Episode 39.5

So many of the things that we like about Survivor seems to keep disappearing. The theme song has been gone for a while. The rites of passage is no more. The reunion show is barely much of anything. It seems that the marooning has gone away. There’s no more Survivor Auction. There hasn’t been a vote at the final four in quite some time. And even the recaps seem to be gone now. What gives?

Who got rid of all these great things that we like and are they trying to ruin the show for those of us that like it? I used to not think that this show would be in danger of ending, but I’m not so sure about that anymore. It could be gone as soon as next season.

Since it is Halloween, some may remember the only family Halloween musical I can think of: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch the movie or not. But one of the most memorable parts of it was a song whose name I couldn’t understand for a while. I kept thinking that they were saying “Let’s do the tadpoles again.” It turns out that they were doing the Time Warp like a trio of kids in that one children’s book series and TV show. I still can’t understand a lot of the lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umj0gu5nEGs

The day this episode aired, I rolled and watched an old Survivor: Gabon episode. I thought about delaying this post until Sunday as a result, but decided against it as it wouldn’t make sense since this blog has a super priority over all others most of the time. We’ll see what else might happen and change with the shows in the future. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we return to Lairo after the vote. Dean feels left out of the vote. He got got, whatever that means. Who ordered the hit? He doesn’t think it was Tom Laidlaw who did this. Was it? I can’t even remember what happened here last week. While he asked everyone about it, everyone seems to deny it. Missy did it, but won’t admit it to him.

The tribes are gathered and are told to drop their buffs. They then get new buffs. There is a even split on Vokai. They then get to the reward challenge, their first as new tribes. The reward is Applebees. He says this is the biggest reward of the season. Inch by inch, row by row, going hope my lead in the challenge grows. The orange tribe struggles a lot due to Karishma failing majorly at it. Thus, the purple tribe wins and Tom Laidlaw complains about Karishma.

In the second segment of the show, we get to Vokai getting their reward. Tommy Sheehan really likes this reward. Jason wonders about the four-four split. He wants to get one of the old tribe to his tribe. Elaine notices that the honeymoon phrase of the tribe has started. On her new tribe, Karishma is more than willing to flip on her old tribe members. Tom Laidlaw thinks that she is a possibly easy vote in the future. Dean bonds with Kellee.

Karishma gets emotional talking about her arranged marriage and how she became more liked by her parents after it happened. I’m glad that I don’t have to worry (yet) about having to find a woman to appease my family. There is play fighting back on the purple tribe. Aaron thinks that Elaine is doing well at the social game. Why keep someone around they don’t like? He seeks to help his own social game by talking about his socks that have his son on them. Aaron and Tommy Sheehan are bros now. Missy thinks that orange is dead, at least to her.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. Vokai gets an early lead in the challenge. Karishma once again slows people down at the challenge. Vokai does win the challenge once again. No one is going to the island of the idols on their tribe or the other tribe. Jack wants there to be a w in orange. That’s much better than one in white or blue.

In the fourth segment of the show, Dean talks about how he blew the challenge as he is a basketball player, division one. I wonder if I ever saw him with March Madness. Tom Laidlaw thinks that it will be someone from his old tribe getting the boot. Karishma is the target as she sucks at challenges. Janet is worried that Tom Laidlaw might join his old tribe again at the merge. Dean might be a target to Kellee since he is seeking a new showmance after his old partner got voted out. Has that ever happened before in Survivor? Noura reminds us of her lost vote. It was her who lost a vote, right?

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. The mentors sneak into their secret place and notice how many tribal councils three of those people went to. They couldn’t find a crack in the alliance just yet. That happened back in Borneo, though, and probably tons of other seasons. Noura seems to burst out into nervous laughter at Jeff’s question about what to do. Karishma gives some dirt on some of the current tribemates of hers.

Tom Laidlaw pitches what do to. Are there good connections to the other tribe? Dean explains the vote going on at the previous tribal council. Many truths can exist at the same time all at once. After the votes are cast and no idols are played, Tom Laidlaw is voted out of the game. That doesn’t make sense. Why would he be the target? Rob thinks that they aren’t going to win any challenges now.

On the next Survivor, Noura wants people gone and the other tribe wants go to rocks. There might be some issues with the women being targeted. I guess we’ll see what goes on at some point because it can be hard to tell what will happen next, although future promos will probably reveal more.

Total confessional count: Aaron- 9, Jack- 3, Noura- 7, Karishma- 11, Tommy Sheehan- 8, Jamal- 7, Dan- 5, Elaine- 7, Lauren- 5, Elizabeth- 7, Missy- 9, Janet- 3, Kellee- 7, Dean- 5, Tom Laidlaw- 6, Jason- 7; Sandra- 6, Rob- 7.

New confessionals this episode: Jason- 1, Aaron- 1, Jack- 1, Noura- 1, Karishma- 3, Tommy Sheehan- 2, Jamal- 1, Dan- 1, Elaine- 1, Lauren- 1, Elizabeth- 0, Missy- 2, Janet- 1, Kellee- 1, Dean- 2, Tom Laidlaw- 3; Sandra- 0, Rob- 0.

