestant on the show or not. I mean, I probably wouldn't be able to compete on the show. And if I was a former contestant, I probably wouldn't be allowed to be a loved one anyways. Normally, the loved ones either help with the challenges or do the challenges for the real players. It is normally the most sentimental part of any season. Does anyone know how they do the challenges? I must imagine that it would be very complicated. Like I heard in the first season, they had a challenge which involved potential loved ones. The person who won the challenge got the loved one. So all of the others were waiting at an airport waiting until the challenge was completed. The moment it was, the loved one of the winner of the challenge got to board a special plane. The others got a special consolation prize. I don't know if the show is still like that. It might be sort of complicated still, but I don't know if it is. All I know is that there is a horribly long flight to and from whatever location they are filming at. There's not always a loved ones challenge. Sometimes it is merely a reward for whatever someone might have won and not everyone gets it. Sometimes they can't do one for whatever reason. Due to political unrest in Fiji, they couldn't do a loved ones challenge that season. In fact, that horrible season might have been ruined further if they had to cancel everything when the game was already in progress with so much done and so much left undone. Although, we really wouldn't have lost anything if that season had never aired. I'm glad that it wasn't cancelled in the end. I really don't think that any potential Survivor season should be unaired or unmade. Besides, there's always a market for selling seasons and the fans are probably that crazy. I mean, aren't most fans of Survivor lifelong fans?

You know, if you ever have free time, you can go to www.wikia.org and learn a lot of information about Survivor contestants. I've also learned more about the game itself. Did you know that Russell Hantz originally wanted to be on the second season of Pirate Master? (For those of you who aren't familiar with that show, it's basically just Survivor on a ship. It's hard to call it an original show and it wouldn't have been made were in not for the Disney pirate movies.) Well, because that show was cancelled, they suggested that he do Survivor instead. He wasn't as familiar with the game and was told to start watching the sixteenth season to prepare to be on the show. I also learned that the hidden immunity idol cannot be stolen by another player since that is against the rules in the Survivor handbook. Those are considered personal items and you're not allowed to steal personal items. You can still look through their belongings to see if they had it, but you couldn't take it if you did find it and see that they did, in fact, have it. And if you are interested in possible Survivor spoilers, you can join the facebook group Survivor Whispers which is run by an infamous person who will probably never be able to play the game. I don't know why I joined the group, but I figure that it's worth something. I hope that this doesn't lower my chances of being a contestant, although I wouldn't post spoilers about the season if I did. Not unless I had five million dollars that they would charge me for talking about these spoilers. Besides, I'd have to get far in order to know anything about it anyways. Otherwise, the only spoiler I would know is Adam Decker was the first person voted out and these were the other contestants. And something that I wonder about is if young people watch Survivor. I started when I was ten and didn't even realize that it is more for adults than kids. But, normally the shows are PG and not TV-14. So normally there wouldn't be a problem. Rob and Amber's kids might watch the show while waiting to be contestants when they are old enough. Although the show would be on its 36^th season before they even have the possibility of having a contestant who is younger than the show. And does anyone wonder why non Americans play the American Survivor? I'm glad that they do, but they are normally strange contestants. I forget how many of them there have been. In fact, there might have only been two.

