Survivor 20 Ep 10 "Going Down In Flames"

[lazarus]

Well, at least JT went out with some class. Although I could have gone without his "don't trust women" comment. But to congratulate the guy who just stabbed you in the back for a good play? That's someone who loves the game as a game.

I was sure Sandra would do well in the IC. Very weird how quickly she dropped out. Also weird: the Heroes' weird obsession with voting her out. There was a secret scene with Amanda earlier this week where they were already planning to vote her out next if Parvati was gone. Amanda and Candice were also hoping to get JT out sooner rather than later, and team up with Parvati.

I don't have a clue what happens next. I can easily see Sandra flipping, since that would make it 5-4 against Parvati's alliance, but then I can also see Amanda and Candice flipping to Parvati's alliance. But hearing Jeff say "Sandra takes control of the game" made my heart swell. I do love her.

I'm curious how Russell is going to handle Parvati's withholding the HII info from him. He didn't seem happy about it.

Here's how Tyson's vote changed the game. In very logical fashion, earlier tonight, I actually laid out a surprisingly easy way for the F3 to have been all-Tocantins. Instead, the game is pure chaos, although I have to give the nod right now to Parvati for the win. But there are no idols left, so anything can happen. This is turning out to be a lot of fun.

[lazarus]

1. as usual, a couple of things to add

Parvati absolutely shows Russell how you play this game. Amazing.

JT's "don't trust women" seems, on reflection, to be an admission that women are much better at this than men are.

I really want to play poker with Amanda. Girl has no game face, and can't tell a lie to save her life. "My head hurts." Sheesh. What happened to her? She used to be halfway decent at this game.

Voting comment that gave me chills:

Sandra: "JT, instead of you wanting me and Parvati on your side you decided you want Parvati out first and me second, therefore you gotta go home tonight."

Sandra and Parvati have a secret alliance? If true, the game is over. Those two are going to FTC with whoever they feel like taking.

[miyazaki]

2. Oh those Heroes got bitch-slapped tonight! OH!

We'll see how fast a 'hero' turns 'villain' to save their ass.
Chaotic for sure. Could go anywhere. Sandra could be quite the monkey wrench at this point.

(on edit). At least a brilliant three point play by Parvati. She let Amanda expose herself,
offered the immunity idol to Sandra as an olive branch token to hopefully keep the alignment,
and offered the other idol to Jerri to deflect the heroes votes into the toilet. Unreal!
Everyone left shell shocked. Next week should be another pivotal episode for sure.

[Vinca]

3. I think Parvati bought Sandra's loyalty with that idol,

even though Sandra's name turned out not to be the one written down. Russell has definitely lost control of the game to Parvati. Is it just me or has Rupert become kind of annoying?

[lazarus]

4. actually

Sandra has no loyalty to anyone but herself. She'll do exactly what she needs to win. Very pragmatic player.

Rupert was actually less annoying than usual last night. He was the only one to realize they needed to listen to Sandra.

[romana]

5. Epic

Wow, what an aggressive move by Parv! She really is a force to be reckoned with, and definitely schooled Russell on how the game is played. There's a reason why she's such a dangerous player.

I really have grown to dislike JT. He goes down as the dumbest player in Survivor history, IMO. Stephen really was the brains of that outfit. And his little nod to Russell, then turning around and harping on how women can't be trusted just made him look like a jerk to me. Done with him, wish he wasn't on the jury.

Previews can be misleading. I admit to being excited when Jeff said Sandra takes control of the game, but I have learned not to trust that at all. Still, I think she's in a good position and it looks like she wants to take Russell out. I think the momentum for that is there right now, to be honest. He can't be trusted so there's no real reason to keep him around anymore. I'm not sure what'll happen after that--it'll depend on how good Sandra is at alliance building. I think she's got Rupert, which means she might also have Colby as well. I don't think Colby has any loyalty to Jerri (and Jerri will be gone soon, anyway). I hope Sandra makes it to the end-she is by far and away my favorite player.

Rupert redeemed himself a bit tonight by being smart enough to trust Sandra, at least over this. He's still pretty stupid, IMO, but if he helps Sandra out, that's OK by me. :)

[lazarus]

6. stupid players

give me ten minutes, and I'll list twenty players stupider than JT. Heck, just this season we've had Tyson's Colossal Stupidity move, which is the single dumbest move in the history of the game. JT made a big play, and if he had been right about the Ladies' Alliance, he would be considered a genius. When evaluating how stupid a move is, look at the internal game logic. Tyson's had none. There was no upside to switching his vote in any scenario I can come up with.

I've spoken with JT for about 20 minutes before, and I can attest that he is very into the strategy side of Survivor. My personal theory is that he heard too much that Stephen was the real brain in Tocantins, and decided to prove he could make big strategic moves, too. He just played too big; he was actually doing quite well until this last move. He gambled and lost.

As for how women can't be trusted, I want to believe he was basically saying that women will generally outplay men. They have won 2 of the last 3 seasons, and it looks it'll soon be 3 out of 4.

[romana]

7. There are big plays, and there are dumb big plays

I have nothing against big plays. They certainly make the game entertaining. Parv is a perfect example of someone who knows how to make a big, aggressive play, and the differences in her approach and JT's are very illuminating.

JT essentially based his big play on a stupid, public comment from Rupert, and there was simply no way this strategy was going to work for him. That immunity idol was far better kept in the heroes tribe than in the hands of the enemy. Had Rupert made his comment privately, back at their own camp, and JT acted, I might have a little bit of respect for JT's game play. As it stands, however, it was dumb and doomed to failure as he gave the villains the ammunition they needed to get rid of him. JT also had no backup plan. When you have to be essentially shamed into forming a backup plan by Rupert you have failed at Survivor.

Parv, on the other hand, kept her own council. She put on a public, strategic face, and schemed in private. When it came time to make her big play, she did it on her own with no input from anyone (as far as we can tell--I don't watch the secret videos or anything because I just don't have the time). She didn't even tell her closest ally in the game, Russell, what she was planning. And that's why it worked. Big plays are much more likely to work if people keep it close to the vest. When you broadcast what your intentions are you paint a big target on your back.

I will amend that JT is probably not the stupidest player ever. But IMO he's pretty high up there. There are ways he could've played that idol to his and his tribe's advantage, and he picked the stupidest.

[lazarus]

8. no doubt it's turned out stupid

But it was legit gamble. Even ignoring Rupert's comment, from an outside perspective, is is very reasonable to assume there's a strong ladies' alliance. Not one lady was sent home from the Villains' tribe until the very last vote. They got rid of very strong and effective (at challenges) men like Tyson and Rob, seemingly committing tribal suicide.

This is very unusual behaviour. Couple it with the known fact that Parvati's last time on Survivor involved her helping to forge the first successful ladies' alliance, and the conclusion is quite reasonable.

The mistake in thinking, from my perspective, is in not realizing that you can always go into the merge ties and win the first TC with your HII. JT attempted to pull this move off before the merge, in fear that the 2 women left on the Heroes' tribe would flip post-merge, leaving the 3 men outnumbered badly.

The whole season on the Heroes' tribe was essentially based on avoiding a ladies' alliance. This was a mistake, but it did have internal game logic. The logic was wrong, but it was there.

I do agree that the Big Play JT did come up with was foolish, though, and would definitely put it in the top 5 bonehead moves ever on Survivor. I just don't think that one move can make you the stupidest player ever. Stupid people tend not to win this show. Even the least deserving winners - Ethan, Jenna, and Bob - did at least one thing to help themselves win over the rest of the tribe.