Survivor Tocantins: Episode 9 Discussion Thread

[dr.strangelove]

WOW< WHAT AN EPISODE! First off, I missed writing last week. I had a big project at work and could not take any time to write. Sorry. As a quick recap, I was so pissed that Brendan got ousted. I thought for sure that Stephen and JT would have seen the light and ousted Coach with Brendan. But such is life. Anyway, that made for an even better episode this week.

This week was so much fun. which si good, because at the halfway point last night, It thought it was sucking. I was tired of Sierra and wanted it to just be over. Then, the flip at the last minute. Great editing. I thought it was great to see Tyson go. He was such an asshat to Sierra, that it just felt good to see him get the boot. I can't wait to see how Coach deals with this.

I started to feel bad for Sierra, but that changed to anger at her. She was a bit too whinny for me. Suck it up girl and play the game. She just cried and said I have to try. Thats not trying. Trying would have been to approach Taj and Steven and say that you are still willing, and clearly they are not Coach's favorites, so they should be thinking long term. she did not do that though. All she did was try to justify her deal with Brendan.

I likes the reward challenge. I think it showed that JT is the force that will win this game if he is not taken out. He is so much more physically dominant than everyone else that they have to go after him. I love him and hope he or Taj win, but I doubt that going to happen. I have to give Erinn credit. she looked good lining up the holes in the wood. she has not done much to impress me, but she did last night. Yet again, Coach does nothing. He sucks in the challenge and claims he is a warrior. He is being carried by Tyson right now, and now that its over I want to see what happens to him.

Stephen, well, I felt bad for him at Exile. they thankfully did not show another episode of him making fire, but its clear that he sucks in the wilderness. I hope he wins the reward challenge next time so he does not have to go back. I understand JT's plan in sending him, but it still sucks.

The Immunity Challenge was GREAT. Lots of suspense and I love it when it rains. Probst is so in his element in the rain. He gets this glow in his eyes that is so obvious. Seriously, IC's in the rain are maybe the best part of this game. All the players are freezing and wet. Sierra and Taj were shaking so bad I thought they were gonna get airlifted out. It was awesome.

I love playing table shuffleboard. I used to travel to Austen a lot and there is the great Hyatt on the river with a huge table shuffleboard game. We used to go there a few times a year and we would spend hours at that table. That brought back some memories for me. Anyway, it was close until the end. I was pulling for Sierra, just to see what would happen when the turning started.

I love the cockiness when Probst asks who wants to avoid immunity. Coach, Stephen and JT are crazy to stand out like that. They felt safe, but its wrong to throw it in people's faces like that. They are lucky Deb did not join them or Sierra would have won. Anyway, great challenge, but a poor decision almost cost them them game.

Tyson's comments about hoping Sierra cries a lot at tribal council were great. It set up that blindside so well. I'm glad Taj, Stephen and Erinn stepped it up. They needed to do it. JT was set in his deal, but now he is the one to beat.

Tribal was great. Tyson saying he loves everyone except for Sierra was perfect. He is such a dick. He says he is confident that he is safe. I love it. I hoped JT would not fold. It was so anxious. Jeff shook it up by going head to head with Coach calling him out on his bullshit. I loved it.
Then the vote. So great. Tyson's face when he saw that second vote, then the third. It was priceless. I'm not sure who was more shocked, Coach, Tyson or Sierra. Next week will be great. Overall, this was the best episode of the year and one of the better one's of all time.

[romana]

1. Stephen

I really wish I'd picked Stephen as my player this season. He is playing an absolutely great game, IMO. He came up with the idea to oust Tyson that Sierra should have come up with instead of sitting around and moping. Debbie is starting to be featured more, but she's still a bit of a non-entity to me (though I'm happy she won reward and immunity this week). Stephen impresses me a little more each week. He's showing me he's thought about the strategy of nearly every alliance and every vote all the way through to the end. It's fabulous to watch, IMO.

Last week, they should have taken out Coach, but I enjoyed the blindside. They now need to focus on getting rid of JT and Coach. This is another place where Stephen is being smart--he's playing JT! It's great! JT and Coach are now the two biggest physical threats in the game. They need to be picked off as soon as it's feasible to do so.

I am almost to the point, however, where I'd like to see Coach stay around, just because he's so damned entertaining. I think he really is like this in real life! And while there's that arrogance that we saw in Tyson, there not so much smugness. That's what really turned me against Tyson, the smugness. What an asshole, I don't care how funny he thinks he is. He's an asshole and I'm so glad he got blindsided last night. It was a thing of joy to watch.

Coach's talk about the warrior alliance had me rolling on the couch here. If he wants to go to the finals with that type of alliance, all he is doing is showing that he does not really understand what this game is about. For that reason alone, he deserves to go home. This game isn't about big, dirty men battling it out in a joyous testosterone fest of warrior-ness. It's about strategy on many levels. Ask Stephen, he knows. I bet Stephen takes this thing, or at least ends up in the finals.

