Survivor 41 - FINAL results

A great fire-making challenge, and what I thought was a bit of a surprise ending too!  Let's get to the pool points:

• Erika finds the final advantage in the trees - 3 points for her.
• The advantage gives Erika a huge head start in all stages of the first immunity challenge.  She ends up beating Ricard who was right there.  5 points for her.
• At tribal council, everyone votes out Ricard.  2 points for Deshawn, Erika, Heather, and Xander for voting him out, and also 12 points each to them for making it through the 12th tribal council.
• At the next immunity challenge, Xander wins a very difficult one, but makes it look easy. 5 points for him.
• Xander decides to take Erika to the end and pits Deshawn and Heather against each other at the fire-making challenge. Deshawn wins in a huge comeback and burns through the string just a few seconds before Heather. 13 points each to Deshawn, Erika, and Xander for making through the 13th tribal council.
• At the final tribal council, after the final 3 pled their cases to the jury, Erica wins in a landslide, getting 7 out of 8 votes.  She earns 14 points for winning the final tribal council and extra 7 bonus points for each winning vote.
  
• Erika earned a whopping 56 points in this final episode, with Xander coming in second with 32.

In the pool, here are the prize winners:

• 1st place, $470: Jswizzle, who stayed at the top for many weeks having picked almost all of the final 8 contestants.
• 2nd place, $290: massey, who climbed up at spot from 3rd last week and had all final 5 contestants as picks
• 3rd place, $180: case, who came all the way up from 8th last week
• 4th place, $120: Rachel L, who held on to 2nd place for quite a while but dropped for not having Erika
• 5th place, $60: Sara D, who really came out of nowhere, all the way up from 13th!
• 62nd place consolation, $30: Gargantujuan, who now won't feel bad for dropping huge from 34th last week
• Last place consolation, $30: Mitch, who stayed last long enough early on to keep the prize despite having Xander.
• All prize winners: please confirm that I can e-transfer the winnings to the email addresses I am using for these results.
• All prizes will be paid out by Monday morning, after giving everyone a chance to check their results. 

Next season: looks like more of the same, no? Hopefully the tweaks they put in make the game better and give the players a bit more control of their own fate.

My episode observations:

• I was surprised Xander didn't get any votes. I think he could have got at least a couple votes if he talked up his game more.  He was without a vote and vulnerable for such a long time - but yet didn't get voted out; and every time he didn't play his idol, he knew enough of what was going on and made enough connections to know that he didn't have to play it. I thought he was a more capable player than he was perceived as by the jury.
• Xander will probably regret not making fire against Erika forever.
• Who voted for Deshawn?  Danny?
• Erika: the first female winner in many seasons, the first Canadian and Filipino winner also!
• The reunion on-set right after the game ended was interesting. But I think I like the studio version better because they actually discuss the big show points that production emphasizes during the season, like the Shan and Ricard partnership.  Didn't get to talk about that, or even just more about what Shan did.  Also, none of the pre-merge players were there.  JD, Sydney, Brad and Voce are some players I would have liked Jeff to talk to.

Thanks for playing everyone!  Have a great Christmas holidays and we'll see you next season!

Jay

Survivor 41 - week 10 results

 Although the pool points awarded was simple, the episode was really great, showing Survivor at its core and exactly what all the relevant players are thinking and feeling and how they're making their choices based on those.  And then how the voting plans changed a couple times before tribal.  Let's get to the pool points:

• Ricard wins individual reward!  5 points for him.
• Then, Ricard wins individual immunity!  Another 5 points for him.
• Before tribal council, the plan to vote out Erika was changed by Ricard to vote out Shan. In case Shan plays her idol, Erika manufactures a split vote to create a tie between Liana and Shan. At tribal council, neither Xander nor Shan play their idol, and everything goes to plan, creating the tie. Everyone votes for Shan on the revote except Liana, who couldn't vote. 2 points to everyone that banded together to vote out Shan.
• 9 points to everyone that survived tribal council #9.
• Ricard earned the most points by far with 21 while everyone else earned 11 or lower.

In the pool, 53% had Shan, the 34-year-old pastor.

• Jswizzle is still in first with the only entry with 6 picks left out of the 7 remaining contestants.
• Mitch is still in last by 20 points.
• massey jumped into the top 10 from 11th to 6th.
• That One Guy and Ezequiel both fell 8 spots out of the top 10 to 16th and 17th.

Next week: Liana basically declares war on Deshawn.

My episode observations:

• I can't believe Erika's last minute plan to get the 6 players other than Liana and Shan to split the vote and create a tie worked.  Even though it wasn't needed because Shan didn't play her idol, Erika did well to cover her butt just in case.
• Funny when Shan started humming her own song and Heather asking her about it.
• Xander not playing his idol again, correctly, was impressive again!  Ice in that guy's veins.
• Did perhaps Liana get her closest ally voted out?  If she didn't tell Shan about the guys' plan to vote out Ricard, and then Shan told Ricard, and then Ricard realizes then he's not top 4, maybe he wouldn't have decided it was time to take out Shan?
• Did anyone notice the somber music that was playing on the revote before Shan was voted out?  Wow, even the producers loved Shan.
• When Shan was leaving, she announces that Ricard would get her winning vote.  Did she mean that?  If she did, didn't she just put a bigger target on his back?

