Survivor: Gabon episode 15: The Reunion

Lent has already come and gone in 2021 which leads to two things worth mentioning. One is what did I give up for Lent? I didn’t know what all I might have done going into it and didn’t give up one of the things that I normally do: CinemaWins. I might have to give up both LegalEagle and Brian Tyler Cohen in future years, but I did not this year. I also have not gone back to giving up fandom yet, although I might in the future. It could be a while if it happens at all. What I did give up with CinemaSins, TVSins, Jay Exci, visiting the Daily Kos website (although I still shared old links from it on facebook and in blogs of mine), Channel Awesome, The Odd Ones Out, Family Feud, and maybe a bit more.

Other thing that is worth mention is all of the Wednesday shows that I watched during the time that Lent was happening. I was watching the ABC show of The Goldbergs, the CW shows of Riverdale and Nancy Drew, the FOX shows of first The Masked Dancer then The Masked Singer while also watching Name that Tune when it was on and catching just one episode of the new show Game of Talents, and I saw the CBS show of S.W.A.T. While I like Tough as Nails, I never saw any of it this season.

Let’s get to idols from Winners at War part 1. Perhaps the biggest idol play unknowingly at least in some part in the history of idol plays, it starts with an idol that Natalie found and sold to Sandra. Sandra then sold the idol to Denise and Denise played the idol on herself to vote out Sandra all by herself. If only Sandra had the sense to not give over a real idol that was still good, but she must not have learned that much from when Heroes versus Healers versus Hustlers aired and a similar mistake was made.

Now in this link from my Madam Secretary blog, I had a wrong prediction that Conrad would die on the show. He never did and lasted until the very end when he was a former president in the final season who did not appear much. I talk about various problems with being stuck on old tapes, which is going on right now, and having two lists at the time, which I am also doing now.

I also talked about the March Madness of the year in 2016 and how I rooted for a lot of the teams then, which I’ll get more into in this post. I also mentioned some of my thoughts on attending college and student loans. I may not have graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree (I have an Associate’s), at least I never took out any student loans. Know that you don’t have to attend college, but it might not be a waste for you. It just seems a bit like that to me. 

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

I found the punch line to the best redacted joke ever. It’s this: No soap radio. Isn’t that hilarious? Who even needs a set up when the punch line is that funny?

Now talking about March Madness this year, I figured out who I’d be rooting for this year. The post from the Madam Secretary blog mentioned that I was rooting for the teams of Duke, Butler, Wichita State, and Oklahoma in that post. It is worth noting that both Wichita State and Oklahoma were both in the tournament this time, but the others were not, with Wichita State losing the first four to Drake and Oklahoma beat the first round against Missouri only to lose the second round to Gonzaga. It must have sucked for Duke to not be in it since they are normally the higher seeded teams. Here are a link on the cancelled tournament of unknown teams from last year and then this year’s tournament. Also, see if you can figure out what all the underlined stuff means. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NCAA_Division_I_Men%27s_Basketball_Tournament

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_NCAA_Division_I_Men%27s_Basketball_Tournament

Other teams that I’m rooting for in this one are the tier one teams from the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I am rooting for them as they are part of what I call the Midwestern governor alliance. I worry that it might be for show and not showing much of a coordination between the states, but I still like the idea of it. 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/16/1937894/-Midwestern-Governors-announce-a-third-multi-state-partnership?utm_campaign=trending

The teams I’m rooting for in this one that are tier two (outside of the states just mentioned, which isn’t all of them on this list as well), are those from the states of Washington, Oregon, California, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, Nevada, and New Mexico. Another alliance of governors did this. I like to call them the election integrity governors and may give them a special nickname post or mention in my blog on The Good Fight at some point in time. Maybe I’ll talk about them and share this link there when I do a post on the 2021 elections next month in that blog. 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/30/1982273/-NEW-12-Governors-issue-a-statement-on-threats-to-voting?utm_campaign=trending

Who was supposed to host in 2020: first four was Dayton, Ohio; first and second rounds were Albany, New York; Spokane, Washington (hosted by University of Idaho); St. Louis, Missouri; Tampa, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; Omaha, Nebraska; Sacramento, California; and Cleveland, Ohio; sweet sixteen and elite eight were Indianapolis, Indiana; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; and New York City, New York; and final four and championship Atlanta, Georgia.

Who was supposed to host in 2021 (outside of the championship game and semi-finals which went on in Indianapolis as scheduled): first four was Dayton, Ohio; first and second round were Providence, Rhode Island; Boise, Idaho; Detroit, Michigan; Dallas, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Lexington, Kentucky; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Jose, California; sweet sixteen and elite eight were Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Memphis, Tennessee; and Brooklyn, New York. All of them except Minneapolis and Boise are set to host in the future, although I have no idea how many venues to what specific year are scheduled in the future for now.

There was a game that couldn’t be played as part of this year’s tournament as Oregon versus VCU had Oregon automatically advancing since VCU could not play. Oregon then won round two against Iowa and lost the sweet sixteen to USC. I will have to note that I might have to root for VCU in the future if they appear in future tournaments in the NCAA.

It’s going to be a bit hard to keep track of all of the teams in the tournament, but here goes anyways. Norfolk State is from Virginia. They played and beat Appalachian State from North Carolina. They then lost to Gonzaga (from the state of Washington) in round one. Drake, meanwhile, a team from Iowa, lost to California team USC. Michigan State lost to UCLA which is from California. UCLA beat BYU which is from Utah. They then beat Abilene Christian which is a team from Texas in the place of the same name. They then beat Alabama in the sweet sixteen and then Michigan in the elite eight. They lost to Gonzaga at the semi-finals. The last of the first four games had Texas Southern of Houston beating Mount St. Mary’s of Maryland. Texas Southern then lost to Michigan.

What are all of the other teams to keep track of? Let’s see what all else I can say. Michigan beat LSU in round two. LSU is from Louisiana and had beat St. Bonaventure which is from New York State. Michigan also beat Florida State in the sweet sixteen. Florida State is from Tallahassee and they originally beat UNC Greensboro which is from North Carolina. They then beat Colorado in the second round. Colorado is from Boulder. They had beaten Georgetown in round one. Georgetown is from Washington, D.C.

Backtracking a bit, Abilene Christian had beaten Texas which was from Austin. This is the Longhorns team that I wear a pin of at times. UConn (Cornelius?) from Connecticut had lost to Maryland. Alabama had beat Iona. Iona is from the state of New York. Alabama beat Maryland.

Keeping track of other parts of the tournament, Gonzaga, after beating Norfolk State, also beat the team from Oklahoma then Creighton (an astronaut?), then USC, before being in the semifinals as stated and making its way to the championship game. I mentioned some of those teams before. Ohio beat Virginia while the team of Creighton from Omaha, Nebraska beat UC Santa Barbara which is a California team. Creighton then beat Ohio.

