Do Tribes Mean Anything Anymore?

Often when I watch the show nowadays, I wonder if the fact that certain tribes exist mean anything to the viewer. They probably still mean a lot to the players in the game. But I personally don’t know for sure whether or not they mean much to those watching the show anymore.

Too much of modern Survivor is about showing flashy characters and what they consider good moves. But I think that the problem that makes me wonder if tribes aren’t important anymore is the fact that they switch them around too often and too soon. I mean, we have a tribe set up in one way and by the time very few episodes have passed, the tribe is gone in favor of a new ones.

Still, what I feel is the problem for viewers with tribes nowadays is that we are hardly spending enough time on them. We see more of certain players and not others making time on each tribe more about time with certain players over others. We tend to not see as much dynamics out of the game regarding what all is going on in each tribe outside of the one that is always losing.

Does it make sense to have tribes if they don’t mean anything? Well, Survivor has always had tribes in it at the start and doing anything else would make little to no sense. You’d think that a onetime twist of a season without tribes could be a good experiment, but also wouldn’t really work. Would you do just an individual game the whole season? Would that work or make sense to people? Going without tribes might not work and be even worse than continuing something with little to no meaning.

Does anyone even agree with me about this? I just realize that as this blog has gone on, I have gone from keeping more track of who was on each tribe and keeping track of the tribes’ names to just not caring as much what will go on with tribes, typically calling them their color instead of something else entirely. This is because tribes just don’t last as often as they could in their original format. Then they tend to do another twist regarding the tribes changing yet again before the merge.

What definitely messed up the whole tribe dynamic is the Edge of Extinction. It wasn’t like the outcasts which was a temporary tribe yet was a sort of tribe. It seemed to make more sense in terms of what would happen with that disaster. But even without it, tribes just don’t mean as much to me because we don’t see much out of them like we used to.

I’m going to end the post here as I’m not sure what else I can say without repeating myself over and over again. Do you think that tribes are still important? They still exist and change a lot. Maybe they mean more than it seems to me in the edit over and over again. But I still think that they have lost their meaning and someone, maybe the editors or twist designers, should fix that. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Are Hidden Immunity Idols Used too Much?

I’m starting to wonder if I complain too much about the game nowadays, be it in these blog posts of the most recent hiatus or ponderings about any recent season in general. All I know is that it might be worth posting about the hidden immunity idols and whether or not they have been used too much in the game in recent seasons at hand.

Originally when it appeared partway through Guatemala, the idol was preventative and only used once. It might have been for multiple use when it appeared more regularly in Panama and Cook Islands, but that wasn’t what happened with it since they were effectively never used.

During the China season, James left the game with two idols still in his possession that he never played. He still had them when he was voted out. No idol reentered the game after his elimination. In the next season, Ozzy was voted out with an idol. But this idol was rehidden. Ozzy had left this idol back at camp when he went to the tribal council he was voted out at. Thus, he didn’t have it. But what really lead to the change? Was it them wanting to continue to shake up the game? Was there really a change to how idols were done at all? It can be hard to tell.

There were some notable changes that I noticed in my mind. The first was in Heroes versus Villains. In what might have been an attempt to make more interesting things happened in the game, one idol would always enter the game after another had been played. It was almost like a cycle through of things in a way: one idol out, one back in. This wasn’t the only change.

In Survivor One World, Colton’s idol was gone after he was pulled from the game. Despite the fact that another person in the game had an idol, another one was put in the game. This sort of thing wouldn’t gather any controversy until two seasons later when it happened in Caramoan. Malcolm found an idol while still possessing another one. Many found this rigged.

Ultimately, the idol level didn’t reach a certain horrible level of ridiculousness that you’d think you’d only see on MTV if you like that horrible show until Edge of Extinction. Contrary to what some people might think, idols were never given to select players by production before this season. This time, the person who reentered the game because of the twist would get an idol. While they had to give half of it away for a tribal council, they got immunity whenever they wanted to. This should not have happened the second time at least since that meant automatic immunity the last time it could be played.

This makes us go back to the initial question as to whether or not hidden immunity idols are overused. One would have to argue different things with this point. Are hidden immunity idols good? Do they make for good TV even if they aren’t good? Are more idols better are just another thing many fans will bitch about? And what are the sorts of things that one would expect from more idols versus less?