Something else I wonder is how a location for Survivor is chosen. They originally wanted to do seasons 23 and 24 in Tonga instead of Samoa. Apparently, economic problems in Tonga forced them to return to Samoa a third and fourth time. Although I don't know how that type of problem would prevent a season there as you think that a season in your country would help the economy. After the tenth season of Survivor, tourism in Palau increased. I wonder if the place applies to be on Survivor, Survivor decides to go to the place, or a combination of both. The fourth season was the first to use a back-up location, or at least the first one that we know about. So I hope that they get their location so that they don't have to reuse a location. Although there aren't always problems if they do. Sometimes they want to reuse location. I even want them to. I suggest it whenever I can. Although unsolicited ideas cannot be accepted by them due to legal reasons, I'm pretty sure. I wonder how my idea could be an official idea. How can an idea become solicited? I don't even know what that means. The policies are probably, if we send them the idea, it becomes their property is no longer ours. That must work with the so called CYA system that I've heard about. (If you don't know what that stands for, I'm not going to tell you). I just wish that I knew how to send them my ideas. I would send an official email to someone if I knew that they would accept it. And for those who follow me on twitter, I was the one who tweeted that there should be a reward challenge hashtag before the official one was created. There is at least one location that the producers have said that they will never reuse as it was that bad. Something else I wonder is how much of the sets, camps, and whatever remains a part of the location they use. I mean, the tribal council could be there for a long time, although it is probably taken down. So going back to an old location might mean that some of their old sets are still there. Of course, they will be using the same sets and whatever in the next season that they used in this one. That is mostly due to budget cuts and presumably, a gradual loss of viewership. Although if CBS ever cancelled Survivor, I imagine that the CW or someplace would then pick it up.

You know, I'm glad that Survivor hasn't been causing any controversies lately. In fact, that last controversy didn't have anything to do with something inside the game. For those of you familiar with the Jim Early spoilers of seasons 19 and 20, then you know what I'm talking about. He basically got an informant who may or may not have been Russell Hantz who told him everything about those two seasons. There hasn't been a controversy since. Anything could happen. In the fourth season of the Philippine Survivor, for instance, there was a tribal council where it is believed that every jury member pointed to a contestant in the game and mouthed the words to vote him out. That person was blindsided that very night. Unsure of what to do, the producers decided to keep the game going as regularly planned. There was, of course, a big problem when it aired among the fans of the show. I'm not sure what controversy could happen on Survivor that hasn't happened already. Of course, they've already had a player think that producers told them to vote her out. She sued them and was countersued and the whole issue was settled outside of court. We have no idea who won the lawsuit because of that ending. We all know that she will never be able to play the game again (although we have no idea what crazy things could happen). And, of course, if a player gets ejected from the game in a season, that would be controversial. I hope that it never happens. Depending on the reason for the ejection, they might have deserved it.

You know something happened before I posted this. I was banned from the facebook group that I just mentioned. Or, I'm not sure if I'm banned per say, but apparently I was asking too many questions. I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong, but I have found out some potential spoilers for this episode as well one contestant who might not win this season. At least I found out that Survivor 26 will have John from South Pacific. And that's enough knowledge that I shouldn't have known that can cause problems, even on a group about spoilers. I'm surprised he's even returning. He doesn't seem like the type of person who would make it that far. He's sort of like Ian from Big Brother in terms of appearance and being a superfan of the show he's playing in. And Jim Early's informant in the game is probably not Hantz, given what he was willing to talk about in the group. So Mark Burnett, if you're reading this, you should be concerned about who you let work for Survivor. If Jim Early knew every winner since Pearl Islands, it has to be someone that's more into the group that films/produces/other contestants/someone the host is friends with/otherwise helps with the show and is talking with this person. Or he's full of crap. If he's really into all these spoilers all the time like he says he is, than someone should really be concerned. But I'm not into spoilers anyways and would rather not know anything about a season that hasn't even aired. I guess that I just wanted to see what all was real. I should have known better. Besides, if asking who just one contestant is can get you into trouble on a spoiler board for Survivor, then it doesn't seem like a good idea to be a part of it. Or, maybe it was the comment I had after it that caused problems. Who wants to be part of a spoiler board anyways? They gave some for this episode, so I guess I'll wait to see if they are true or not. But enough of my ramblings.

Due to the episode being recorded earlier, this will not be the typical blog post. In fact, I'll never be able to do one again until the season finale. Advent has started and I have to record the episode while I'm at church. So I have to watch it later instead of live, when it normally is best to write this post. This will be a delayed post compared to when it is normally written. Although it doesn't matter to you, the reader, so I'm not sure why I'm telling you this anyways. I'll be sure to update this as soon as possible.