Elizabeth had no new confessionals this episode, the lowest out of all of them. Karishma and Tom Laidlaw have the most with three a piece. In terms of total confessionals, Tom Laidlaw had six. The one who is highest is Karishma with eleven. The lowest are Jack and Janet with three. There’s not much else to say so I will let you go. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 39.4

I think that I like the Island of the Idols twist thus far. People are paranoid enough to think that you can get an idol if you go there and they are right. They won’t know unless they go there that the idols have only a temporary life if you get them at all. While they could easily save you if you know you are a target or are just paranoid, you could easily wind up like Vince who was also the victim of an alliance. I wonder how important that alliance will be that season as it could wind up easily dictating votes like the black widows brigade or easily fall apart like every other woman’s alliance.

In the last blog post, I mentioned a song called Dammit Janet from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Here is a link to that song in question. I might mention another song from it later this month since it is one of the few Halloween movies that aren’t horror themed, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4WP3bODmfo

There is something I already wonder about the next season. SPOILER. Since Rob and Sandra are going to be players next season, I wonder if them knowing as much as they do this season will help them more than the other players would. Plus, weren’t they being mentors due to wanting to play again? I guess that we will see what happens later. END SPOILER. Who knows what the future will bring? But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we return to the Lairo tribe after their tribal council. Karishma does understand what was going on and that she was the plan b. Aaron wants to take out Dean and Chelsea since they are a couple. Dean talks about what he likes about her. Missy thinks that Chelsea could mess up the woman’s alliance, but still wants to vote out Dean first to keep them strong. Jamal talks about how he was left out of different votes. He goes off looking for the idol. He does find it. Now he knows that the tribe is not in control of him.

A boat comes next. Everybody look at the motherfucking boat! They have to go based on draw on a unanimous decision. Noura volunteers herself to go. She gets sent as a result. She arrives at the island and is created by the duo of people here. The lesson of the day is persuasion. For some reason, we are shown clips from Micronesia and Erik’s blindside then Yul’s idol ploy with Jonathan. Sandra helped get rid of Coach and Rob helped influence Lex. She now has to be a caller at the challenge to get a non idol advantage. Perception is not always reality. Wasn’t that from One World? Sandra thinks that she is being too big a risk taker this time around.

In the second segment of the show, Noura lies some about the challenge when back at the tribe. She is trying to claim to be taking or needing a certain role in the challenge. Kellee likes the bad lie that Noura was doing since this keeps the reality of the island off of her. Many do not believe her lie and some think that she’s going to be a bad caller and shouldn’t have that role in the challenge.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. Who will be the caller? It is not Noura as she was told to sit out of the challenge instead. She lost her vote. The yellow tribe does very badly at the challenge. Would the purple tribe be doing as well with Noura as the caller? But the caller on the purple tribe might have delayed things. Still, the purple tribe wins due to the switch. Missy wants to control Karishma’s vote and make it so she’s not in trouble.

In the fourth segment of the show, we return to the tribe after their loss and Karishma thinks that she will be voted out. But like the tenth doctor, she doesn’t want to go. What was up with those bees? I have not seen something like that before. What do they mean? Elizabeth does not want Dean to be voted out as she feels that he does more around camp. Elizabeth tells Elaine of Aaron’s plan to vote out Dean and neither of the women want to do this. Missy wants a name that people can agree on. She wants to vote out Chelsea instead of Dean. Elaine isn’t sure that’s a good idea.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. There might be another blindside. We see that Karishma feels on the outs still. I love the Ferris Bueller reference that Jeff makes. Elaine never seems to know much, according to Sandra. Missy points out that Karishma has a weak game. Karishma like chaos as it can help her. No one would be shocked if they were voted out of the game. They are like families and like complete strangers. They are more the second one than the first. Rob thinks that the vote is up in the air to the point of being anyone on the tribe. Once the votes are cast, Chelsea is the one who is voted out after she failed to play her idol.

On the next Survivor, Lauren admits possibly to what she did to Dean’s possible girlfriend. We then get to the swap at hand. What all will happen? Well, we’ll be waiting, waiting for the next episode. Yes we’ll be waiting, waiting for the next episode.

Total confessional count: Lauren- 4, Elizabeth- 7, Missy- 7, Janet- 2, Kellee- 6, Dean- 3, Tom Laidlaw- 3, Jason- 6, Aaron- 8, Jack- 2, Noura- 6, Karishma- 8, Tommy Sheehan- 6, Jamal- 6, Dan- 4, Elaine- 6, Chelsea- 4; Rob- 7, Sandra- 6.

New confessionals this episode: Jack- 0, Noura- 5, Karishma- 2, Tommy Sheehan- 1, Jamal- 2, Dan- 1, Elaine- 1, Chelsea- 1, Lauren- 2, Elizabeth- 1, Missy- 3, Janet- 0, Kellee- 2, Dean- 2, Tom Laidlaw- 0, Jason- 1, Aaron- 3; Rob- 2, Sandra- 1.