After USC beat Drake, they faced the team of Kansas that beat Eastern Washington. USC won that game and continued as I already told you about. Iowa beat Grand Canyon where they faced Oregon as I told you about already.  Grand Canyon is a college from the state of Arizona.

There should be only two more parts to tell you about before I get to the final game. Baylor from Waco, Texas beat Hartford from Connecticut. North Carolina lost to Wisconsin and then Wisconsin lost to Baylor. Villanova from Pennsylvania beat Winthrop from South Carolina. Purdue from Indiana lost to North Texas which is from the Denton area. North Texas lost to Villanova and Villanova lost to Baylor. Texas Tech from Lubbock beat Utah State. Arkansas beat Colgate. Arkansas then beat Texas Tech. Florida from the area of Gainesville beat Virginia Tech. Meanwhile, Ohio State lost to Oral Roberts from Oklahoma. Oral Roberts beat Florida. Arkansas beat Oral Roberts. Baylor beat Arkansas.

Now let’s get to the last part of this. Know that the tournament wasn’t seeded the same way that it normally was so whether or not that affected the outcome of games is unknown. Illinois beat Drexel from Pennsylvania. Georgia Tech from Atlanta lost to Loyola-Chicago from Illinois. Loyola-Chicago then beat Illinois in the next round. Meanwhile, Tennessee from Knoxville lost to Oregon State. They faced against Oklahoma State which had beaten Liberty from Virginia. Oregon State beat Oklahoma State and then beat Loyola-Chicago.

Covering the old half of this part of the bracket, San Diego State from California beat Syracuse from New York. West Virginia also beat Morehead State from Kentucky (which I guess made it less head). Syracuse beat West Virginia. Clemson from South Carolina lost to Rutgers from New Jersey. Meanwhile, Houston from Texas beat Cleveland State from Ohio. Houston then beat Rutgers then Syracuse then Oregon State then lost to Baylor in the semifinals. 

This leads to the results of tournament with the championship game being played between Baylor and Gonzaga. While I wanted Gonzaga to win based on where they are from, every other year, a team that I do not like as much wins the tournament. In 2019, both of the teams in the finals were teams that I wanted to lose. I wouldn’t know how 2020’s lack of a tournament would affect this back and forth. Plus, Gonzaga was undefeated going into the championship game. Still, Gonzaga had an epic failure at the finale game and didn’t hold a lead on the other team once. Thus, Baylor won the tournament.

Now let’s finally get to the next thing where I mention the challenges that start with the letter c from Survivor fandom. There are a lot of them as always, but none of them cover links to other challenges that aren’t yet covered. So let’s get to it. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Can't_Buoy_Me_Love

This challenge is also known as don’t buoy me love. In this challenge, contestants must stand on a perch while holding a buoy with two handles. This challenge could be done while social distancing. The challenge references a Beatles song called Can’t Buy Me Love) 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Cannonball_Run

This challenge is also known as one track mind. In it, contestants have to build a puzzle and then use it to solve a table maze. This challenge could be done while social distancing. It may not seem that original compared to others, but at least it doesn’t combine itself with existing challenges. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Caught_in_the_Web

This challenge is also known as web over water. In it, contestants have to rescue bags or baskets and then cross the finish line while on a net. It is possible that this could be done while social distancing, but there could be some issues with trying to do it that way. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Cell_Block_Sea

This challenge is also known as phism farm and serpent turf. In it, contestants must race to a cage at the sea, get into it to get something, get out of it, and do a final task back at the beach. I don’t think that this could be done while social distancing as it relies on people being too close to each other at times. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Challenge_Pitch

This challenge is also known as going coconuts. In it, contestants have to knock down a wall and then rebuild said wall. An individual version of this could probably be done while social distancing. I do not think that there is much to the idea of this challenge. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Chief's_Choice

This challenge is also known as open. In it, a person has to pick who they think would be best for each task in a challenge before having them do said challenge. This challenge could potentially be done while social distancing since it could easily be a relay race. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Chimney_Sweep

In this challenge, contestants have to brace themselves against two walls while standing on pegs that get smaller as the challenge continues. By that I mean, they have to step down to smaller pegs. This challenge could easily be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Chinese_Zodiac_Symbols

This is also known by a batter name as flashback. It is also known as living color and my poor brain. In it, contestants have to recall signs that were shown by Jeff in the right order or they would be eliminated from the challenge. This challenge could be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Choose_Your_Weapon

This challenge is also known as weapons, warrior choice, and spear me the details. In it, contestants have to use various weapons to win points or to stay in the challenge. This challenge could easily be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Coconut_Juice

This challenge is also known as jo-coconut. It is also known as get crackin’. In it, contestants must get juice from a coconut into a tube and get the most before others do. This challenge could probably be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Crate_Escape

This challenge is also known as social network. In it, contestants have to use a crate to solve a puzzle, mainly being a klotski puzzle. The challenge could probably not be done while social distancing, unless made an individual challenge.

You might need more information into what a klotski puzzle is. Well, you probably know what it is, you just might not know that it was called that. My family wound up having it on our oldest computer as it was available on Windows 3. Read more about it here. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klotski

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Crocodile_Rock

In this challenge, castaways must keep pulling on a bar to keep a ball wedged between two jaws or else lose when the ball drops. This challenge could be done while social distancing. The challenge name is an obvious reference to an Elton John song which you’ll see in a later post. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Crosswalk

In this challenge, contestants are harnessed together and must figure out how to get through a series of obstacles and possibly solve a puzzle at the end. Based on what I know about it, this challenge could not be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Cube_Crisis

This challenge is also known as sled zeppelin. In it, contestants would have to sort through puzzle pieces and use them to solve a cube puzzle. The individual version of this could be done while social distancing. Parts of this challenge were incorporated into the blind leading the blind challenge which you would have read about in the last post on this season.

Now I just learned the day that I was going to post this blog that a contestant from Millennials versus Gen X had died. This contestant is Sunday who died of cancer. I have that season ranked as 16^th best out of the 40 seasons. I have revealed that ranking before. I believe that the last ranking of a season that I have revealed was South Pacific so I’m now going to reveal my ranking of Redemption Island. That season ranks as 12^th best out of 40 seasons. I might rerank this season (Gabon), but will talk about that instead in a future post.

It was on 4-21-2021, a Wednesday, that I rolled this episode. There will be more that I watch of this season, but not more that I will blog about. I’ll explain more of what is going on and what will replace this season on my list of things to watch in the future. Let’s get to the episode.

We begin right where the last episode left off with Jeff introducing Bob as the winner, mentioning whether or not Crystal really did win Olympic gold, and whether or not Corrine and Sugar have made up. Bob is the oldest winner in the game. I wonder what the previous record was. He was wanting to be needed and talks about the fake idol that he made. He stole beads from the tribe flag. Jeff got grief for burning the idol. He admits that he got rope from the idol clue. He gets what’s left of the idol that he made. He is using the challenges of the show to turn them into physic problems.