I can see a problem with there being only one hidden immunity idol in the game. Whoever has it would yield more power than all the other players who don’t have it. They would have a magic bullet that they would know none of the other players had. Thus, having multiple idols in the game makes sense. But how many is too many?

It is worth noting that one person might be able to hold more than one idol if that is an option that is available to them. Thus, they could become even more powerful. But when there are too many idols at points late in the game, that is where we might run into problems.

Survivor: Game Changers might be the most obvious example of this. One player had the immunity necklace. Another had the legacy advantage. Three others all played idols at the final six leaving just one person who was eligible to be voted out. As for Edge of Extinction, it was clear to me and many others that one shouldn’t be able to get an idol that late in the game with others already in play potentially. This is why you’d think they’d know when there are too many in the game.

All I can really say is that it is clear that more idols means more potentially interesting moves, but it also can mean that there are issues because of it such as too many crazy things happening as a result. I think that there are some ways that the producers would need to think of to ensure that idols don’t become just one maddening mess in the game. There doesn’t always have to be a new one every time at least one old one was played. And they should realize that when issues are caused by too many idol at once, maybe they should change what they do in future seasons to make sure that we don’t have too much crazy going on at once. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

The Outcasts versus Redemption Island

I had this post planned for a while now. After Edge of Extinction, I thought that I would do this post at last, even if it doesn’t include Edge of Extinction in it at all. Before it, there were two twists that were done in the game where voted out players got a second chance to play again. I’m going to go through the pros and cons of each of them before mentioning what I think was better.

A good part of the Outcasts twist was the shock of it all. You didn’t know it was coming as a fan until the promo of the episode before it and you wouldn’t have seen it coming as a player unless you were part of the tribe in the first place. They weren’t guaranteed to get a player back in the game unless they came in first or second in the challenge. They had only one chance to attend this tribal council in question. I think that most people, even those that didn’t like the twist, know that the season worked better because it was there in the twist. It was a one and done twist.

A bad part of the Outcasts twist was that too much of it seemed sudden. Parts of it were random, such as who would come back into the game being decided by a vote. The people were now certain to be part of the jury or make the end where they had previously been out before hand.

With the good of Redemption Island, the players in the game knew about the twist before it started for real and some of them learned who was winning what challenge in the game. There were different challenges that one had to do to keep winning their way in the game.

The bad of Redemption Island seems to be easy to figure out. Some argued that it in earlier seasons did not have much of an influence on the game as the winners of Redemption Island would just be voted out of the game again. Some of the challenges just didn’t work as do or die duels. It might not have been considered fair that someone was certain to win their way back in the game. Pretty much everyone thinks that it lasted too long and shouldn’t have been a part of the game after the merge.

Which was better? Well, I think that most people like the Outcasts twist better. I think that I like it better as well. It was more of a onetime thing and made more sense and worked better that way. It made for a more interesting post merge and influenced the game in a way it otherwise wouldn’t.

That’s all for this post of this blog. I don’t know what posts will happen when. I hope that I can finish watching Survivor: Borneo to start watching Survivor: Gabon and blog about that on Sundays. I will have to do that at some point in time. There are other seasons that I might want to get as well in the future. I should be able to explain more in the next post on an episode of a show, be it the newest season or any of the old ones I want to blog about. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Examining the Edge of Extinction Twist

Since I’m still doing some of these posts that relate in some way to the most recent season of Survivor as I don’t know of much else to talk about the upcoming one that I don’t yet know much about, I might as well get to a more proper examination of the twist from the most recent season. Can you think of what all it meant? Well, I might as well state my opinion of it.

The general consensus is that the twist sucked royally. I didn’t really like the twist that much myself. I still maintain that there were plenty of worse twists, but this might have to be on the list of the worst twists. It seems like after the disaster of Ghost Island, the response of the producers was “Hold my beer.” Are they just going to come up with something worse than the previous bad thing every time there is some rightful complaint over it?