Jack, Janet, and Tom Laidlaw had no new confessionals this episode. Noura had the most with five. As for total confessionals, Aaron and Karishma have the highest with eight.  Jack and Janet have the lowest with two apiece. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 39.3

I currently have a bit of a problem that isn’t too big or bothersome. You see, I am missing a lot of the shows that air on Wednesdays due to having to work. I’m even watching more than I know that I should be watching. After Survivor is over, I watch Modern Family while finishing the post, publishing it, and then checking one of my emails. I already watch Riverdale online since I can’t see it any other good way right now in my mind. I’m ignoring SEAL Team and might not be able to see the new shows of Nancy Drew or Almost Family that I might have wanted to get into. At least I can still record S.W.A.T. for later. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, the purple tribe returns from tribal council and Jason is glad that he has stayed after the vote. Jack was blindsided. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that you can claim that you were blindsided if you survived the vote. Your ally was. Tommy Sheehan seeks to do damage control with Jamal. Jamal says that he will forgive, but won’t forget. Only assholes do that in my mind.

On the other tribe, Karishma talks about being in her underwear to fit in with the others. Did the jocks play a prank on a nerd? That sounds like what they did. Vince isn’t sure of what to do on his tribe. The woman’s alliance is talked about. Dan talks about who he thinks should be voted out next. He wants Noura to be the target since he feels that everyone hates her and others think that she will flip. Of course, Dan might now be the target. But this isn’t even after an immunity challenge. What’s all this talk of who to vote out doing in the first act? People want to vote out Jamal next. A person gets injured, but I can’t tell which woman it is.

In the second segment of the show, a boatman comes for Vince. He is being sent to the Island of the Idols. Why doesn’t Jeff come and do this? Elizabeth thinks that they will have to flush any idols. Dean suggests that they should split the votes. But he says this in front of everyone. Smooth, Carter. Karishma is worried and she was the injured woman. At the island, Vince is star struck to the point of crying. It can be influential in the game for him to have their advice. Vince is told to sneak into the camp and is told that he needs to get fire from the other tribe and not get caught. Survivor: Impossible starts now.

Vince decides to take the risk and is given a map of the other tribe’s camp. Rob and Sandra give him some advice about what to. At the camp, someone is having a bad dream. Do they notice him yet? The fire is dead since their fire isn’t dry. He puts coal and ash in his water bottle. He leaves and people must not have noticed him or that it was someone who wasn’t supposed to be there. Rob and Sandra call this a win and he gets the idol as a result.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge at hand. Do we not have the time for a reward? Or is the Island of Idols like a reward? Janet causes a major time loss for her tribe. Damn it, Janet! (How appropriate that I get to make that reference this close to Halloween.) Despite this initial set back, her tribe wins since Karishma and Dean fail terribly at the puzzle. Aaron thinks that it could be a bit complicated going into the vote since Vince could (and does) have an idol.

In the fourth segment of the show, Tom Laidlaw thinks that the vote should be split between Karishma and Vice with Karishma as the main target. But Missy doesn’t want to be told what to do. (You go girl!) She is worried about the woman’s alliance and doesn’t want to be going after a woman. Karishma is said to be a personal injury lawyer. And she suffered an injury on the show? She doesn’t want to throw out a name. Chelsea thinks that Tom Laidlaw should be the secondary target against Vince to ensure that a man is voted out. But she is worried about the men’s reaction and making the right move.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. People talk about how they are doing badly at puzzles and are currently 0-2 with wins regarding puzzles. Karishma thinks that she can be an asset on the tribe even if she’s bad at puzzles. The tribe wants to win and if they don’t, it would be quite puzzling what their problems could be. Oh, wait… Tom Laidlaw is thinking that Karishma is acting when she goes and whispers in the ears of other players. One of the players doesn’t vote right according to the split. But who is really the target once the votes are cast? No idols are played. Vince is voted out. Poor Vince. And he did all the sneaky work that he could have done to get it.

On the next Survivor, romance is blossoming, there is a decision needed with the Island of the Idols, and there are a bunch of people blindfolded at the challenge that will happen next. I can’t gather much from the promo so I guess we’ll have to see what happens next.

Total confessional count: Karishma- 6, Tommy Sheehan- 5, Jamal- 4, Dan- 2, Elaine- 5, Chelsea- 3, Lauren- 2, Elizabeth- 6, Missy- 4, Janet- 2, Kellee- 4, Dean- 1, Tom Laidlaw- 3, Jason- 5, Aaron- 5, Vince- 9, Jack- 2, Noura- 1; Sandra- 5, Rob- 5.

New confessionals this episode: Missy- 1, Janet- 1, Kellee- 0, Dean- 1, Tom Laidlaw- 1, Jason- 1, Aaron- 2, Vince- 5, Jack- 1, Noura- 0, Karishma- 4, Tommy Sheehan- 2, Jamal- 2, Dan- 1, Elaine- 0, Chelsea- 1, Lauren- 0, Elizabeth- 1; Sandra- 1, Rob- 2.