It is revealed that Matty would have won if he were in the final three. Jeff tells people that if they want to be on Survivor, they would have to go to REI and get flint. REI is a good place. I went there before I went to a vacation in Peru. We then get to Jeff kind of wondering how Susie made it as far as she did. We learn that Randy was the deciding vote in getting Bob the win. It was the cookie that did it. Susie seemed to be too non-caring about the cookie, which got Bob Randy’s vote. Sugar is talked about some as many fans seem to like her.

We switch to learning some about Corrine who gets some needed grief about bringing Sugar’s dead dad into the whole mean speech of hers. Corrine at least admits that she is that mean in real life. She likes the boos and was even upset that she didn’t get a more negative edit. We get some to Randy who was also pretty mean, but gets applause. He has the second highest IQ of the contestants this season with Marcus as the highest. This is ironic, of course, since Marcus made a dumb move with an idol. He was not alone in making this move, though.

Randy invited six strangers as his guests on the reunion show, as they are fans of Survivor. He thinks that he has real friends, but doesn’t know who they are. He thinks the IQ test is wrong or flawed. Charlie talks some for a moment about what he was doing in the game. Randy thinks that after applying for the show 15 times, he would be best in the 22^nd season. That would have put him on Redemption Island and meant that he couldn’t have played in the 20^th season, Heroes versus Villains.

Crystal talks about her past and she did win Olympic gold. She also used steroids, which sadly makes sense. Dan talks about his time in the game as well. Ken talks about playing video games such as Super Smash Brothers Melee. He admits that he was cocky, thinking that it was a chess game. He wants to have a girlfriend, but not because he was on Survivor. Michelle talks about maybe dating Ken, but she is having nightmares about a termite wanting to eat her since she ate one. I once had the chance to do this, but did not. Ace reveals that his British accent is real as he lived in London for 8 years.

The top three vote getters for the Sprint player of the season were Matty, Sugar, and Bob. They were the top three in that order with Bob getting the win. He is speechless over this as Jeff speaks for him while Bob is emotional. Matty reveals that he’s still engaged. She now has an LA ring. Paloma then talks some about her time in the game. We also hear from Kelly who was upset, but is still happy that she’s learning from the game. GC wanted to look for food before the challenge. Jacquie felt that this was the best experience and to make sure that she’s not left out, Gillian talks about her time in the game. 

The next season of Survivor starting next year (then 2009) will be in the rugged place of Tocantins in Brazil. This is the highlands of the place. There’s not much else to gather from the reunion show as it ends around here. I have no idea when or if I’m blogging about Tocantins. Don’t hold your breath.

Points at reunion show: Michelle- 1, Gillian- 1, Paloma- 1, Jacquie- 1, GC- 1, Kelly- 1, Ace- 1, Dan- 1, Marcus- 1, Charlie- 1, Randy- 2, Corrine- 3, Crystal- 1, Ken- 1, Matty- 2, Sugar- 1, Susie- 1, Bob- 1.

There’s still more to talk about this season, such as a potential revised ranking of it, and I’ll talk some about other details of it in other posts, be it in random posts or parts on other episodes. I also want to get to some specific rankings of seasons from San Juan del Sur onward. I need to get to the schedule of planned posts for the month of May.

Planned May blog posts 

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

I have a special post planned for this blog on Gabon for next week and then I’ll be done blogging about this season. But I am not yet done watching this season. You see, there are two choices that I will not be blogging about. And then this blog will have Sunday’s be occupied by new posts on episodes of the season of Blood versus Water. I know that I have already blogged about that as you can see in the archives of this post. But I am blogging about it again. And it will more than likely be on Sunday that I cover those posts as well. 

Here’s a reminder of what the current list of shows that I watch on DVD happen to be. They are the shows of Charmed season 6, Flashpoint season 3, Matlock season 1, Power Rangers season 1 volume 2, Survivor: Gabon (this show), and recorded shows on tape. I will be Blood versus Water that will be the one replacing this in due time. Stay tuned for posts on that. Next week will be a special post like you will see from now on going forward and with new seasons too. You will find out what it is in exactly one week. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

The Ron Clark Story Recap of Ron Clark

With this movie now on my Wednesday list of things to watch (but could potentially be watched on other days, depending on what else might happen or change with the movie watching lists) then I might as well keep track of when I see it in this blog post. This will be the only other time that I plan to write a recap of this movie. While I’ve covered the whole film before, now I will only cover just the perspective of Ron Clark. Then, while when I roll this will still affect blogs in future years, I won’t have to write any more about this beyond what’s already been written. I can just watch for fun again.

 

I wound up rolling this movie and seeing it on 4-7-2021. That was a Wednesday since that’s when this movie was on the list at the time. Since watching a Survivor choice of any sort means updating my TV blog most of the time, that is why you didn’t see my Survivor blog then. I don’t even try to keep you readers updated most of the time as to why this blog is updated on certain times through all of this hiatus of the show. You’ll see posts when you see them.

 

We begin in North Carolina with Ron ready to be introduced to his class. He talks to a kid in the hall who has learned something. After four years at the school, people are bringing in tables from the rain and he is doing what he always does. He started as a temporary teacher, but wanted something permanent. But he wants to leave to help New York public schools.

 

While at New York, he wants a list of the public schools in Harlem. He looks for a job in teaching and gets a job at a restaurant in the meantime where he meets a woman named Marissa. There is also a person there named Jason working there too.

 

Ron shows up to a school where a teacher walks out of his class, quitting after getting into issues with a student who was hitting him. Ron wants to start right away. Ron is given the opportunity to be with an honors class, but he instead picks the lowest performing class that has the lowest test score, being quite wild and crazy. He tells Marissa about them, his new class.

 

He meets various parents of the students. One of them steals from his mother. He has a student from India. He also talks to Shamicka who has some issues with her family life. He arrives for his first day and is dismissed in a way when he tries to talk to another teacher.

 

The class is unruly, but he tries to take control of it. He introduces his first rule: we are a family. The class does not seem to work as well. I could never understand why in this movie or possibly in reality they would put all of the lowest performing students in one class. Do they want them to continue to fail? After seeing his car vandalized, he seeks to take control of his classroom. His principal does not like it and considers it vandalism himself.

 

After talking some with Marissa, he introduces other rules during his class. But it does not seem to go over that well. He talks some with a student who notices another named Julio taking bets as to whether or not he will stay.

 

Ron talks some with the lunch ladies before he gets the class to stay in line in order to get lunch. Since he say Shamicka cut in line, the whole class doesn’t get food until she admits the truth. Later, he sees that the room is vandalized and he talks to the class about it.