A lot of us might have liked it if they had shown the outcast tribe before their challenge in the game. It did seem like this season might have been their way of doing something like that. They made this aspect part of the outcasts and then part Redemption Island. Everyone knows that the best thing to do when you have two twists that people don’t like is to combine them into one even worse twist. Wait, what? I mean, seriously, what were they thinking?

Not only do we have the outcast element of a group of people being abandoned in the game, we also have the Redemption Island element of the voted out players competing in a challenge to get back in the game if you were voted out. Only unlike some of Redemption Island, you got a second chance to get back in the game if lose the first chance. Added to this are secret advantages. They didn’t seem to add much of anything to the game outside of stupid moves people did with them.

Was there any good that came of this twist? Well, it actually did what it sought out to do and got a man who was voted out of the game the ability to win it later that season. This wasn’t seen as a good thing to any since it was seen as highly unfair. Is Chris Underwood the worst winner in Survivor history? I don’t think so if only because I hate others much more.

I think that part of the issue was that we saw too much of the Edge of Extinction while at the same time, we did not see enough of it. The twist and the people weren’t in certain episodes, yet often ate up at lot of time in other episodes. None of this really focused on Chris as he got very little airtime. I don’t hate the floater game and may yet write a blog post about it. What he did wasn’t a floater game as he wasn’t in the main game for a lot of the series. It seemed similar simply due to lack of airtime. All I know is that he wasn’t seen as much as he could be even when the Edge of Extinction was shown.

The biggest potential issue with this twist is the jury problem that the twist creates. Somehow, all of the people in the game weren’t able to deduct that those in the jury would want one of their own to win versus someone in the game. Thus, when Chris was able to win his way back into the game, he got a lot of favor with the jury and had insider information that those in the game wouldn’t have. Thus, he was able to take out everyone he needed to in order to upset the rest of the competition.

This leads to some Rick ponderings about the game. Would he have been able to do well without Chris coming back in the game? Would he have been a good winner despite also having been voted out at one point? A lot of people hate Rick, but I’m not one of them. I would have loved to see him win. But I guess that his edit might be for a returning game instead of anything else. Why did they give him so much airtime and paint him as a mastermind of sorts only to have him fall short? I haven’t seen an edit like that since Terry’s in Panama. Rick did make mistakes and it is quite possible that he would have pissed off too many jury members to win. But he might have made the twist work better if he had won in the end. Instead, we got someone who was barely involved with most of the game.

I have no idea what else there is to say about the twist in general. I think that I did a good dissection of it for others to enjoy. Did you like the twist? I haven’t heard of anyone who has, yet. Why do you think that it failed so much? Did any fan like the idea of it before it was shown? I guess that’s all for now to say about that as we move on to other things. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

The Ron Clark Story Movie Review

One Christmas, my mother messed up and got me a movie called The Ron Clark Story instead of what I had actually wanted: Front of the Class. Still, I watched this movie once and kept it for future viewings. Now that the person the story is about has done Survivor, I might as well review this movie in question by watching it again and posting it in this blog. I may yet see the movie again in order to do more of an in-depth analysis on the character of Ron Clark. Now let’s get to the movie.

The movie starts in North Carolina with Ron showing up for his first day of class. He sees a student in the hall. He offers advice to this student. Four years later, we get to a celebration having to be moved in the school instead of outside due to the rain. They show a surprise for him outside. It is a parking spot since he is no longer temporary at the school. He decides to leave this old school since he feels he is needed more in New York. He bids farewell to his parents and drives there throughout the day and night.

Ron wants to teach in Harlem. He is more or less told by someone at the place he lives at that it is not a good idea. He gets rejected at some schools and doesn’t know what to do with his life. He winds up at a restaurant where he works and see a woman named Marissa. It is a themed restaurant with him as Robin Hood. While wondering around the city, Ron notices a teacher quit on the spot and tells the man who is the principal that he can work there since he helps raise test scores. He wants a troublesome class as he feels that they need him.

Marissa has issues with types of harassment at work. Ron then wants to meet with different parents of the kids before he starts teaching them. He meets with Julio’s mother and various other parents. He sees one who takes care of her siblings when her mother is busy.

At his first day of teaching, he doesn’t get much love from the other teachers that are nearby. It seems that all of the students are disrespectful and not expecting him to stay around. He introduces his first of his many rules, “we are family.” It doesn’t take long for the class to descend back into madness.