Vince had the highest total confessional count after this episode with nine. The next highest is a tie between Elizabeth and Karishma. Dean and Noura tie for lowest with one a piece. In terms of the new confessionals, Lauren, Noura, Kellee, and Elaine have zero a piece. Vince was the highest with five with the next highest being Karishma with four. We’ll see what all happens with these players later. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 39.2

I might not be alone in worrying about the potential confessional count of Sandra and Rob being higher than the actual players in the game. I can only hope that it won’t actually happen in the long term with the winner at least. So we’ll see what goes on with them and if they have high streaks compared to all of the other people in the game that are actually playing it. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we arrive at the Lairo tribe. WHY WOULD YOU GET RID OF RECAPS? I am very annoyed by this. Vince isn’t nice getting back from tribal even though he probably should be. Aaron is also annoyed, but Missy thinks they are overreacting. On the other tribe, they are getting annoyed by Noura. She is bossing the tribe around. Rule #1 of Survivor- Don’t be the leader. Rule #2- If you want to be the leader, refer to rule #1.

Jason feels like Noura has helped him so far, but he figures that she can also be a back-up target instead of him. On her tribe, Chelsea is able to get fired started on her tribe. She then somehow randomly lucks her way into an idol while out looking for firewood. She talks about the all woman’s alliance.

What was with the random chanting in the background then the yoga going on? This is better than a recap? Noura is the one leading the yoga class. I never liked yoga. A boat shows up and comes for Kellee. She has to leave right away for the Island of the Idols. She will return by the end of the day. She will go in there assuming nothing about the place.

In the second segment of the show, Kellee is wondering if John Cochran is going to show up. She gets something better with Rob and Sandra being here. Both Rob and Sandra go through a lot of information when Kellee is there. Kellee admits to the cameramen that she wasn’t paying enough attention. Rob then sweetens the deal by lessening what she needs to win an idol and giving the idol more power. She gets the first three right and wins the idol as a result. This gets her to being really emotional. She acts so emotional back at camp and hides the idol in her hair. Somehow, she is able to come up with around the same urn lie that Elizabeth came up with last time.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. What, is Island of the Idols going to be the secret reward challenge? There is a reward of spices, but not fishing gear which is typically what these people get at the second reward. Lauren-Ashley, henceforth to be referred to as Lauren, is the sit-out of the challenge. Lairo wins their first challenge and gets immunity. They were ahead for most of the challenge but was close to losing. Tommy Sheehan thinks that either Noura or Jason will get voted out since that’s what their tribe wants.

In the fourth segment of the show, we get back to Vackai or whatever the other tribe’s name is after their loss. Noura talks to Jamal and they butt heads a bit. They plan to split the votes. They think that the vote will be easy and straightforward. Have they never seen this show before? While Noura is the easy vote, people want to vote out Molly instead. Jason thinks that they should vote out Molly now. But Tommy Sheehan is convinced that they shouldn’t go for Molly now. Will the deck we shuffled and who has the winning hand? I guess we’ll see later.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Once again, the mentors secretly arrive at the tribal council again. Jason admits that he was on the outside when he first arrived on the shore because he was caught looking for an idol. Kellee wasn’t thinking that Jason was going with the group. Jeff thinks that it can be hard to change your core in Survivor. Noura thinks that she will trend water until she drowns since she doesn’t want to do anything what others want to save. Jason points out that Jamal didn’t bring his bags tonight. I would never not bring my bags to tribal council. After the votes are cast, it is Molly who is voted out of the tribe.

On the next Survivor, Vince doesn’t want to work with others, there could be a serious injury, and it seems like another contestant has to sneak into the other tribe’s camp due to the Island of the Idols twist. That seems like quite an interesting idea.

Total confessional count: Dean- 0, Tom Laidlaw- 2, Jason- 4, Aaron- 3, Vince- 4, Jack- 1, Noura- 1, Karishma- 2, Tommy Sheehan- 3, Jamal- 2, Dan- 1, Elaine- 5, Chelsea- 2, Lauren- 2, Elizabeth- 5, Molly- 4, Missy- 3, Janet- 1, Kellee- 4; Rob- 3, Sandra- 4.

New confessionals this episode: Jamal- 1, Dan- 0, Elaine- 0, Chelsea- 1, Lauren- 1, Elizabeth- 0, Molly- 2, Missy- 1, Janet- 0, Kellee- 3, Dean- 0, Tom Laidlaw- 1, Jason- 2, Aaron- 1, Vince- 1, Jack- 0, Noura- 0, Karishma- 0, Tommy Sheehan- 2; Rob- 1, Sandra- 1.

Poor Dean still doesn’t have any confessionals yet, although I did miss some. Elaine and Elizabeth are still the only ones with higher confessionals than the two mentors. Although, neither of them had new confessionals this episode. In addition to those three, Karishma, Janet, Dan, Jack, and Noura have no new confessionals, although I think Noura was one of them that I missed. Kellee had the highest this episode with three each. I guess I’ll see you later with the next post as I don’t know what else to say. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Island of the Idols Premiere

I will include updates on watching Survivor: Gabon here in the main posts and explain more of what is now different with this blog since I have two seasons to blog about. Survivor: Gabon may not have as much priority as the current season does. As long as there is currently a show on air, I won’t care about missing random Sundays when I’m not caught up on that show.