 

He sees people jump roping and wants to join, but this is ignored for now. He sees Dashawn and another student fighting. Ron is worried since Dashawn has two strikes already. Ron gets Dashawn to go back to class. Later, at his restaurant job, he becomes an official New Yorker by getting angry.

 

Still, things are not going well for him as no one except one student did their journal. He gets angry at Shamicka and moves her desk around causing him to leave the building. He meets up with Marissa and they do things in the rain. He explains what went on that caused him to leave.

 

After the weekend, it turns out that Ron is back to teach his class. He has a bunch of milk to drink. He will only do this if people are quiet. He tells Julio to do the tapping to signify this while he learns them about grammar. He does drink the milk. I’ve always found this part dumb.

 

Seeming to make inroads with his students, he wants to learn how to double-dutch in order to teach his kids about what all they need to in the future. He talks to Mr. Turner, the principal, about this. He then talks more to his boss about it. Ron promises that all of his students will pass. Later, we see him with a cake while everyone is there to celebrate something. He wants them all to light a candle and this is to show them that they are united.

 

He wants to teach them the then 42 presidents in order. While at his apartment, he notices that there is beat boxing in the background. This inspires him to do a rap of his own to inspire his students after they all fail the test and he does a rap but the version we hear only covers the first three. I could tell you all of the now 46 presidents in order for memory.

 

After the first three of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, the rest of them that we have had are James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K Polk, Zachery Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower, John K Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Richard M Nixon, Gerald R Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, Bill Clinton (42^nd one or current at the time), George W Bush II, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.

 

 Back to the movie, Ron noticed that Julio had stolen so he orders them to have private study sessions outside of class. He also wants Dashawn to meet at a coffee place. Dashawn considers going there, but doesn’t. Julio still meets with Ron. During this time, he also talks to Shamicka. He goes to her apartment, but things do not go well with her mother who wants Ron kicked out. After seeing that he could help her child, she relents and lets him stay teaching the class.

 

A fight breaks out between Dashawn and Julio. Ron is brought into mediate and helps Dashawn out some later after class. Later, Ron gets a cough and seems bad. He goes to a hospital and is told that he has pneumonia. Despite this, he still goes to class. But he passes out after they first think that he was making a joke. From home, he records four hours worth of videos every day in order to play during class. The principal assists the class with these recordings. He knows the students well enough in these videos to call out some of their behavior.

 

Ron is concerned about the test scores that his students will be doing in the future. He says that they have done well thus far, but is upset that the scores on their current test were bad. He is glad that they were following his rules. Ron talks to Dashawn and gets his student to do the right thing. He also talks to a student who wants to be a doctor. He is nervous on the day of the test. It seems that the students have varied reactions to this as the kids might have done well.

 

Marissa shows up to where Ron lives and is unsure of what advice he should offer her. They do kiss as she is unsure of what to do in her life as the scene is cut short. Ron then hands out envelopes to his students as they all go to the Phantom of the Opera tonight on Broadway, something that all of their parents agreed to, according to him.

 

Ron is concerned about Dashawn when he isn’t at the play. Ron goes after his student and sees the work that was done. Ron then finds Dashawn in the street, crying. Ron stays to help Dashawn since Dashawn was beaten up by his foster father, sending him to a new home. Ron talks to his boss about this and his boss promises to find Dashawn a place.

 

At the end of the year, Ron gives awards to his students. He is told that this class tested higher than any other class, including the honor class. He tells Shamicka that she got perfect scores in both English and Math. Me is glad for her. She is then giving him a reward on behalf of the other students in this class. We learn that his students did well and he learn that his book, The Essential 55, was a best seller. He also got to open The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. I wonder what the total 55 rules are since we did not see them all in the movie. Maybe I’ll have to get the book and read it some time.

 

While I do get annoyed at the romantic subplot since it goes nowhere and is such a non factor that they could have removed it without removing the character in question related to it, what is annoying about it is a change known as straightwashing. As shown on Survivor, Ron Clark is clearly gay. Yet the movie seems to portray him as straight. This is a problem. It is not as bad as whitewashing or at least it might seem that way since we don’t know if it is as wide spread or not.

 

That’s all for this blog post since there really isn’t too much else to say. I wonder who else might show up on Survivor based on a show or movie that I have on DVD. I do know that Wyatt Nash has made quite the name for himself as an actor, leaving behind his old Survivor identity. And I think that I have a cousin who is into Chase Rice’s music so I might have to check that out at some point too. It was just nice to have this in my existing collection when Ron appeared on Survivor. And it wouldn’t have happened if my mother got me the right thing the first time. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Should There Still be a Reunion Show?

My apologies if I ever do a blog post on something more than once in this or any blog of mine since it is hard to know what all I’ve covered over the years. I may yet introduce redos at some point where I write an old post again in a newer way. But let’s not cover that. 

Throughout every season of Survivor until we got to Winners at War, we have had a reunion show at the end where the winner gets to talk about their victory and other notable contestants are seen with some of the famous moments of the past season brought up. You know what it is like by now.

But it hasn’t been as good in recent years. Due to a strange concept of wanting to air more of the episode in question that we wouldn’t have gotten to see otherwise, the hour long reunion show is often not that long in the end and we can get very short aspects of it. This is often hated by fans or at least me because we never get what we used to out of reunion shows.

Now when Winners at War aired, it was forced to go without a reunion show and ended with just a vote reveal of who won. This leads me to wonder something: should this be what the finales are? They got rid of the Survivor Auction because they realized that it just couldn’t work anymore. Maybe the reunion show could be the same way. I mean, since they are going to cut part of it anyways, why have it at all? Why keep doing something that they keep getting wrong? Maybe we are better off without a reunion in the future than one that keeps sucking over and over again.

That’s pretty much all for this post. I hope to cover in the next one on an episode some of the flaws that I have had with writing blogs as of late. I need to better bifurcate my time and often in the search of providing some content, don’t bring you the quality one that I’m used to. Plus, I do want to schedule some updates for the future when I get my covid vaccine and already have the first dose. I hope that I’m able to do something well in this and all of my blogs. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Gabon episode 14: Say Goodbye to Gabon

I realize now that when I mentioned Cagayan again, I forget to mention where I have it ranked among the other seasons. Well, it is 14 out of 40. Now as for a previous season that I have not yet mentioned the ranking of, I have One World ranked as 8 out of 40 seasons. Also, since another death happened which was or will be talked about in a different post, I’ll post my ranking of South Pacific. That season ranks as 37 out of 40 seasons.

