Survivor 20 Ep 13 "Loose Lips Sink Ships"

[lazarus]

Sandra is full of awesome. She or Parvati is winning this thing. I think Sandra beats everyone but Parvati. If Parv makes F3, she's gone.

Interesting that Sandra didn't have to play the HII after all. She's got that Jedi Mind Trick down cold. First person to tell Russell to his face that she's against him and survive.

Good challenges. The first time they did that RC, the Survivors were blindfolded and it took forever. Good on Jerri for pulling that off.

The IC is from Gabon. I think Matty won that one. I figured either Parv or Sandra would win, most likely Parvati.

I'm still not sure why Russell decided to boot Rupert. But that's another jury vote he's lost. He doesn't have one vote over there. Sandra appears to have impressed the jury with the move tonight. That's all she was missing to win the game, a big move at TC.

I'm not sure how it's going to fall out, but I'm thinking that my original prediction at the merge will stand. Russell, Parvati, and Sandra in F3. Russell is convinced he won Samoa, and probably told the Villains, or at least hinted at it. That makes it three winners in F3, so nobody can use prior winning as a reason not to vote for someone.

If either Sandra or Parvati manages to win for a second time, they're automatically the best player ever. Easily the best.

As usual, I'll have more thoughts later when I've watched it again. But this is now the best season ever.

[FormerDittoHead]

1. The Palm Pre took the RECORD for unashamed product placement.

I saw an Pontiac Aztek yesterday! That goes back to Colby and the 2nd season!

But this show's Palm Pre's product placement was a NEW LOW even on the Survivor Pringles-o-meter product placement scale.

I understand that even before there was TV, sponsors have integrated their products with broadcasts. The point that I'm making here is that, at SOME level, this is SUPPOSED to be "REALITY" TV, and not "here are your lines, this is where you stand, this is what you say" TV.

The UNQUESTIONABLE FACT is that Parvati's repeated plugging away for the thing, and "all the apps" was SOLICITED AND WAS OBVIOUSLY COMPENSATED FOR.

As Survivor is ultimately a GAME show, we have to ask ourselves at what point is the thing RIGGED, and IMO, it's not a good idea to make us wonder where the lines are drawn.

PS: it's still not nearly as cool as either the iPhone/iTouch or Droid...

[lazarus]

6. It was fairly heavy handed

but Target did the same thing is the first few seasons, and there have been others through the years. I didn't like the way Parvati gave a spoon-fed spiel about the Palm Pre, though. I'm okay with Jeffrey doing it, but the players should be more natural.

If I had to get a smart phone, I think I'd go with a Droid of some kind.

FWIW, I don't think Survivor is even close to rigged. Some people have said they set up the challenges to favour certain players, but the challenges take weeks to set up, for the most part, so they have no idea who's going to be playing by the time the challenge rolls around. I suppose the producers might have a bit of influence when they interview the castaways during confessionals, but I've always assumed they don't let things slip about other alliances or give people ideas. It's possible a little of that happened early on, before they got things settled with how they were going to run the show (that's the basis of Stacy Stillman's lawsuit), but, in the end, these are adults who can make their own choices. TPTB would love for Rupert to make the jury, but he won't because, despite the editing that makes viewers love him, other castaways hate him and don't want to be around him.

Even going back to Season One, everyone thought alliances were Evil, so I don't know that TPTB would have encouraged the formation of the Evil Tagi Alliance just to save Rudy, as the lawsuit claims. Finally, there have been over 300 people who have played the game, and over 1,000 who have worked on the show (at the least, probably many more), and Stillman is the only one to claim any shenanigans. No secret can be kept like that. They can't even keep the boot order secret anymore, although you usually have to go looking for it (which I refuse to do).

[romana]

2. My girl Sandra

I think Sandra is going to win this. It's going to be Sandra, Russell, and Parv for final 3. I think everyone on the F3 would like to replace one person with Jeri, because Jeri can't win, even against former winners. But each member of the final three will earn their right to be there, as it should be, and neither Jeri nor Colby deserve to be in the F3.

When Sandra wins for the second time, she will, indeed, be the greatest survivor ever. I hope she rubs Russell's nose in it.

Can't wait for Sunday night.

[lpbk2713]

8. I'm looking forward to Sunday night and Russell whining about ...

being the best player ever (again) and not having anything to show for it (again). I'll LMAO.
That guy must be a genuine weasel in real life. I guess it just never occurred to him that
there is a social aspect to the game as well.

[dr.strangelove]

3. Sandra is going to win

I agree Laz, Sandra is full of awesome. But I disagree that Parv beats her. I think Colby goes next. Everyone has to know that they can't beat him in the finals, so he goes. Then I suspect its all down to who wins the last challenge. Russell is going to the finals and will lose again. They all want him there. Sandra will take Russell and Parv if given the choice. I think she gets most of the hero votes and gets Jeri and Coach and Courtney. I'm not sure anyone left can beat Sandra except Colby.