Also note that if I miss a Wednesday, then I plan to post about this current season on a Sunday and the other season will go on hiatus until this season is done being posted about. A hiatus of all other posts of past seasons are certain to happen around Thanksgiving time.

Well, I guess that this will have to start right away, sooner than you’d think that it should be. I had to work on Wednesday and wanted to make sure that I was there at a good time. With the premiere being 90 minutes long, I couldn’t trust me to do the work of this in time and get things done with good enough time to do all of work. So I guess you’ll be seeing this post on Sundays and none of Survivor: Gabon until this season is done airing. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we start with voiceovers of people talking about Survivor. Rob and Sandra will be on a Survivor boot camp. Lario tribe arrives at their camp. It is weird to Chelsea that they are starting the game without Jeff or a proper marooning. There is a sexy wood gathering. Isn’t that what the Chippendales are? There are various introductions among people, but not the whole group as a whole. Elizabeth talks about being in the Olympics. On the other tribe, Lauren-Ashley, who I guess can just be called Lauren, wonders about the theme of the season. Janet helps her tribe get fire. Vince talks about how he is the first person of his ethnicity to be cast on Survivor. On the orange tribe, Aaron and six other players form an alliance of seven players.

Jason goes out to look for an idol and the rest of the players notice this. Dan is largely the one who says that Jason is missing in order to find a good first vote. But is Dan cocky? I guess we will see later as time goes on what type of player Dan will be.

In the second segment of the show, Jack gets food for his tribe and does some pranks with spitting water from a clam. Oh, Shelly! Why did you leave me? Tommy Sheehan believes that he is forming good alliances with people. Molly wants to get rid of the drama and shadiness of everyone. Noura thinks that Jason might have had an idol. He worries that he might be the first one out now. Elaine uses humor to make her way through life. She seems like Lauren Reemer from not too long ago. Missy thinks that she should form an all female alliance. Wasn’t Micronesia the only season where an all one gender alliance actually worked? It could happen again, but hasn’t.

In the third segment of the show, Kellee talks about being a germaphobe. Why would you play this show if you felt that way? She is upset at Dan. Molly is also upset at Dan since he doesn’t know personal space and Molly doesn’t want to ruffle feathers. I thought that it was rustle feathers.

Dan is talked to some and maybe straightened out about his touchy feely ways. Ronnie likes Elaine, but is worried that she might win. Now is this foreshadowing or red herring? Elaine no longer trusts Ronnie after he talks to her some about what’s going on.

In the fourth segment of the show, we get to the challenge at hand. Jeff gets his first look at the two tribes in the game. The tribes are neck in neck for a bit as the orange tribe fails at the puzzle. Thus, the purple tribe wins and sends the orange tribe to tribal council. Jeff then reveals that someone from the orange tribe will be randomly sent to the Island of the Idols. Elizabeth’s name is drawn. She will return in time for her next tribal council.

In the fifth segment of the show, Elizabeth arrives at the Island of the Idols. She sees two statues when she arrives there of Rob and Sandra before seeing the players in the flesh. They are Survivor idols. Oh, I see the name and meaning there. Rob explains some of what’s going on. Rob wants to teach Elizabeth how to make fire. Rob explains how the best teachers he has had had shown him how to do things. After he shows the fire, she tries to make one herself. With Sandra’s help, Elizabeth makes a fire.

Elizabeth is given a choice. She can make fire to get an idol good for two tribal councils. But if she loses, she will lose her next vote. If she doesn’t go for the competition, she risks nothing. We then go back to the tribe after their loss, with Elizabeth’s decision yet unknown. Elaine is betting on good connections in the game. But can she dictate the vote? People want to vote out Ronnie, but Vince feels like he is in danger of being voted out as well. Some people want to target Elaine. But Vince doesn’t want to vote her out of the game. Elaine doesn’t know what’s God’s plan is. Do any of us know?

Back at the Island of the Idols, Elizabeth still doesn’t know if she can beat Rob, but decides to go against him anyways. He was preparing to up the ante in some unknown way, but she took the first offer and did not know there was a second one. What is this: Let’s Make a Deal? Rob wins the challenge. She will not have a vote going into tribal council. There was a chance that she could have won. She gets to choose the next person who will go from the other tribe to this island. But none of us know who she chose just yet as it was randomly drawn.

Back at camp, people try to explain to Elaine why people are targeting her. They want her to vote out Vince now. Only the plan is still up in the air. This is when Elizabeth gets back and decides whether or not to tell the truth about what happened on the island. She lies and says it was an urn smashed that she lost and got now game as a result. Elizabeth doesn’t know what to say about the upcoming vote that she will not be able to take part in anyways.

