Survivor 36: Ghost Island discussion thread

[JirinPanthosa]

Heeeeere we go.

Amazing after 36 seasons just how much I'm looking forward to each new season of Survivor. If you told me 18 years ago it'd be the one thing I'd consistently look forward to for the entire next 18 years, I would not have believed you.

We'll find out tomorrow what the 'Ghost Island' twist is really about. It will be fun if, as speculated, they will have twists based around the biggest mistakes in Survivor history. Of course as usual it all depends on the casting more than it depends on the gimmick. A bad cast ruins a good gimmick a lot more than a bad gimmick ruins a good cast. But this is a good gimmick.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Is anyone else picturing Jacob being eaten by demigorgons?

 

[Timewalker]

Is anyone else picturing Jacob being eaten by demigorgons?

Heh, more like a pie in the face.

Some contestants should have Krazy Glue as their luxury item (is that a thing anymore on this show?) to help them keep their mouths shut.

Tonight does bring up a question, though: If a contestant is voted off and they have an idol but didn't play it, do they get to keep it as a souvenir or does CBS force them to hand it over?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I mean, Jacob reminds me of a character who suffered that fate. Nothing against him personally, he's just very bad at the game.

I always assumed they let them keep it, but maybe they ask for it back. Or maybe for this season they just asked for it for the show and they gave it back.

I wonder what JT's idol he gave to Russell will be in this game.

 

[Spot's Meow]

My love for Survivor is still strong after all these years as well. It looks like this is poised to be a great season - the theme is really interesting, and I have good first impressions of the cast.

 

[Snaploud]

Wow. Jacob has to be one of the worst survivor contestants ever to play the game.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Wow. Jacob has to be one of the worst survivor contestants ever to play the game.

I listened to some pre-season interviews and kind of liked him, but I have to say that after seeing him on screen I found him incredibly annoying. The way he was mouthing Jeff's words at tribal council, ugh, so cringey. And admitting at the first immunity challenge that he was "fronting" so that the other tribe would send him to Ghost Island...it's like he had to prove at every turn just how big of a fan he was. And yet he got totally duped by Stephanie Johnson into telling her all of his secrets, I love it.

 

[Snaploud]

By the way, the smart move (for Jacob) would have been to tell the full story up until the point of choosing the logs and then say that he chose the wrong log and got nothing. He would then pull the fake idol out immediately before the vote and put it around his neck saying, "Actually, I picked the right log." It would give them less time to put holes in his story or get together a complicated split-vote plan.

Instead, he just put a target on his back, let them question and think about his story for a few hours (as well as developing a split-vote plan), and then blabbed everything to the first girl who gave him a smile. It was bizarrely bad decision-making.

 

[Timewalker]

He should have kept his mouth shut about what he found on the island, other than a few vague remarks about some of the props and the general creepiness of the place.

There's nothing wrong with making a fake idol. Bob did that in his season, and while I don't remember if he made any use of it (ie. gave it to someone or made someone think he had a real idol), he did end up winning the game. The funny thing, of course, is that Sugar found the idol her very first time in exile and never even hinted to anyone until final tribal council that she'd had it all along.

By the way, the smart move (for Jacob) would have been to tell the full story up until the point of choosing the logs and then say that he chose the wrong log and got nothing. He would then pull the fake idol out immediately before the vote and put it around his neck saying, "Actually, I picked the right log." It would give them less time to put holes in his story or get together a complicated split-vote plan.

Instead, he just put a target on his back, let them question and think about his story for a few hours (as well as developing a split-vote plan), and then blabbed everything to the first girl who gave him a smile. It was bizarrely bad decision-making.

Actually, given that Jeff is now allowing them plenty of time to whisper to each other and plot at tribal council - and that part of the show takes much longer to film and there's a lot more footage than we're shown - they could still have had hours to hatch another plan to get rid of him.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The problem with idol scares is that you need more than 1/3 of the vote to prevent them from just splitting.

If you want to make people think you have an idol, you don’t just come out and announce it. You put a big rock in your pocket and act like you’re hiding something then say suspicious things before the vote.