So, now that I've seen the episode, I will now write this blog. Survivor Whispers was right regarding what happened this episode. The loved ones challenge was interesting, emotional, and heartfelt, like it normally is. I wonder how they explained to Abby's mother about the rules of the challenge since she doesn't speak English. Malcolm won the challenge and gave Michael and Lisa the share of the reward. They concocted a plan to try to blindside Malcolm. Only Malcolm would win immunity. So they decided between Abby and Carter who they wanted to get rid of. They decided to get rid of the poor contestant Carter, who never got much airtime and wasn't really as memorable. I forgot if he was originally on Kalabow or not, but I know that the red tribe has no remaining players in the game. There are still three Tandang and two Matsing members. I honestly wouldn't have expected the tribe that never won a challenge to make it this far in the game. I'd still want one of them to win. Abby's fake idol didn't really help her much and now everyone probably knows for sure, if they didn't before, that the idol isn't real. Malcolm will probably play his idol at the next tribal council, just to be safe. In Survivor: Nicaragua, the two people with idols both played them when they were last valid. They weren't interested in souvenirs, they wanted to win. I'll never understand those who don't play their idols and want to keep them after the game is over. Except for Colton, if you don't play the idol, you are dumb. Just ask James. Or Ozzy. Or the scores of other people who were dumb about it. The promo didn't help reveal much about the next episode, which is what they want to do, of course. Not really sure what else I want to say. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 25.11

The returning players this season have had an interesting second time in the game. It's interesting to note how the three returning contestants were all medically evacuated in the sixth episode in their respective season. Only Russell Swan has done worse this time around. But I forget how far Jonathan made it the first time. I heard that they wanted him to be a villain in Heroes versus Villains, but I don't know if that rumor is true or not. I heard that it was Shane from Panama who they wanted until Russell Hantz proved that great a villain in Samoa. That's the reason they wanted him back since no other contestant from Samoa played a second time outside of this season. I'm getting a bit tired of the whole returning contestants leading a tribe of new contestants twist. The 27^th season is rumored to bring back people from Survivor: Fiji. Only one person from that season has played again and that season sucked. Honestly, I'm not sure if any of the players would be good returning. I still don't know why they don't bring back Palau contestants, but I guess that they either don't read this blog or they know that they can't use my ideas. Although I wouldn't sue them if they did. They could pay me royalties if they wanted to. But if I were full of good ideas, I'd probably be working for the show by now. Oh well. I also know that they wouldn't use my idea for a special on Jennifer Lyon since they'd have to do that on every contestant when they died. Plus it would only be a onetime special and not the type of thing that they would market on DVD. I do wonder why the Palau DVD didn't have the respective look back or post Survivor interviews done on the Early Show.

They used to do greatest and most outrageous moments, which were like movie specials of the episodes that tried to turn the whole season into a film. They would mix unused footage and take out a lot of the interesting scenes out for an overall stupid overview of the season in question. But I think that we're all glad that they don't do that anymore and instead release the full seasons instead. Although if they did do a special on Jenn and decided to release it to DVD, I'm sure that there are some people who would enjoy the never before seen footage, especially regarding Jenn who wasn't in the final cut of Palau as much as other contestants were. She even has a wikipedia page, but it isn't that good right now. Hopefully, it will get better later. I still haven't listened to the commentaries on the DVD from that season. And the 26^th season is rumored to be fans versus favorites again. I didn't like it the first time as the fans seemed doomed from the very beginning. Seasons with returning contestants tend to favor the returning contestants who've already had a shot before while the new contestants don't do as well. And if there are contestants next season that were on this season, I wonder if my theory of those contestants who play back to back seasons really do have an unfair advantage the second time around. Nobody would know who you are and even if you told them that you made it to the final tribal council the first time, you could manage to do it again like Amanda did. I just hope that the next season doesn't have returning contestants who have already had a second shot before. There are a lot of contestants who would be good that have never returned to play the game again.