In the sixth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Apparently Rob and Sandra are secretly watching the proceedings. There was no information about the season in advance as they just went to the beach. “Likability is a liability” according Karishma. That’s why Elaine might be a target. She gets emotional about her journey to Survivor and how she doesn’t want to be the first one voted out. She wants a show that can build her up. Aaron talks about being a jack of all trades like Debbie Warner. I think it was Aaron who was talking, at least.

Vince also gets emotional talking about his place in the game. Voting out people is hard, but not for someone like sassy Sandra. There are some players that they like. The votes seem to be between Ronnie and Vince. Elaine isn’t a target at all. Ronnie is the first person voted out of the game.

On the next Survivor, a blindside and heartache lead to insanity in the game. A lot of people much have been out of the loop on this vote. Why didn’t Elaine get any votes? I guess I’m not sure and they had only brought it up as a potential red herring. But is her high confessional count now a good thing or is it a sign that they want to show her greatness before she’s gone early?

Confessional count: Ronnie- 1, Lauren-Ashley- 1, Elizabeth- 5, Molly- 2, Missy- 2, Janet- 1, Kellee- 1, Dean- 0, Tom Laidlaw- 1, Jason- 2, Aaron- 2, Vince- 3, Jack- 1, Noura- 1, Karishma- 2, Tommy Sheehan- 1, Jamal- 1, Dan- 1, Elaine- 5, Chelsea- 1; Sandra- 3, Rob- 2.

Sadly, only two people have higher confessional counts than the two mentors who aren’t even playing the game. Elizabeth and Elaine both have 5 confessionals thus far. They tie for the highest. Elizabeth might have only had a high due to being sent to the Island of the Idols. Dean is currently the only person without a confessional right now. Ronnie, Lauren-Ashley, Jamal, Tom Laidlaw, Dan, Chelsea, Jack, Noura, Janet, Kellee, and Tommy Sheehan all only have one confessional, less than the two mentors.

Hopefully I can be posting this blog on Wednesdays like I normally do and like doing and this Sunday post is just a onetime exception to the rule due to the long premiere and me wanting to get to my job as early as I could, but still not getting there as soon as I could have. Still, I might not be continuing with this job for long as they told me it was temporary for now and they would tell me if something changed with that. We’ll see what happens with it and hopefully I won’t have to abandon this blog like the writer of Survivor Shade did. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Gabon episodes 1 & 2: Want to See the Elephant Dung?

There’s actually a lot to talk about in this blog before I get to the episode in question. I had been waiting until I was done with watching Survivor: Borneo again before I got to replacing it with its replacement of Survivor: Gabon. That was the only thing that got to replace Survivor: Borneo as anything else that is waiting to be added will have to wait until later to be added. The current list of six shows that I roll for to see what I watch are now Charmed season 4, Farscape season 4, Moonlight the Complete series, this season of Survivor (of course), now number 4 on the list of things to roll, The Walking Dead season 1, and recorded shows on tape. I have a whole lot to watch once I'm done with any of these.

The day after the last season finale of Survivor, another player from a past season had died. Her name was Ashley Massaro and she played in Survivor: China. An official cause had not been determined last I checked, but all signs point to suicide. I have Survivor: China ranked as 31 out of 38 seasons. I will be wanting that season now on DVD so it might be a good Christmas present for me.

https://nypost.com/2019/05/17/ex-wwe-star-ashley-massaro-died-of-apparent-suicide-report/

Getting back to all the hidden immunity idols from past seasons, I’m going to split up the Ghost Island idols into one a post. So here are the idols from Ghost Island part 1. Back in Survivor: Caramoan, Andrea had an idol that pretty much everyone knew she had. She didn’t think she was a target and was voted out with it in her possession. It was reused in Ghost Island. Domenick found it and played it the last time idols could be used. No one had voted against him that time so it was considered a waste.

I created a new blog. This one is about the TV show The Good Fight. It is a spin-off of The Good Wife, another show that I have blogged about in the past. When it aired this past summer for free on TV, I was able to start blogging about it as a result. Here is a link to it.

https://adamdeckerthegoodfighttvshow.blogspot.com/

For some reason, there is a lot of information out about the season after Island of the Idols. SPOILER. It will be an all winners season and the cast has already been revealed. I will not mention the cast in this post, but I will in a future post before the season starts. It is reusing Edge of Extinction, which is quite a terrible idea. Will this be like Redemption Island where they keep doing it again until it finally works? Or will this be a temporary thing? And what’s with this idea of Survivor currency? People aren’t trying to break the game of Survivor. They are making it completely unrecognizable. END SPOILER.

I will keep you updated as to when the episodes of Survivor: Gabon are rolled. The first one was rolled on 9-21-2019. One of my blogs will be updated each time I watch an episode. It will probably be the TV blog, but might be others under other circumstances. But enough of my ramblings.