[rvablue]

2. Last night's show was awesome!

Although I find Tyson entertaining, I'm glad he got blindsided.

I too felt bad for Sierra. When someone is that alone it is very mean to continue to insult them.

But she also had another card she could have played and didn't. She was in on that "hidden alliance."

She could have outed Taj by telling the others that Taj had the immunity idol and needed to be taken out. But all she did was hint at it. Can't understand why she didn't speak up if she knew without a doubt she was going home.

Maybe they edit a lot of stuff out, but I don't understand why everyone is so annoyed with her. Seems more like a bullying thing to me.

Steven is the mastermind in this show now. He looked absolutely manic in the eyes when he returned from exile this time. I also hope he has the sense to go back to the tree mail stand and see if the idol has been replaced.

Sierra's expression at the reading of the votes was priceless. I just hope that she doesn't cave to Coach and Debbie next week as they showed in the previews. Right now, Steven and JT are going to concentrate more on getting Coach off at this point.

As far as last week goes, it always frustrates me when someone goes home with an idol in their pocket. One could tell that Brendon was a bit unsure of the outcome of the vote and he should have used it.

Yeah, all in all this is turning out to be a very good season. If only for the sake of frustrating everyone on the jury, I hope Sierra makes it to the end. Almost all of the other contestants have been so openly mean and hostile towards her that it would make for a good finale.

[Phentex]

4. I think there is much we didn't see...

I don't see how we have the full picture when they showed very little of Taj and what was really happening with Sierra. I, too, find it hard to believe Sierra wouldn't say something to the whole group about the hidden alliance, especially when she had nothing to lose by it. And something must have gone down with Brendon that they didn't show us. You would think that Taj and Steven would have at least tried to get the idol from him first!

I think Taj and Steven are playing JT.

There's a lesson that these contestants don't seem to learn from season to season. There is no point in gloating and being mean to someone just because you think you have the upper hand. That's just BAD karma!

[Qanisqineq]

3. I'm glad we didn't talk about last week

I was so angry that Brendan went home -- and not just because he was the player I picked! I was so sick of Tyson and Coach and they stayed longer than Brendan. This episode I realized that I probably like Coach a lot better than Tyson. Coach is arrogant and an ass and full of bullshit stories. Tyson is arrogant and an ass and mean-spirited. At least Coach seems to give a crap about people whereas Tyson is just a complete ass that cares nothing about how other people feel. I already knew Tyson went before I watched the episode so the blindside didn't feel quite as delicious as it might have otherwise.

Sierra -- I wanted her to shut up. Okay, we get it that you were in an alliance with Brendan. If it were me, I'd simply admit that to Coach without excuses and say I am going to try my hardest to stay in the game and that's what the game is about. Coach made it sound like everyone in the tribe was supposed to be in an alliance together, loyal to Coach and Coach dictates who goes next. Mmmm, sounds nice -- for Coach.

I kind of started to dislike Taj after she backed out of her alliance with Brendan. I was glad we didn't really hear from her this episode. For the same reason, I kind of started to dislike Stephen, too. I don't hold it against JT because he wasn't really part of the original four person cross-tribe alliance. Plus, I think he has some fancy colorful shorts. :P

[dr.strangelove]

5. It was better I did not do a summary

I had a lot of anger too. I hated Tyson and would have been mad if he won. Coach I think is a jerk and a hypocrit, but he does nto seem to be hateful, just annoying. Tyson was a hateful person who I am glad was ousted.

[Runcible Spoon]

6. If Taj knows what's good for her she will shop around for a different alliance

I don't know why Sierra gets so much hate. She's actually not stupid and from what we've seen (heavily edited of course) everything she's said has been dead on and pretty perceptive. She might be insightful but she's not crafty in a way to preserve herself. She let herself be sacrificed to prove a point about Coach and Debbie. With Coach, Tyson, and yes Debbie I think the Sierra hate was a degree of misogyny. Debbie is fucking unbearable and reminds me of a vapid little cheerleader who never grew out of 10th grade mentality. She likes to align herself with cocky, paternalistic pieces of shit like Coach and is only useful as a sycophant. I think a lot of Sierra hate comes from her and I really resent Taj for not wising up to it and taking advantage of it by getting Sierra into some sort of alliance. She would have been 100% faithful to Taj for a number of reasons and it would have been easy to pick off an unsuspecting JT if they got Erinn and even Stephen on board. Oh well.

My prediction: Taj and Stephen to the final 2. Stephen is in control of this game so far unless Taj wises up and pulls Erinn into an alliance. There is gonna be a pretty interesting fight over who technically has possession of the idol.