Ron changes the room, but this isn’t appreciated by his boss. He also notices that his car was vandalized. He talks to Marissa about this as he moves. Back in class, he goes over his three rules. The second one, “we respect each other.” The third rule has them forming a line to go places. He creates a fourth rule about no smacking of lips or rolling of eyes to help teach Shameika, the leader of the class, what not to do and how to treat others. Later, he talks to one of his students and then sees Julio taking bets on when he’d leave. He goes to the lunch ladies and makes sure that they are in a line before he lets them leave. After Shameika cuts the line, he makes sure that she tells the truth about it before the rest of the class gets food. This is now his fifth rule of teaching. He notices that the room is vandalized when he looks at it later.

Ron talks about the vandalized room and need to follow rules. The girls in the bathroom talk about their distaste for the teacher, although one of them admits to liking him. Ron says that Shameika is good at jump rope when he sees her do this. He notices that Julio fights during class and doesn’t want him to be punished since he has two strikes.

The students don’t have their journals done and even the one who did it hides it from Ron. Shameika causes more issues in class which leads him to being more confrontational than he was wanting which gets him to walk out of class, much to the delight of a lot of his students.

After leaving the class, he meets with Marissa to show him around town. He admits that he shook the desk and wanted to throw it and Shameika out the window. He also wonders why Marissa wasn’t doing any of her auditions for acting roles. This leads him to go back to class since he figures that they can do a lot, they just won’t. He gives a speech while back in class about listening. He does a weird lesson about grammar where he wants no one to talk and he’ll drink milk once every 30 minutes if they obey. What’s with this? I have no idea why this is in the film at all. It seems rather dumb.

Back at the playground, Ron wants to learn how to double-dutch. After some failed attempts, he does start to learn more of how to jump, which he does with Shameika. He then talks to his boss who had some issues with his methods. Ron’s boss thinks that he’s acting too childish.

There is a cake and celebration of sorts with Tate not feeling up to the promise. Ron wants to teach them about the presidents and after they all fail the test, he does a rap about it, inspired by hearing his neighbor playing rap music. His students cheer and join his president’s rap. Even the shy student seems to be more enjoying of herself in the class too.

After another class period, he gets Julio to empty his pockets due to Julio being a thief. Ron wants him to show up to private study sessions and shows up where Julio is hanging out with the idea to show up at a restaurant later. Julio shows up to his session after Tate’s was set to be at, only Tate didn’t show.

Ron talks to Shameika after she doesn’t show up to her study session. He winds up at her apartment. When her mother returns, she feels that she has to stop to make dinner. He makes it instead. When her mother comes back and stays, she wonders what Ron is doing there and thinks that he’s criticizing her parenting abilities. Ron and Shameika’s mother then talk with her in the principal’s office. Shameika then speaks up for Ron, not wanting him fired. He talks to Miss Wallace about her child and feels that she could help with her daughter Shameika’s potential.

Ron admires an art project that Julio made. Tate gets upset at him, assaulting him. Ron wants the best for Tate and argues against an expulsion. He is able to help the two of them as a result. Tate seemed to be more upset at himself than anyone else.

Ron winds up getting sick and he needs either bed rest or hospitalization. Despite the doctor’s objection, he goes to class anyways. They can tell that he’s sick as he tries to teach despite this. He even passes out during class, which his students first mistake for a joke since he was teaching about gravity. This leads him to being taken away in an ambulance. This leads him to using a camera to record lessons in advance of these classes. The principal shows these videos which reveal how well he knows his students.

When he returns to class after his sickness is over, he talks about the upcoming state exams and how he thinks that they aren’t doing as well as they could be. He feels that they lack self confidence. He wants them to do better than they’ve been when he was gone. He gives them a motivational speech.

Worried about Tate, Ron checks up on him. Tate chooses Ron over his old “friends.” We then get to the big test in general. Ron and other teachers are nervous. After the test, Marissa comes over with coffee. She got an audition and wonders if she should leave with Jason, her boyfriend, I think. He wants to just dismiss her and kisses her, leaving her confused.