We begin with Jeff talking about Gabon, one of the last untouched places in the world. A lot of the players give confessionals now, although not all of them are labeled. The contestants introduce who they are at the beginning. Crystal lies about her profession. Corrine and Randy both admit to their own character flaws that we’ll see. Now Corrine may call herself a bitch, but I think that deep down, she does want to be liked by others. Bob and Gillian get to start choose their tribes. Bob chooses Ace. Gillian chooses Crystal. Ace chooses Sugar. Crystal chooses Susie. Sugar chooses Marcus. Susie chooses Matty. Marcus chooses Charlie. Matty chooses Randy. Charlie chooses Paloma. Randy chooses Dan. Paloma chooses Kelly. Dan chooses GC. Kelly chooses Jacquie. GC chooses Ken. Jacquie chooses Corrine. Michelle is on the last tribe by default. Bob’s tribe is the yellow one: Kota. Gillian’s tribe is the red one: Fang.

Jeff then asks the tribes if they are ready for their first challenge. Each tribe has an idol good for their first tribal council as a group. The tribe that finishes first gets a reward of an extra bag of rice. Marcus wins the idol on his tribe. GC gets the idol on her tribe. Michelle may have been the last person picked to be on a tribe, but she was the first woman from either tribe to finish. Kota wins the reward. Matty thinks that Gillian is a liability for her tribe. In the first of many failures for herself, Crystal doesn’t do well which she blames on her dress and uncomfortable tennis shoes.

The Kota tribe arrives to their camp. Corrine likes Bob and the way he works. He learns how to do things himself. Apparently being from Maine affects him in some way. Meanwhile, Fang arrives at their camp and Gillian gives a speech of encouragement to her tribe. She is hoping to keep the tribe happy. She wants people to get elephant dung since it burns very well according to her. Randy thinks that Gillian is annoying. Well, it takes one to know one. He thinks that she doesn’t know crap, but she clearly does. Ken talks to Michelle when she eats a termite. I know people who have done that. Ken is attracted to Michelle, but I don’t think that anything comes from it.

Ace gets on people’s nerves on his tribe. He has a villainous way of thinking about things and is certain that he could win the money. Charlie is attracted to Marcus, but Marcus is straight. I’m straight too, but I can see Marcus as good looking. At night on the Fang tribe, they all react to an elephant in the area. Randy hurts his head on the branch and seeks the advice of Gillian. Medical is brought in to help. They put stitches in him and he is worried that this will take him out of the game. But he thinks that it will be fine in a couple of days.

Michelle is cold at night and is mostly bones. There was an old lady all skinny and bones. Ooo, ooo, ooo. Wait, she is young and bones. The Kota tribe gets the treemail. If they are not the first to finish, they may be the first to leave the game. Ace leads the tribe through yoga.

Jeff brings the tribes together for a challenge where they are linked together for a challenge. Bob talks about how physics helps him solve challenges. Fang is only briefly in the lead. But Kota is able to win the challenge after a big enough lead.

GC feels down after the loss. He is safe so far in the game. Some people want Michelle voted out, but Randy is trying to push the vote against Gillian. People like Ken believe that Gillian is the weakest one on the tribe. Michelle is openly against her whole tribe and everyone. She’s being a negative Nancy. That’s what the other players seem to think, at least.

We get to the tribal council next. Dan is still hopeful about the tribe despite the dysfunction. Michelle causes a lot of discussion back and forth about what’s going on. Jeff points out that they ignored the question he had asked. There is another time that they talk over each other. GC seems to take up the leadership role in the tribe. I don’t think that he wanted this role. Michelle talks about being the last picked on the tribe. She still thinks that she does well on the tribe. After the votes are cast, Michelle votes for Gillian. Everyone else in the tribe votes for Michelle and she is voted out as a result. The tribe is excited that they get flint and fire on their way back to camp.

The tribe returns from the tribal council and GC talks about being the leader of the tribe. He feels that he will have a bigger target on his back as a result of this role. Charlie talks about Marcus and his role on the Kota tribe thus far. Marcus talks about Charlie and how he is like an onion because he comes in layers. Isn’t that an ogre? Marcus talks about forming an onion alliance full of these layered individuals. We will see more of that as the season progresses.

Randy had issues with how GC is working with the water since he’ll have to do work twice boiling the water twice. Randy wants to be quiet for now and watch his tribe self destruct. Corrine wonders what to do with her tribe in terms of alliances. This must be more of the onion alliance. She thinks that Bob should be brought into their alliance.

Gillian is worried that people are doing bad on her tribe since there are people in the night working instead of waiting until the morning. GC quits being the leader right on the spot. Randy thinks that this was a good move. Dan thinks that this was a poor decision for a leader to make. He wants to be a silent leader.

The Fang tribe gets treemail about the upcoming challenge. One tribe will be fishing. The other will be heading to tribal council. Jeff asks the Fang tribe about the face paint that they put on. The challenge involves moving a bolder around and getting keys to complete the challenge. Jeff introduces the concept of Exile Island which will happen to a member of the losing tribe. Gillian is asked to stay out of the way of the bolder to help their chances in the challenge. Fang isn’t as bad at this challenge, but they still lose it this time around.

