Survivor 22 Ep. 3 "Keep Hope Alive"

[lazarus]

Fucking FINALLY that troll got voted off. I was worried the firefighter lady was going to crush my dreams, but she held firm. Nicely done, nameless lady. (Okay, I just looked it up. Julie is her name. She deserves to have me remember her name for doing the Right and Proper Thing.)

The challenge people are really getting lazy. They should have constructed proper cages for the RI Duel, and they apparently didn't even disassemble the wheels from last season for the R/IC. I thought Dave was a little obvious in throwing it, but really, what could Russell do but scramble like that?

Good duel, a return of one of my favourite challenge types. (My all time favourite challenge is the vertical maze from Vanuatu, btw.) I really thought Franquesqua was going to pull it off. On that sort of thing, I think it would pay off to take time to do a double tie at each junction, I believe, but nobody's done it that way yet. :shrug:

Did I mention Russell got voted off? :D

I was convinced this was one of the rare times that fessing up to your alliance that you had the HII would be a good thing, but it didn't matter in the end. Hopefully Ralph can figure out the right time to use it for a power play, not just to buy three days (Kristina).

We still don't have a good idea how the dynamics are working at Zapatera beyond the pro-Russell/anti-Russell camps. Are the anti-Russell people officially in an alliance to the end, or did they just want the troll gone? And Stephanie (I think) really dug herself a grave with that mouth.

BTW, I don't think Jeffrey watches his own show. It's been a long time since going into the merge with numbers really paid off for an alliance. It sort of happened with the tie at the merge in HvV, but the villains weren't allied at all, and woefully outnumbered Sandra won the whole thing there.

Actually, now that I look at the records, it's pretty even the last ten seasons or so. So having numbers isn't really a prerequisite so much as having a strong alliance is. Jeffrey got one thing right: A huge splintered tribe isn't going to accomplish anything at the merge. It's too easy for a strong tight alliance to peel off a couple of low hanging fruit types in that scenario.

What's going to be great is, we get to see the troll lose twice this season. He just got voted off, now we get to see him get his butt kicked in the Arena. Woot.

[travelingtypist]

1. Finally!!!!!

I was chewing my fingernails thinking he might be able to pull off something to save himself. He certainly sussed out the challenge throw quick enough. So yeah, jumping on the happy train. Maybe this will be a decent season after all.

ETA -- I was basking in all of the Russell hate the editors finally showed, especially the parts about Russhole's rash and him being lazy and good for nothing but eating. Pure catty fun.

[murielm99]

2. Hope IS alive!

I am so happeee!

One thing worries me: Russell is a bully. He intimidates people with his glare. I worry that even though Matt is young and strong, he may be intimidated by Russell and lose the duel. Russell could be around for awhile. It would be best if Russell is gone before the jury comes into shape.

I am sure the producers of this show would love to see a duel between Russell and Rob. It would be good for ratings. I will consider it fishy if that happens, though.

I have never like Rob before this season. He is playing a great game. I would be fine with his winning it all.

I like Farmer Ralph too, but I don't see him winning it all. Isn't it funny the way Jeff can't understand anything Ralph says? And Ralph spells Russell's name the way he pronounces it: RESSELL

[lpbk2713]

3. Ralph made it kind of dicey.

By not making it known he had the HII. The others would have consolidated their votes against Russell and Ralph would not have run the risk of being voted off without ever using it. I hope Russell gets the axe before he is eligible for jury duty, the less I see of him the happier I am. And Julie should tell the others about what Russell and his crew had tried to pull off so that his two groupies can be eliminated ASAP. I didn't see any advantage in the two spectators telling the rest of the team that Francesca had won the challenge, Russell is a veteran player and not that easily thrown off guard.

[truebrit71]

4. Stephanie is in deep, deep shit..

Her running of the mouth should go down as a textbook example of how you shouldn't count your chickens 'til they've hatched..

[romana]

5. Hee

I hope Russell beats Blond Guy, and they send Stephanie to him next. She deserves to spend a night on that island with Russell, then have her ass spanked by him in the arena.

After that, he can go home.

[Duer 157099]

6. I'm still trying to figure out why Russell shaved his armpits

Was it because the rash was there, or did the shaving precipitate the rash? Ew, what a stupid thing to do. I hope he didn't use someone else's razor.

Ewwww!

[lazarus]

7. Thing is

I shave my pits, for hygienic purposes, and have never had a rash like that, ever. So I don't know that the rash is related to the shaving, to be honest.

[Duer 157099]

8. Yeah, but presumably you're not in a jungle

Seems to me that, in that setting, armpit hair is a good thing. It serves a natural function in a natural environment.

Also, if he shaved using a dirty razor that could cause such a problem.

We just don't know if he shaved before or after the rash. In either case, just eww.

[ZombieHorde]

9. I saw the second half of that episode, and that is the fist episode I have seen from this season.

How does redemption island work?

[lazarus]

10. here's how

When Franquesqua was voted off in the first episode, her torch was smuffed, but she wasn't out of the game. She went to Redemption Island, where she had a very primitive shelter, basic equipment like flint and a machete, and gets a small daily ration of rice.

Matt was voted out second. He spent one night on RI with Franceskwa, and then they had a duel. The duel in this case was a return of my second favourite challenge ever*, Jail Break. They were behind barred walls with sticks and strings. They had to put together the sticks into long poles to retrieve three keys on posts in front of the doors, unlock the doors, and go through. Matt won, so Francheskey left the game for good.

Now Russhole is on Redemption Island, and this coming episode will feature a duel between him and Matt. The loser will leave the game for good, whilst the winner will stay to continue competing in duels. At some unstated time in the future, the winner will return to the game.

Most people believe this will happen at the merge, and that will be it for RI. I think Probst has been hinting since the season began that there will be more than one person coming back, and that we'll have a second stage of Redemption Island after the merge, with the winner coming back at F5. I'm completely unspoiled, by the way, as usual, so this is just wild speculation on my part.

One thing I'm disliking is that each tribe selects two people at random to go observe the duel. I want it to be a complete surprise when the survivor comes back. It could be a "crap, we just voted him off" reaction, or a "who is that? Does anyone remember her?" reaction, but it'd be better than knowing all along.

*My favourite challenge ever is the vertical maze from the F4 of Vanuatu. I think it's the biggest build they've ever done for a challenge, too.

[ZombieHorde]

11. Sounds interesting. I'll to try to catch the rest of the season. nt

[lazarus]

12. Boston Rob is a master at this game

Check this out, and compare it to how Russell acted before he got voted out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fTJ5-bXDa4&list=SL