I agree Laz, best season ever. My call is Colby goes first or second and the others get rid of Jeri if Colby wins. If Colby wins out ICs, then Parv and Russell will oust Sandra and Jeri. Parv will have the better chance, but Colby wins in this case. Unless Colby wins out ICs, this game is Sandras. GREAT SEASON!

[lazarus]

4. I don't see Colby winning

everyone thinks he will, but if he makes F3, there are only 4 heroes on the jury. Amanda likely won't vote for him over the clue incident, and because she doesn't respect his game at all. Candice wouldn't vote for him because a) he lied to her about whether there was an HII clue and b) he was part of the Hero alliance that never accepted her.

F3 is either Sandra/Parv/Russell or Sandra/Parv/Jerri. I think it may actually be the ladies again, which would be awesome for a couple of reasons. One, we're still going to see a 2-time winner, and two, we get to see how Russell votes on the jury. Is he going to reward good game play as he feels a juror must, or is he going to be a Bitter Betty?

I'm hoping y'all are right and my beloved Sandra can win it all even over Parvati. She did probably win some jury votes with that awesome HII play.

BTW, how awesome has it been seeing Parvati and Sandra absolutely blow off Russell when he tries to bully and intimidate them? He has no clue how to handle that, and I love it. I also loved when Sandra called out Rupert in front of everybody for spilling the beans. No fear in that lady at all. She's now my favourite Survivor ever, moving ahead of Brian Heidik, which I never thought would happen.

I agree that they'll dump Colby at F5 if possible. Over on Television Without Pity, he's being called The Ghost of Colby.

On edit: Hilarious how Russell is in absolutely no control anymore. He targeted everyone but Colby tonight. Parvati's gotta go. Sandra's gotta go. Rupert's gotta go. Jerri made a million dollar mistake, she's gotta go. Rupert went? Ha! I controlled that because I said he's gotta go.

Fantastically funny.

[romana]

5. Sandra explained it

Sandra explained, during tribal last night, why she will win this. She voted for Rupert and said that even though she was writing his name down, he would still vote to give her the million dollars. A little arrogant, perhaps, but I think she's right and he will. Sandra's game has always been the long game. She was smart enough to stick around until the merge. Post-merge, she's allied with whatever power group was doing the ousting, all while not making any obvious enemies on the jury. Parv hasn't blatantly been making enemies, but she's been perceived as in control of this game. Russell hasn't cared at all about the jury, and that will kill him in the end.

Sandra wins, though I do think it'll be close between her and Parv. I bet Russell doesn't get any votes at all.

Also, Sandra playing the idol, even though she didn't need it, was totally the right thing to do. Since it was the last night an idol could be played, it was a win-win situation for her all around. I also loved her being so "in your face" to Russell and Rupert. I don't want her to get too arrogant, but it was fun to watch her and Parv just completely disregard Russell like that. You could tell it got under his skin. :D

[lazarus]

7. Great Darwin, I hope you're right

She's definitely got Rupert's vote, she's right about that. And that was a final bit of awesome at the end of the episode. I just wonder if Parv's evident control of the game is what wins it for her. I do think it's close between those two, with Russell getting totally snubbed (or Jerri).

Jerri could actually make a case for winning if she had her head on straight. She made the very smart decision to jump from Rob's alliance early, which opened the way for F3 (if she makes it). Then she decided to vote out Danielle, breaking up that troika and cementing her way to F3. She also won an immunity challenge, started the move to oust Candice (preventing Candice from replacing her in the dyad with Russell), and helped make many of the decisions concerning ousters. But I don't see her being cogent enough to make those arguments, as she's also seemed lost a lot of the time lately.

I had originally thought Sandra's first FTC performance was awesome, but she did make one huge mistake which cost her a vote, preventing her from being the first unanimous winner. When Tijuana was asking each of the them why the other didn't deserve the million, Sandra said Lillian Morris was responsible for each person's being on the jury and had voted for all of them. Tijuana said later she thought about that, and realized that made Lillian Morris the better player, so she voted for her. Oops.

Other than that, Sandra did a great job. Sandra v Parvati should be a thing of beauty.

[Phentex]

9. Some people don't like her but

I agree with all that you said about Sandra. She doesn't take a lot of crap off people. She's not afraid of Russell. And I really believe she would have given Rupert a chance and flipped had stupid Candice not gone running to Russell.

I think she's going to win this!

[Vinca]

10. I think she's going to win it, too. She's never been my favorite player,

but I think she's the front runner. If the final 3 are Russell, Parvati and Sandra, she's got it.