Survivor 41 - week 9 results

Another great episode tonight and despite the little twist of separating the tribe into 2 groups for 2 tribal councils, I felt there was great classic Survivor strategizing and chess moves and keeping us in suspense right to the very end.  Here are the pool points:

• At the immunity challenge, Erika and Xander won individual immunities - 5 points for each of them.
• At the first tribal council, it goes to a tie between Heather and Naseer.  In the tie-breaker, Ricard and Shan turn on Naseer and vote with Erika to blindside him.  2 points each to Erika, Heather, Ricard and Shan for voting out Naseer who goes out with an un-played idol.
• At the second tribal council, the show really makes us think that one of the players in the power alliance is going to go home, but Deshawn stays true with his alliance and along with Liana and Danny, they vote out Evvie after Xander decides not to play his idol on her.  2 points each to the 3 of them for voting out Evvie.  Xander was the only one out of the surviving players who didn't vote for the people going home.
• 8 points each to all the contestants that survived tribal council #8.
• Erika earned the most points this week with 15.

In the pool, 35% of entries had Evvie, the 28-year-old PhD student, and 41% had Naseer, the 37-year-old sales manager.

• Jswizzle takes back 1st place and is now the only entry with 7 out of the remaining 8 contestants.
• Mitch takes over last place by 11 points and is the only entry with 1 pick left
• Sara D jumped up 7 spots into the top 10 from 13th to 6th
• Both Ezybilt and The Mexican fell out of the top 10 from 6th to 16th.

Next week: I didn't see a preview for next week... was there one that I missed?

My episode observations:

• Wow, Iliana really hated Xander's face during the immunity challenge!
• It was really funny that Liana tried to pull a Shan and tried to get Xander to temporarily give her his immunity idol.  Xander would have nothing of it.
• Even if Xander really did think there was a good chance that Evvie was going home, would he have played his idol on her to get one of the others out?  I don't think so... there's just still too many in that majority alliance and he would have then been extremely vulnerable.
• Like I'm sure many of you were, I was really puzzled at first why Shan would need to play her extra vote, and then actually split her two votes between Heather and Naseer, if the plan was to get him out.  It was only later on did I realize it must have been for insurance that Heather would still go home in case Naseer played his idol on himself.  But it must have hurt her to use up that advantage to vote out a loyal ally instead of eliminating the person she really wanted to get rid of.  Ricard really worked her over to make her go with his plan.
• What the heck was the answer to that rebus puzzle?  Finale?  Final Three?  I couldn't tell if the tree was part of the puzzle or just a border decoration.

Survivor 41 - week 8 results

Hope everyone is doing well on this Remembrance Day.  Last night was a decent episode, another live tribal, or so it seemed.  Pretty straight forward points breakdown:

• At the reward challenge, the team of Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Evvie, and Ricard win and earn grilled cheese sandwiches and chips!  2 points each to them.
• At the immunity challenge, after a group of 4 sit out to provide rice for the whole tribe, Evvie wins individual immunity.  5 points for her!
• At tribal council, no idols or advantages are played.  There seems to be a split-vote but it was hard to tell exactly who was in on the split.  Anyways, it turns out that Deshawn, Erika, Heather, Liana, Ricard, and Shan vote for Tiffany who is voted out.  2 points to each of them.
• 7 points to everyone who survived Tribal Council #5.
  
• Evvie earned the most points this round with 14.

In the pool, 46% of entries have Tiffany, the 47-year-old teacher:

• Rachel L took over 1st place by one point, and having Evvie helped.
• Adam J is still in last place by 2 points.
• Amanda M jumped into the top 10 from 13th to 8th
• BlueBoxer climbed the highest from 53rd to 33rd and is in a good position to keep climbing.

Next week - fireworks and more chaos as alliances are seemingly broken

My episode observations:

• Xander is definitely not a dumb surfer dude!  Sitting out the reward so he can have time with the emotional losers of the challenge?  Brilliant.  It's unfortunate he didn't look more and find that advantage on the sit-out bench.
• Xander is also pretty ballsy volunteering to sit out the immunity challenge, AND not playing his idol!  He is definitely putting in the work with the others and reading them correctly.  Ricard really tried to get him to play his idol but Xander did not break.
• I love Xander's term - betraydar.
• Shan's pushiness is starting to rub people the wrong way, mainly Heather and Deshawn.  I think she's in trouble next week.
• Heather almost got herself voted out at Tribal by starting the whispering and huddling when everyone else seemed to be set.