 

[Timewalker]

Well, I guess last night's episode answered my question as to whether or not the show takes back the unplayed idols.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'm curious why those four voted for Morgan that vote when the other side was totally on board voting the other woman. It seemed like a bit of an arbitrary choice, picking somebody more likely to work with them in the future.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I'm curious why those four voted for Morgan that vote when the other side was totally on board voting the other woman. It seemed like a bit of an arbitrary choice, picking somebody more likely to work with them in the future.

I think it was a smart move. Angela's own side voted against her, and if she'd gone home that wouldn't have mattered much. But since she didn't go home, there is now a major rift between Angela/Chris and Domenick/Wendell. The other four basically solidified the divide in that group, while also getting out someone that they thought was a future threat. Angela and Chris are now more likely to come over to their side to try to get rid of Domenick and Wendell, whereas if they'd sent Angela home then only Chris might have come to their side.

However, I do think that Libby should have fought harder to make Wendell the target, rather than Morgan, since she seemed to be developing a good relationship with Morgan. But from James' perspective, he probably preferred Morgan precisely BECAUSE she was getting close to Libby. It's a way to make sure that Libby doesn't stray.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Feel like the big mistake tonight was announcing who the votes were going to be for. Should have said before tribal council "We have an idol. We are voting for someone and it's NOT Bradley. Could it be you?" No reason to switch votes if worst case scenario, Bradley goes home.

 

[Timewalker]

I still haven't found anyone interesting enough to remember their name, let alone anyone to root for.

 

[Snaploud]

Feel like the big mistake tonight was announcing who the votes were going to be for. Should have said before tribal council "We have an idol. We are voting for someone and it's NOT Bradley. Could it be you?" No reason to switch votes if worst case scenario, Bradley goes home.

The problem with that scenario is that a switched vote probably would have led to a tie 4-4 with the flipped vote going to somebody random. Your plan would make more sense had the groups started evenly (4 to 4 instead of 5 to 4).

 

[Spot's Meow]

The problem with that scenario is that a switched vote probably would have led to a tie 4-4 with the flipped vote going to somebody random. Your plan would make more sense had the groups started evenly (4 to 4 instead of 5 to 4).

I was thinking similarly. In that scenario, if you do flip your vote, there is more risk that you might actually go home, since you don't know what to flip your vote to. For example, if Sebastian had flipped but the other 4 all put their votes on Sebastian, and Sebastian put his vote on someone random like Kellyn (since he doesn't know who the 4 are voting for), he is now screwed and potentially going home, especially if someone else also flipped. However, sticking with his 5 and voting for Brendan is more of a guarantee that he is safe. I think the best move for Michael would have been to go to Sebastian or Chelsea BEFORE tribal council and try to get them to flip then, so they can get a sense of whether or not it will happen and if so, then share the name of who they're voting for.

Regardless, I do think Michael did a good job at bluffing, and I'm interested to see what else he does in this game. This week's episode wasn't as exciting as the others have been, but I'm still more interested in this season than I was last season.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Interesting making the 2 -> 3 change, I think that's the second time they've done that and first time they've done it later than ep 3. Very unlikely that just by chance it would end up 3-2 on every tribe, that must have irked the producers.

It's very unusual that with all these tribe swaps everybody is going by original tribe bonds. Granted nobody from original Malolo has made a strong pitch, just this season feels so much like an early season at this point.

 

[Timewalker]

I have to confess that I have very little interest in this season. I still don't know who most of the people are, and am watching pretty much out of habit.

Hopefully once a few more people are weeded out, I'll find one or two to root for.

I guess I'm just not in the right head space for this season.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I'm liking it so far, except that I wish Ghost Island itself was playing a more interesting role. With Kellyn not choosing to play the game, that's several weeks now where we don't see anything come out of Ghost Island. I was really surprised when there wasn't a game for Stephanie Johnson to play, that would have been great to see what she might have gotten, and if it could have turned things around for the old Malolo.

And this past week, no one even went to Ghost Island at all, which is disappointing.