It was weird doing posts of this blog on Wednesday like it normally is instead of Thursdays during the time of Advent. I move the posts to Thursdays due to being at church when Survivor would be on in the normal time of years. But you might be wondering what Thursday shows I was watching around the time of Advent back in 2020. I was watching the CBS shows of Young Sheldon, B Positive, and Star Trek: Discovery. I was watching the ABC shows of Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19. I would watch the NBC show of Law and Order: SVU if the network came in more often where I live. I was not watching any show on the CW or FOX at the time. I was watching The Outpost then, but that moved to Sundays so I changed when I watch it as a result. I kept normal posts on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays during Lent as well since there was nothing new to blog about. I’ll get more to Lent later.

Let’s get to the idols from Island of the Idols part 5. The last lesson has Tommy first solving the clue, but being limited in what he can see. Because of that, he had Dean help trying to find the idol. Because of this, Dean found the last idol in the game that he never needed.

Now in this old post on a Madam Secretary blog post, you will noticed that I was talking about recording The Big Bang Theory season 5 episodes on tape. I only put those from the third disc on it since that is the one that my player had issues with for some reason. I also talk about blogs affecting other blogs, which still happens. I also mention lost Doctor Who episodes some. They should recreate them.

http://adamdeckermadamsecretaryblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/episode-from-3-6-2016.html

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? That answer is redacted.

Continuing with Survivor challenges, I’m now going to talk about the challenges from Survivor fandom that start with B. I almost had an issue with this or another post with a link, but that turned out to just be the dumb new way that internet explorer has links set up. Does it want to wind up like the web browser of Mosaic? It could.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Balancing_Point

In this challenge, contestants have to balance coins on a sword. As this is an individual challenge, then it could be done while social distancing. I have the feeling that a lot of the social distancing challenges would be watching people stand around and not going much of anything.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Ballin%27_A_Jack

In this challenge, contestants have to stand on one leg while balancing a ball above their hands. What is it with all of these challenges that include at least one ball? I think that it has become quite the joke or obsession with challenge producers. What did it first appear? I might have to get Screen Junkies to do an honest trailer on this show so they call talk about Jeff Probst’s ball fetish. Anyways, as for this challenge, it could be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Barrel_Bridge

In this challenge, contestants have to cross from one end of the beach to another using barrels, planks, and ropes without ever touching the ground. Since it relates to people being close to each other, I would say that this challenge could probably not be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Barrel_of_Monkeys

This challenge is also known as In the barrel. In it, contestants have to roll another one in a barrel to get items, cross the finish line, and in at least two versions of the challenge, had to roll balls at the end. This challenge could probably not be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Basket_Brawl

In this challenge, contestants have to fight for control of a ball in a water based environment and score baskets. All the physical contact means that this definitely could not be done while social distancing as any challenge like that is out.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Better_Homes_and_Island_Living

This challenge is also known as Build a better bathroom. In it, contestants get supplies from Home Depot and have to build a shelter or bathroom that is better than the other tribe’s or tribes’ project is. I would think that this challenge could probably not be done while social distancing. It is worth noting that only one other challenge that I know of uses an outside party to judge it like this one does.

It is also unknown if this challenge could be done without a link to Home Depot, although there are probably other places that would want to promote Survivor. Home Depot was one of the sponsors to drop the show after the Cook Islands controversy. All of the sponsors that were lost during that time either denied that it had anything to do with that or had no comment as to why they did that. It is worth noting that some of them dropped during that time entirely by coincidence as the timing of when that company did that would have been too early for it to be related to the controversy.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Beyond_the_Wheel

In this challenge, contestants are in either a boat or the water as they have to get keys to release puzzle pieces and then solve said puzzle. This challenge is named after a song of the same name. I do not think that this challenge could be done while social distancing unless they make it more of a relay race, in which case it could, actually, be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Blind_Leading_the_Blind

This challenge is also known as Tiki towers, palanquin slalom, flip out, blind cube crisis, four on the flour, love is blind, blind build, blind rage, money roll, seers and doers, smoko, family ties, ow pairs, hallin’ oat, collar blind, blind faith, and Sir Duke. That’s a lot of names. In it, contestants would work through a caller to find items and gather them. This challenge could not be done while social distancing and is one of the more dangerous ones. In fact, this might be the most dangerous challenge on the show that does not involve any physical contact whatsoever that hasn’t yet lead to an evacuation, but has lead to some injuries such as the badass Kelly from Worlds Apart who took a hit, took the treatment, and then just kept on playing the challenge. It reminds me of the musician who broke his leg during a concert and still wanted to perform the rest of the show after being treated. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Blue_Lagoon_Bustle

In this challenge, contestants have to go through a bunch of water obstacles and then complete tasks, typically like solving a puzzle. I’m not sure how this challenge could be done while social distancing, but like a previous one, if it could be turned into a relay race, then it would be just fine.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Blue_Plate_Special

This challenge is also known as Pot shots, sands of time, and signal fire. In it, contestants must break opponent’s plates or objects before their own are broken. There is a trivia like version of this that’s simplified in some ways that I’ll get to later called touchy subjects. This challenge could be done while social distancing and honestly might need more exposure on the show.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Boats,_Brains_%26_Brawn

This challenge is also known as Rove, rove, rove your boat and Kenny log-ins. In it, contestants collect items to solve a puzzle. I feel like that’s the gist of a lot of team challenges. But at least there are a whole bunch of different ways to do that. This challenge could not be done while social distancing unless you change it into a relay race. How much of that could be done with boats is unknown or unlikely as that tends to involve multiple people at once and thus couldn’t be made into a relay race.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Bone_to_Pick

In this challenge, contestants have to make a hook, get puzzle pieces, and complete a hook puzzle, all with one hand tied behind their back. The name comes from the type of puzzle that is done. I think that this challenge could be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Boulder_Smash

This challenge is also known as Chinese checkers and bog roll. In it, contestants have to roll a boulder across a line instead of the other tribe. This challenge could not be done while social distancing as none of the physical contact challenges can be.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Bow_Diddley

This challenge is also known as Hard to handle and bo diddley. In it, contestants must balance on a beam while balancing a ball where they have to move to smaller planks and things get harder as a result. This challenge could be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Box_Your_Mind

This challenge is also known as R.A.M., marine memory, river rats, bai bai, propellerheads, shut your trap, and running the numbers. In it, contestants must memorize items and then put them in order to replicate them which could win them the challenge or score a point for themselves or their tribe. I’d say that versions of this could be made that could do this while social distancing. In fact, I’m unsure of any of this could not be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Braille_Maze

This challenge is also known as Fiji Braille maze, blind maze, and going blind. In it, contestants must do things blindfolded while trying to solve a maze. The challenge could not be done while social distancing unless each contestant had their own maze. There is a link to another maze challenge on Survivor that is mentioned in another post, be it currently available or will be in the future. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Broken_China

This challenge is also known as Offer it up. In it, contestants have to make a stack of dishes that they hold on a pile, but can’t drop out or they will lose the challenge. This challenge like a lot of individual ones could be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Buggin%27_Out