After the challenge, they send Dan to Exile Island. He will return in time for tribal council. He is told some of where to go and given a map. The vote won’t happen until the next night. Charlie talks about his tribe’s win and how their tribe has been doing well in the game thus far. People on the tribe don’t think that they will lose a challenge. Dan arrives at Exile Island and is given the choice between clue and comfort. He picks a clue. He seeks out a clearing, but thinks that the idol could be in the lake. He doesn’t venture far away. He can’t figure out the clue and can’t find the idol in question. If only he looked farther away.

Back at the Fang camp, people face a lack of morale due to their constant losing. Ken wants to vote out Gillian and it seems like she is the target. She considers voting against Ken. Susie seems to be on board with this plan for now. Randy breaks his glasses apart in order to help form fishing equipment. Doesn’t he need glasses to see better? They still catch fish and Dan returns from Exile Island. Dan says that he could not find the idol. GC thinks that Dan was acting strange. Others are convinced that Dan does have the idol. People still need to figure out who to vote for and Dan is brought up as a target.

The tribe then gets to tribal council. Jeff asks GC about being the leader and GC admits that he does not want to be the leader of the group anymore. Jeff thinks that there are too many disruptive forces in the tribe. There is no current leader on the group. Crystal doesn’t think that they need a leader. Gillian thinks that they need to learn to work together or they will be doomed as a tribe. Dan talks about how he went to Exile Island. People think that he has the idol and Dan dumps his bag to prove that he does not have the idol. We then get to the vote at hand. Gillian votes against Ken. The rest of the tribe votes against Gillian and she is voted out as a result.

On the next Survivor: Gabon, Randy is not the leader of the tribe (yet) and Fang seems to remain quite a dysfunctional tribe. Meanwhile, Gillian gets her last words wishing her tribe good luck, feeling that they will need it going forward. Keep moving forward, just like in Meet the Robinsons.

Confessional count: Dan- 2, Corrine- 3, Bob- 3, Sugar- 1, Randy- 8, Charlie- 6, Marcus- 3, Michelle- 2, Matty- 2, Susie- 0, Ken- 4, Ace- 2, Crystal- 3, Gillian- 5, GC- 5, Jacquie- 0, Paloma- 0, Kelly- 0.

Michelle didn’t seem to have much of a chance in the game, being the only one not picked for a tribe. She still could have been a better player. She was too obnoxious in different places and could have tried to align with more than just one person. Will she play again? I’d say that it might be possible. I’d give her a 51% chance of returning to the game again.

Gillian may not have lasted long either, but she had quite a good impact on the Survivor community. She created Reality Rally, a gathering of reality TV fans and people like that. Despite being older, there is still a chance that she could appear on the show again. I’d give it a 60% chance that we’ll see her again.

I don’t yet know when I’ll be back with the next post of this season. Keep an eye out for Sundays and this blog will be updated if I’ve seen the next episode of it. Survivor returns on Wednesday and I will be back with the newest season then (I hope). We’ll see what all happens with this blog. I’ll try to keep the more primary parts of this blog with the new episodes. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Gabon- A Look Back

Well, I have this season on DVD and will now blog about it. At the moment, this season’s post will be on Sundays. This means that if a current season is not being blogged about, the random posts you see on Wednesdays will be gone as I will devote my time to just doing this season in the blog. If there are any other seasons for me to blog about, you will see them at their own time as mentioned in those, potential, future posts. Also keep in mind that this post will serve as an introduction to future episodes and will not be about a single episode itself.

What this season was like: One of only two seasons thus far to take place in Africa, we got a whole lot of dynamics over the course of the season. Exile Island was back, but it could have a hidden luxury with it instead of just being an isolated place. We saw a lot of crazy personalities this season, which can be good in its own way. There was a second tribe swap which hadn’t truly happened before.

Why it was good: There was a lot seen from the good characters in this show, even those that didn’t last long on the season. The winner may not have been outstandingly wonderful, but he deserved the win in my mind compared to others in the season. It might have helped shaped Survivor’s mold in some ways that it wouldn’t have otherwise.

Why it was bad: This season was bland and forgettable. Most of the contestants on this season were either annoying or forgettable. Too many bad players were focused on a lot and some of them made it too far in the game. The final vote was as boring as one alliance voting for one player and the other voting for the other player. Not much memorable happened in it.

My overall thoughts: I do not think fondly of this season and rank it among the worst ones Survivor had. In fact, there aren’t many that I think were worse than it. I don’t think that it had much to offer on a whole as too much of it just didn’t really work in the long term. To show just how forgettable the people on this season were, when I learned that one of them had died, my first thought was who? I did not know who this person was and it wasn’t the first fan out of Micronesia.

Current ranking of the season and why: I rank it as 36^th best out of the 38 seasons thus far. The fact that so much of this season’s airtime was wasted on terrible players speaks to the fact that not much of it really worked in terms of good Survivor that we were used to from other seasons. A rewatch of it could improve my thoughts of it or somehow make it rank even lower.

That’s about it for this blog post. I do plan to be back as many Sundays as I can in the near future with blog posts on this season. There might be some issues with me being able to keep watching it over and over again due to lack of time or other issues like that. But keep your eyes out for posts about Survivor: Gabon on Sundays for the foreseeable future. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.