Back at the class, the students find a surprise in the closet where they have envelopes that they open. Ron is taking his class to see the Phantom of the Opera. Tate gets in trouble with his foster father after he puts art on the wall leaving this man to beat Tate. Ron notices that Tate is missing when the rest of his students see the play so he goes to where Tate lives. Ron finds Tate on the street. Tate is crying and upset over this, but Ron is there for him.

Ron takes Tate to where the principal lives so Tate has a good and safe place to stay at for a while. We then get to Ron giving awards to his students in question. Ron’s boss comes inside during this in order to give him the scores of this class. They did higher than any other class, including the honors class. He then gives an award to Shameika who got the highest score in both English and Math. Marissa shows up to this class at the end. This movie ends around here with his students singing the President’s Rap.

What are my thoughts on the movie? Well, I don’t know why exactly Marissa is in this as she doesn’t have much of a purpose outside of being a potential lover interest that goes nowhere. Plus, Ron is gay so I don’t know why that is there either. Tate didn’t seem to be as developed a character as he could have been and I confused him with Julio some of the times I’ve watched this. Maybe that’s more of my issue with that. Other than that, the movie seems to work well. I wonder why they didn’t just start with him in Harlem as that might have made more sense.

That’s about it for this post. I had actually rolled this movie last Wednesday. When I roll something that is Survivor related, I update my TV blog on that day. Hence, there was no post of this blog last week since this movie is now a Survivor related thing. I do plan to watch it again sometime where I will do a post about the movie that will only cover Ron’s perspective. That should be all of what I have to do of any special Ron Clark related posts unless he dies or becomes a returning player. I have no idea what might happen with that just now. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Could I, Adam Decker, Do Survivor?

A lot of Survivor fans probably want to play the game at some point if they haven’t already. I might want to play Survivor at some point. But could I actually do what many have done by playing the game? I do not know if I’m cut out for it. I have never applied for it (yet, at least), although I wouldn’t mind if I were recruited to play the game. Still, if I actually had the chance, would it be something that I should do with my life? Should I ever play Survivor?

One might never know unless they play what type of player they will be. They also might not know what their edit will be like on the show. For instance, Malcolm of Survivor: Philippines thought that he would be getting a villains edit, but instead got a heroes edit. One thing that you think that most people would never want to do is be a quitter.

If I wanted to do Survivor and had any inclination going into it that I might quit it, I’d spare myself any potential hatred I’d get from fans and never play. I don’t think that I’d have it as easy as other players do since I’m on medication that I’m not sure would be allowed on the show. Kathy quit Micronesia in part because of not being able to take medicine to the point of being depressed and unable to play the game in her mind. I’d have a hard time playing due to my Tourettes Syndrome. I’m not playing Survivor just to quit it. But I feel that I could wind up like Kathy even if I did have my medication.

While I’d more than love to work for Survivor, I’d rather not be a contestant. I’d rather be a creative consultant, if such a job were to exist. Someone comes up with ideas for twists, challenges, and other things to be featured in the game. I’d more than love to be one of them. I just hope that I didn’t say too many bad things in this blog, on twitter, or elsewhere that would make them weary of hiring someone. Still, they would know some of what I want to do and then be able to use it.

All of this is not to say that I wouldn’t play Survivor if things worked out to do so. I just know that there are plenty of better people whom you could pick from instead. Of course, I like to think that a lot of worse people than me have played the game. Still, that might be more of what they are looking for. I’m not as confrontational as they might be looking for. I could be boring. The only goal of mine would be not to quit the game and I don’t think that I would, no matter how hard things got for me.

In conclusion, not much can be said about whether or not I would play Survivor. Maybe I will or maybe I won’t. I don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I’d honestly rather just blog about it for as long as the show is still on and not let playing the game taint my views of it. Working with the show in other ways might work for me, but I’m not sure that I’d care much about that as long as I can do something with my life that actually has a purpose. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Development of Edge of Extinction Players

As promised earlier, it is time to get to comparing the returning players that were in Edge of Extinction where I talk about the original games, the current games, and any other times that they played Survivor. You will see the way that these four players have developed in the game.