This challenge is perhaps known by the most names, as it is also called tucker’d out, safari supper, Marquesan menu, Thai menu, Amazon menu, Survivor smoothie, Survivor smorgasbord, cool hand balut; u pick, I chews; Samoa smoothies, Caramoan catering, pesky palate, Cambodian catering, and Fijian feast. This is known best at the gross food eating challenge. In it, contestants have to eat native food that is considered gross. While this challenge could be done while social distancing, it would seem like a waste of food and resources in the end. They could still do it, though, if they have to do something like that in the end. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Build_It_Up,_Break_It_Down

In this challenge, contestants have to build a barricade on their own side before breaking it down on another. This has only been a tribal challenge thus far. I think that this challenge could not be done while social distancing, but I have no idea what all would work for that or not. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Butch_Cassidy

This challenge is also known by a much better name: free fallin’. I think that some of the names of some of the challenges were changed once fandom was put under a new format, much like both blogger and facebook. Anyways, in this challenge, contestants must jump from a certain point and then reassemble before doing another task. It is infamous for possibly causing Kourtney’s evacuation in One World. While possible variants of this could be done while social distancing as it could easily be turned into a relay race, I think that it is too risky to ever use again. We’ll see if producers feel the same way or not. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/By_Any_Means_Necessary

This challenge is also known as battle dig, beach bash, and water slaughter. In it, contestants have to use whatever methods they have possible (or, you know, any means necessary) in order to get an object and use it to get a point for their team. With it being yet another physical challenge, it could not be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/By_the_Numbers

In this challenge, contestants have to cross a beam one at a time until all members were across, but they can only touch one person at a time. Basically, the people have to switch even though others are in the way. Since the challenge involves physical contact, despite it being minimal, it can’t be done while social distancing. It is still an interesting one to see regardless. 

TV shows I watch on DVD update: I finished watching Dollhouse season 1 on DVD. While I could put the second season in its place, I won’t until next year has started where it will probably get to cut ahead to the front of the lists that I have. It won’t be on the second list as that currently has a d choice on it. It was replaced by Power Rangers season 1, volume 2 from the other list that I have. Meanwhile, season 2 of Flashpoint is now done being watched and it was replaced by season 3 of Flashpoint.

At the start of 2021, the main list of six choices are Charmed season 6, Flashpoint season 3, Matlock season 1, Power Rangers season 1 volume 2, Survivor: Gabon, and recorded shows on tape. It seems like this (Survivor: Gabon) is the most likely choice to be removed from the list next, so I might as well do a segue into the next note about this.

Basically, on Amazon Prime Day, before I started doing Christmas shopping, I had to buy presents for those who had birthdays in November so I bought myself Blood versus Water to blog about again in order to get free shipping. I wanted to get All-Stars, but that didn’t wind up happening just yet. It was not available or something like that when I went for it. Maybe I’ll get that in the future. Or maybe I’ll get something else. Or maybe I’ll be busy blogging about other seasons of the show instead. I do not yet know what day of the week I’ll be blogging about that, but I had to guess that it would more than likely be on Sundays the way things are going right now, replacing this season’s posts.

Since I’ve done enough YouTube videos to cover a new playlist (I have no idea just how many have to be used for the bare minimum in a playlist, so I make sure that at least five will work), I’ve been working on the theme that is outside of other themes. If you want to see the miscellaneous videos that I do on my YouTube channel, here’s a link to that playlist. I’ve been doing some of these on Saturdays to make up for what I should have been doing in my Moonlight review videos instead. It has not covered every Saturday instead like I would have wanted to.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO8vECGH5CX_x4dVEdE2m5d_PjgOsWdOE

It was on Friday, March 19, 2021 that I rolled the episode in question and was able to watch it. I saw on the disc that the reunion show is a separate episode so I will do a separate post on that in the future as in not in this post. Let’s get to the episode. 

We begin with a recap of important events in regards to this finale: Ken and Crystal were calling the shots, having gotten ahead of Kota after the second tribe swap, Randy was blindsided by a fake idol, and there are different paths to a win. They talk after tribal council about the vote with Sugar believing that she saved Matty which she didn’t really as he got only minority votes. Ken feels that Bob is not a man of his word anymore. Bob felt that Ken was trying to add insult to injury by making it seem like Bob was not a man of his word.

Ken tells Sugar that Bob should be the next one voted out. They all put on war paint and other things as they get to the immunity challenge at hand. There is a lot to the challenge at hand. In the end, it is Bob who wins the challenge, having now won five challenges in a row. Susie doesn’t like this.

After the challenge, Ken is certain that Susie is going to get voted out now to the point of not wanting to do anything. Matty wants to wait until the end so that Susie doesn’t scramble. But she is suspicious since she doesn’t know what is going on. Too much of this seems too obvious, plus I already know what will happen as I’ve already seen this episode. As always, Sugar wants to do something else and thinks that Ken could be a good vote instead. She thinks that Bob and Matty will vote with her.

Next is tribal council. Jeff starts with Bob. Bob thinks that there is a target on his back and that is why he fights hard to win challenges. Bob tied a consecutive win reward. Ken lives a different life. Susie thinks that some of what she does with a relatively floater game isn’t doing that well. Ken brings up the deal again and Bob brings up the fact that Ken was likely to blindside him. Ken admits that people might end up voting for Bob and says that’s what the deal is. Ken thinks that he is safe while admitting that he feels that Bob should still live up to his end of the deal. When the votes are cast, Ken votes for Susie while the rest of the tribe, Susie, Bob, Sugar, and Matty, all vote out Ken.

Getting quickly to some trivia, Ozzy in Cook Islands won 5 challenges in a row and Kelly in Borneo did this as well. I do not remember offhand who might have done this in future seasons beyond Gabon and am not checking my notes about it just now that are incomplete now anyways. I’m hoping that I can get them caught up to Winners and War, but won’t go past that even when Survivor 41 is done airing at this point in time.

Ken was a questionable player at times in terms of how good or bad he was at the game. He was once my favorite to win when I first watched this season, but I no longer liked him by the end. He made a lot of terrible mistakes and was a fool to think that someone would give up immunity considering what had just happened to Erik the previous season. I still might like to see him play again. I’d imagine that he would have about a 56% chance of returning to a future season.

Back at camp, Susie is now super nervous. Susie wants to win the challenge. She wants to vote out Bob if that happens. She thinks that she will be voted out if she doesn’t win. They get treemail of the people who were voted out before them. Matty is honored to be a part of this game. They talk about all of the people and how they did in the game. There isn’t much of a point of summarizing all of this.

We get to the final immunity challenge where someone will either have to build a house of cards ten feet tall or have the highest one after 30 minutes have past. Susie ultimately wins and becomes one of the least deserving final immunity winners in the show’s history. Sugar now regrets not getting rid of her the previous time and Sugar considers voting against Bob.