I really hope that new contestants are chosen for the game in future seasons. I bet that there are people who applied to be on the first season who still haven't gotten a chance to play the game. Those poor people. I hope that they get their chance. I also hope that I find a way to keep updating this blog regularly. And from what I can tell, seasons 27 and 28 just need an official renewal and they will be made. And Jeff will still be the host. So that will happen. The superfan from South Pacific is supposedly on the next season. If you know who that is, then you might understand who I'm talking about. I forget his first name and can't spell that name he likes to be called by. Although I'll never understand why people would like to be called by their last name. If you ever meet me, call me Adam. And if I'm ever on the show, I'd have to tell that to Jeff to call me by my first name. He apparently calls the contestants he likes by their last name, but I don't like it. Even if that means he doesn't like me as a player, I'll take it. But I'll probably have a nickname when I'm there. I predict they'd call me Sheldon. Judson had no idea that he'd be Fabio at the end of the season. But if you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you'll understand why I'd have that nickname. I've been told that I'm just like Sheldon Cooper. And since that means that I'm a genius, I would love that nickname. It would just take some getting used to. Besides, on Big Brother, they compared Ian to Leonard and he went on to win the game. Besides, Sheldon is much smarter than Leonard. There are some people that don't like Sheldon and think that's he's socially awkward. Since Sheldon is neurotic like am I, that's the perfect nickname. Although I wouldn't mind Kramer. I'm a fan of Seinfeld too. Come to think of it, this kind of information doesn't belong in a Survivor blog. Oh, well. But enough of my ramblings.

The show is about to start airing. Today is November 28, 2012. Poor Abby is all alone, although I'm not sure that anyone wants her to win. Her closest ally in the game got voted out. Not much happened before the first commercial.

In the next segment, the tribe was given money for the Survivor auction. Apparently, it even gets a twitter hashtag. I wonder if tribal council will ever get one. Or they won't create an official one since they know I'd claim credit for being the first to use it. Apparently both Denise and Michael thought it would be good to spend their entire money for what they wanted. It would be awesome if a hidden immunity idol was one of the items. Besides, the players get to keep the money they don't spend. Carter made a good choice by giving his tribe food at the cost of his own food. Abby gets an advantage in the game by spending all her money on it. The auction ended very quickly.

In the next segment, the contestants came back to the camp after the auction. Jonathan and Abby got into a fight. Abby is ridiculous at the camp. She just might be the most annoying player in the history of the game. (Yes, I am quite aware that Colton has played.) You know, I wonder if there's a Portuguese version of Survivor. Maybe Abby would have been better at that. Turns out, the note is not a clue for another immunity idol, but an advantage at the next challenge. We have yet to see if it will be helpful to her or not. Abby is lying about an idol that she wouldn't be able to play.

In the next segment, the immunity challenge happened. Attached to a rope, they will have to go through the challenge with body weight if they answer a question correctly. Abby pretends that there is more to the clue and that it really is for a hidden immunity idol. I don't know if anyone will believe her ploy or not. Denise, Carter, Michael, Malcolm, and Jonathan got to move on. They edited out a part of the challenge. I don't know why they would do that. But apparently those few seconds are something that we can go without. Jonathan, Carter, and Abby were all in the final round. Abby needs it the most. She might win, but we don't know. If she did, then she doesn't need the fake idol ploy anymore. Or she will need it for the next episode. In the end, Abby won the challenge. I predict that Jonathan will go home.

So I was away from my laptop when the next part of the show happened. Jonathan really wanted to take changes things in the next part of the game. But he didn't. He tried to vote out Denise, but in the end he was the one who left the game. He did it with his head hung high. He might have been the happiest person voted out of the game. But, of course, a contestant got to kiss Jeff! Maybe she was the happiest person to leave the game. The promo made it seem like the loved ones challenge would change the game. Lisa would get help. Malcolm would get worse (maybe). Jonathan got his next shot at the game. He cheated death in the game twice. But he got voted out. I'm glad that he played again. I eagerly await the next episode. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.