Aubry thoughts: When she first appeared on Kaoh Rong, she got the love of plenty of people who were not me. I never liked her that season as I felt that she was whiney and entitled. To me, this season had the worst edit for her.

When she played a second time, she got pretty far again, but fell short at the end. I think that she stood a chance of actually winning in Game Changers, which is why she was voted out. When she played this time, she did her worst game. She fumbled with not one but two advantages and wound up premerge for the first time in her Survivor career. She didn’t play her idol and was voted out as a result. She wasn’t the first or the last to do this. Main transition: From an annoying person to one who is not as smart.

Original thoughts on her after Game Changers: Aubry is someone that I didn’t like going into this season and still probably don’t really like that much. However, I don’t think that she’s that bad a person in the end. The first time she played the game, she was whiny and annoying, yet still beloved by others who aren’t me. She didn’t win the first time, but she did come in second. This time around, we never saw that much from her, yet she made it to the finale again. Ultimately, she ended up getting voted out after getting on the wrong side of the numbers. Main transition: From an entitled player to a less noticeable presence.

Joe thoughts: One of the seemingly most popular players, I notice that there is a lot of hype with him that might be overblown among some people. I don’t think that he’s as liked as he could be. The first time he played the game, he made it quite far and stuck out as a challenge threat. He was voted out of the game as a result, putting himself on the jury.

After Worlds Apart, he was voted into Cambodia. He helped his tribe win their way to every immunity win until he made the merge. He then won immunity after immunity, somehow not realizing that he would stick out as a threat again. He lost the game when he was finally not immune and voted out of the game as a result.

This third time he played, he also made it to the merge on a tribe that had always won immunity. Then, he was voted out for the third time for being a challenge beast. He actually had the chance to win a challenge to get back in the game, but he failed again. I’m honestly not sure if there was a difference in any time he played the game. Main transition: From a challenge beast to the same exact person who never knew how else to play the game.

Original thoughts on him after Cambodia: Joe probably learned nothing from his game the first time since he won too many challenges the second time around and thus stood out as a threat. He’s still well loved both of his seasons. He is pretty likable. It’s hard to tell a difference between his two games. There is seemingly no difference between them. Main transition: From a strong player to a still strong player.

David thoughts: I don’t know if he changed much in the games. The first time he played in Millennials versus Gen X, he proved himself to be a formidable player in the game and came close to winning when he was voted out as the last one in the game, similar to both Kelley and Aubry in at least one of their seasons. When he played this time, he seemed to do well at certain parts, only to get voted out when all the other players started to band against the returning players. Main transition: From a strong player who made it far to a strong player who didn’t make it as far.

Kelley thoughts: The first time she played in San Juan del Sur, she didn’t make it as far as she was out of the game before the merge and after the swap. Despite this, she was voted in to playing Cambodia. This time around, she had a more aggressive game play and made it all the way to the finale. She even got to cancel out more votes against her than any other contestant thus far. Still, she played a far more evil game this time around. When she played this time, she seemed to blend in more with the others and didn’t stick out as much. She played low key this time around and didn’t know when to play an idol this time around. Main transition: From a strong player to one who didn’t make a splash.

Original thoughts on her after Cambodia: Kelley Wentworth is a player that I personally have liked both times she played. There are some people who thought that she should have even won the game. Of course, I only found out about that discussion on facebook by getting notifications about a post that I never even commented on. (If anyone knows how to stop that from happening, let me know. It is kind of annoying for them to send me to a place I had no interest in. Do I have to unfollow groups? I only want notifications of things that I’ve commented on in groups.) I forget if she actually has the most improved game out of any of the players. Did she beat Monica Culpepper’s record? Anyways, she clearly did better the second time around, even though it meant that we saw more of her villainess side. Main transition: From an early exit to a power player.

Contestant’s name	First season	Second season	Edge of Extinction
Aubry	Worst edit	Best edit	Worst game
Joe	Most vulnerable	Strongest	Shortest
David	Best	Was Edge of Extinction	Still good
Kelley	Shortest game	Best	Worst game

Well, that should be it for this blog post. Did I do a good job comparing these four players’ games from this season to their previous seasons? We’ll see what no one says since this is not often a blog that I get comments on. But it doesn’t really matter that much. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.