Susie is glad that she gets to be in the final three, being shocked about what happened. Susie wonders if she thinks that Bob would win. She had considered voting Sugar off. But she didn’t seem to put it that well. Sugar wants to put it up to fate to give Bob a chance and put it up to fate. Despite promising to never write Matty’s name down, she likes Bob like a father figure. Could she chose between her father and her brother? That’s what she feels the choice is like. Bob prepares for tribal council by making fire since Sugar told him about the planned tie. He is glad for this opportunity.

We then get to tribal council. Susie is glad that she won as she wouldn’t be safe otherwise. Bob talks about being in danger at this tribal council. Matty makes it clear that he wants to vote for Bob. Bob says that he would have to vote against Sugar thinks that she would lose to both of them. All of them are quite emotional about the decisions at hand and what to do.

The votes are cast and it is how people think that it would be. Sugar and Bob vote for Matty. Susie and Matty vote for Bob. This forces a tie. They then have to go to a fire making challenge. The first person to win the challenge stays in the game while the other joins the jury. Despite struggling at some point in time, Bob wins the challenge, which eliminates Matty from the game since Matty never did that well at the challenge at hand.

Matty is one of my favorite players from this season. I wouldn’t think that anything other than what some people involved with the shows would do to prevent him from playing Survivor again. I give him about a 67% chance of playing Survivor again.

Susie is glad to still be in the game and having made it to day 39. She never thought that she would have made it that far. Sugar talks about the jury and how she had a hand in putting everyone but Marcus on the jury. Not only that, she has successfully voted out every person she voted for. Bob burns down the shelter at hand, even though you’d think that it would be fun to keep around for potential future people that might come around there.

We hear from the jury before the final tribal council. I like this better as part of the game than an online exclusive, although maybe I should just listen to those videos sometime. I just don’t because I don’t have as much time and I also have only watched the Ponderosa videos at times. I don’t even always watch the Ponderosa videos, but that is probably going to change in future seasons.

Total confessional count: Matty- 34, Susie- 18, Ken- 34, Bob- 27, Sugar- 37. New confessionals this episode: Bob- 3, Sugar- 5, Matty- 1, Susie- 7, Ken- 2.

Next is the final tribal council. Susie starts with her opening statement. She wants to show what it is like to try. She thinks that she was up against a whole lot of people. Bob talks about how he played with his heart and personality. He admits that he didn’t outplay or outwitted, but he did outlast. Sugar is last and talks about how she had to lie and did a lot about how she played on her own a lot, but also found the idol and did a lot of other things too.

Charlie is up first and talks about how the two women were ranked worst in their tribes right before the first tribe swap. Susie says that she always knew that she would be underestimated, but is always doing the best that she can. Sugar seems to dismiss a vote. Charlie talks about him spooning with Bob and Bob says that Charlie is a wonderful person. Crystal is up next and tells Susie that she rode coattails. Bob then says that he was riding Sugar’s coattails. Crystal then asks why Sugar voted her out. Sugar admits that she should have kept Crystal around.

Ken talks to Susie with Susie saying that she deserves his vote. Ken asks why Sugar backstabbed him and she admits that she made a mistake. Ken asks why Bob didn’t live up to his deal. Bob thought that Ken would stab him in the back and Ken doesn’t want to hear that. Corrine talks next. She asks Susie if she would have her vocal cords removed. Susie denies this vote by declining the offer. Bob is told that he is one dimensional. Corrine then tells off Sugar saying that she ain’t nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time. But I don’t know why Sugar’s dead father has to be brought into this.

Marcus talks about how people could have made different life choices if they did some things different. Marcus then asks if Sugar would have given any money in honor of her dead father. He wants to know when Bob was responsible for making his own decision. Bob felt that he didn’t need to be. Randy then goes up next. He goes off on Susie and asks why she felt the way she did. Sugar dismisses the fact that he went to the jury, calling him a jerk. Randy goes off on Bob and Bob admits that he could have done the fake idol better.

Matty then asks Susie why the others are less deserving of the money than he. She says that Sugar is a jerk and that Bob was mean after he was in danger at the final four. Sugar is told to reveal something that she did that was evil. He then asks Bob why the women deserve the money more and he says that they don’t. Here, the final tribal council ends with the votes being cast.

Ultimately, there is something interesting with the final tribal council vote that I’ll get more into later. We see only two votes then with Randy telling them all off. Matty, Ken, and Crystal vote for Susie. Randy, Charlie, Marcus, and Corrine all vote for Bob, making him the winner. Here, this part of the episode ends and we’ll get to the reunion show later.

Sugar is liked by some people like my sister, but I don’t care for her. Despite her relatively mean ways, she was cast as a hero for the twentieth season: Heroes versus Villains. She was the first one out of the game and suffered a mental crisis that forced her into getting medically evacuated from the premerge boots part of the game. I’d put her chances of returning to the game at 15%.

Susie is someone that I’m even more surprised that people like and I can find it just a bit appalling that she came within one vote of winning the game. But she wasn’t that great a player to me. All that she did prove was that others underestimated her. Which isn’t too bad, but wasn’t that much. I’d say that her chances of returning to the game are around 30%.

Bob might be unique among the winners as he might be the only person to win who did not vote out a single jury member who voted for him to win. I’m pretty sure that every other winner in the game got at least one person who they voted out to vote for them to win the game. I’d have to check my notes from all the other seasons and put them in this blog in different sections to see how they work. He did not appear to be asked back for the landmark all winners season. Since he is the oldest winner, I’d have to put his chances of returning to the game at around 40%.

As I get to the planned April blog posts, know that the cheat that I’m using the updates a blog of mine based on unused offering envelops is going to change during the month of April. That is because I have to update the random Elementary blogs on specific dates in specific years and April 26^th just happens to be the next time that it will show up. Hence, where the cheat will be will change during that month and will stay there until a month without the cheat applies.

Planned April blog posts

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

Well, there’s not much else to say about this season’s episode. The reunion post will be the next one that you see on Sundays in this blog. I’ll then explain another blog change then. In fact, there will be a lot in the next post to look forward to. What is it? Well, you’ll have to find out. To be continued…

Notes on Filming

There hasn’t been that much of note regarding the filming of Survivor seasons versus when they air at some point in time. But I thought that for fun, I would spend this post mentioning when the first 40 seasons of Survivor were filmed since I have nothing else ready to be published now.

The first season was filmed from March 13, 2000 to April 20, 2000. The second season was filmed from October 23, 2000 to December 3, 2000. The third season was filmed from July 11, 2001 to August 18, 2001. The fourth season was filmed from November 12, 2001 to December 20, 2001. We are lucky that that season wasn’t cancelled due to 9/11 and it might have been delayed based on the filming dates much like the airing of the third season was delayed. The two almost go hand in hand.

The fifth season was filmed from June 10, 2002 to July 18, 2002. The sixth season was filmed from November 4, 2002 to December 12, 2002. The seventh season was filmed from June 23, 2003 to July 31, 2003. The eighth season was filmed from November 3, 2003 to December 11, 2003.

The ninth season was filmed from June 26, 2004 to August 3, 2004. The tenth season was filmed from November 1, 2004 to December 9, 2004. The eleventh season was filmed from June 27, 2005 to August 4, 2005. The twelfth season was filmed from October 31, 2005 to December 8, 2005.

The thirteenth season was filmed from June 26, 2006 to August 3, 2006. The fourteenth season was filmed from October 30, 2006 to December 7, 2006. The fifteenth season was filmed from June 25, 2007 to August 2, 2007. The sixteenth season was filmed from October 29, 2007 to December 6, 2007.

The seventeenth season was filmed from June 23, 2008 to July 31, 2008. The eighteenth season was filmed from November 1, 2008 to December 9, 2008. The nineteenth season was filmed from June 11, 2009 to July 19, 2009. The twentieth season was filmed from August 9, 2009 to September 16, 2009. This would mark the start of a new way of filming seasons for the future.

The twenty-first season was filmed from June 14, 2010 to July 22, 2010. The twenty-second season was filmed from August 16, 2010 to September 23, 2010. The twenty-third season was filmed from May 30, 2011 to July 7, 2011. The twenty-fourth season was filmed from August 1, 2011 to September 8, 2011. I bet that the editors felt better with more turnover between the fall and spring seasons now.

The twenty-fifth season was filmed from March 18, 2012 to April 25, 2012. The twenty-sixth season was filmed from May 21, 2012 to June 28, 2012. The earlier film dates were to accommodate Jeff Probst filming his talk show which he had for a season. The twenty-seventh season was filmed from May 19, 2013 to June 27, 2013. The twenty-eighth season was filmed from July 10, 2013 to August 17, 2013.

The twenty-ninth season was filmed from June 1, 2014 to July 10, 2014. The thirtieth season was filmed from August 4, 2014 to September 11, 2014. The thirty-first season was filmed from May 31, 2015 to July 8, 2015, having been filmed before what would be the thirty-second season was filmed from March 30, 2015 to May 7, 2015.

The thirty-third season was filmed from April 4, 2016 to May 12, 2016. The thirty-fourth season was filmed from June 6, 2016 to July 14, 2016. The thirty-fifth season was filmed from April 3, 2017 to May 11, 2017. The thirty-sixth season was filmed from June 5, 2017 to July 13, 2017.

The thirty-seventh season was filmed from March 29, 2018 to May 6, 2018. The thirty-eighth season was filmed from May 30, 2018 to July 7, 2018. The thirty-ninth season was filmed from March 21, 2019 to April 28, 2019. The fortieth season was filmed from May 22, 2019 to June 29, 2019.

And that’s about it for this blog post. Sorry if you found it boring in some way, but that’s about all that I felt like including. Also sorry if you want information about all of the reunion shows that happened in the seasons in regards to when they were filmed, but I also felt against including them this time around as I just wanted this done. I’ll see you sometime for the next post. I hope to get one done on an episode of this show before the month is over. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor Connections

When I talk on and off about this planned idea for a season where one of the three tribes would be of returning players all at one point from the same season, I never mention the rest of the twist. I would want the other two tribes to be of new players. But if one tribe has a connection to each other, then you’d think that the other ones would as well.

So if Survivor decided to do a season that wasn’t about a group of strangers but people who knew each other, then what would the connection be? You’ll have to wonder if a whole bunch of things would work and what those things would be. One could think of co-workers at a company would work. You’d have to wonder what company would be okay with this, but then you’d just remember that Survivor needs advertisers just like advertisers need Survivor or some other show. A company working with Survivor to give us a season of people from them could make a good promotion, but also runs its own risks just like any show would have to do.

Another idea for a connections season would have a graduating class from the same school or college. It could also have the people who were once in a person’s same class. One could get congregants from the same church or other worshipers of whatever religion who work in a community. Some towns are small enough that there could be a huge connection from any random group of people there that could work since they would know each other. We could even get people who used to serve together in office.

If we go back to one of my previous ideas, then we could include a group of people who all survived the same event. Those that were part of the miracle on the Hudson could be a tribe as they are likely to still have connections even now. There are military branches that you’d think by now would have enough women on them for it to work. They might not have survived something, but that could still be a thing that works for a connection season. At the very least, they would have survived a service together and being an influence in the world.

That’s all that I can think of for this post. I realize that I have a lot of ideas for top tens to put in this blog so we’ll see if I do them like I want to in the end. I just need to think of what to put there and hope that I have good ideas and enough material for a top ten. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Examining the Final Immunity Challenge

While a lot of the game has changed since they put in the forced fire making tie breaker, there is still the classic idea of the final immunity challenge where we have one of the players win against the others. But things have changed over the years.

When it started out, there was a final two and the winner of this challenge would pick who would be against him or her in the final tribal council. In the first four seasons, they all made the wrong pick as the person who sat next to them wound up winning the game. But as the show moved along, many people found it easy it take a goat to the end where they would then win in a landslide.

Thus, as the players evolved, the game evolved too, with the producers bringing in a new twist for the game where they had three finalists instead of just two. This also changed the final vote and gave the winner less control over it. I am thinking that there could have been a twist where the winner of the final immunity challenge also cast the sole remaining elimination vote among the three of the remaining contestants in the game, thus still getting the choice that those in final two seasons would have gotten. But this twist never came to be.

Instead, in order to prevent the last voted out from being a great player that could make a great winner, the game changed again. They didn’t do four finalists. Instead, they made the final immunity challenge less valuable by giving one of them safety by the final immunity challenge winner and giving the other two left a chance to win another challenge to stay in the game and win. This has lead to all three of the outcomes where the final immunity challenge winner wins the game, the fire making challenge winner wins the game, and the person who is picked as safe wins the game.

Now how do we examine the final immunity challenge itself? Some of them work better than others. But I do believe that there haven’t been any suckers for challenges then. I’d have to do more research into it, but even those that become final immunity challenges on a regular basis, such as hand on a hard idol or simmotion, have always worked.

What’s interesting is just how much it can change the game. As mentioned before, it is common for the winner of it to not win the game and effectively chose the wrong person or people to sit next to them. Plus, a lot of people wouldn’t have been voted out if they had won this. Of course, this is how the game works and pretty much any challenge can change the game at any point any time. This one is just how so many of the last people voted out (before the rules were changed) wound up losing.

Well, I hope that there was a good point to this post in the end. I might have lost focus and can only hope that providing some content in this blog is better than doing nothing at all. You can let me know and I’ll figure things out if I still keep writing all of my blogs. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.