 

Survivor 41 - week 5 results

 Wow, what an episode.  It seemed like a lot of stuff happened!  Here's how it breaks down in pool points:

• First, Genie finds the immunity idol clue but doesn't open it.  Since she doesn't open it, it's not hers.  Instead she shows it to her tribe.  Shan and Ricard trick her, and Shan actually opens it and gets the 3-way powerless immunity idol - 1 point to Shan for obtaining this "clue" to how to activate her idol.  She gave her extra vote advantage to Ricard, but it seems like he'll be giving it back next episode.
• At the immunity challenge, Shan says her idol phrase, Xander says his idol phrase, and then the show gives us a holy crap! moment when Naseer out of nowhere says the last idol phrase!  It turns out that he found the clue the day earlier.  So 1 point to Naseer for finding the idol clue, and then 3 points each to Naseer, Shan, and Xander for activating their immunity idols!
• The yellow Yasa tribe wins first place in the immunity challenge.  3 points each to Evvie, Liana, Tiffany, and Xander.
• The blue Luvu tribe wins second place in the immunity challenge.  2 points each to Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Heather, Naseer, and Sydney.
• Yasa chooses to send Shan and Liana on the journey to play the prisoner's dilemma.  Shan protects her vote and Liana risks it and gains a Knowledge is Power advantage.  3 points to Liana for obtaining that.
• At tribal council, Ricard and Shan vote out Genie.  2 points each for Ricard and Shan for controlling the vote.
• Everyone except Genie earns 5 points for surviving week 5.

In the pool, only 15% of entries had Genie, including me.  She was my sleeper pick.  Since not many entries had her that wasn't too much movement in the pool:

• Rachel L moves up one spot and now ties Jswizzle for 1st place and they are the only ones with all picks intact.
• Adam J still holds last place by only 2 points.
• TONE jumps 30 spots to 23rd.
• Jeff Probst fell 38 spots from 12th to 50th.  Poor Jeff!

Next week: merge!  but, only sort of?

My episode observations:

• Ricard and Shan are so devious together, tricking Genie into not opening that idol clue.  Genie must have been REALLY kicking herself for not opening the clue.  She would have got the immunity that she needed and would have lived another day.  What puzzles me is how she didn't figure out that all 3 idol phrases were spoken and now Shan has the activated idol and she was tricked?
• Danny and Deshawn are really thinking smart and meta. They are catching on that mostly guys are getting voted out so that when the merge happens the women will outnumber them.  Unfortunate for them that Naseer is not on their meta-level.
• That Knowledge is Power advantage really confuses me.  If she asks someone about their idol and that person lies about not having it, does a producer walk out of nowhere and say that they're lying and force them to give Liana their idol??  Someone, please reply in the blog and help explain it to me and everyone.
• Really anxious to find out what the heck kind of merge or swap is going to happen next week!

Till next week,

Jay

Survivor 41 - week 4 results

Episode spoilers below!

What an episode! Best in the season so far in my mind. The immunity challenge was hilarious and the ending was great.  Let's break down the pool points:

• The first reward challenge of the season starts pretty early in the episode.  The green Ua tribe wins first place. 2 points each to Genie, JD, Ricard, and Shantel.
• Behind a great performance from Tiffany, the yellow Yasa tribe comes in second. 1 point each to Evvie, Liana, Tiffany, and Xander.
• At the immunity challenge, despite a slow start, Zander has a clutch throwing performance in the end to earn the yellow Yasa tribe first place. 3 points to each of them.
• And despite Danny and Deshawn hilariously trying to sabotage their team and throw the challenge, Naseer almost single-handedly wins second place for the blue Luvu tribe. 2 points each for Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Heather, Naseer, and Sydney.
• Before tribal council, Shan convinces JD to once again give her his extra vote advantage as a sign of good faith. He thinks its temporary. Shan makes it permanent, as we find out later. 3 points for Shan for pulling this off and acquiring the advantage from JD permanently!
• At tribal council, Genie decides not to use her Shot in the Dark die and votes for JD as Shan told her to do. Shan and Ricard blindside JD, and didn't even have to use Shan's new extra vote advantage. 2 points each for Genie, Ricard, and Shan for pulling off this blindside and all voting for JD.
• 4 points for each remaining contestant this week.
• Shan earns the most points this week with 11.
  

In the pool, 45% entries had JD.  And:

• 3 entries remain perfect with all 8 picks intact.
• Jswizzle is one of those entries, currently in 1st place
• Rachel L and The Mexican are the other 2 of those entries in 2nd and 3rd by a few points.
• SneakyIdol is still in last place by just a point.
• Both Erika G and JaeZ jumped the highest from 69th to 13th
• Both AJ and Jmarling fell the most from 21st to 78th.

Next week: it looks like Genie finds an advantage

My episode observations:

• Was this the right move for Shan to blindside JD? It seems JD would have went to the end with her. Genie can easily join another alliance in a swap or merge.
• Either way, huge props to Shan for convincing JD to give her his advantage and then voting him off. This is up there with the time when Erik gave away his immunity and then got voted off in the Fans vs Favorites season a long time ago but the show keeps bringing up as one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history.
• The baby turtles flopping their way to the ocean was pretty cool to see.
• I love Genie's comment about the local outdoor expert being a cross between "Cirque du Soleil and the best stripper you've ever seen."
• Deshawn's commentary during the immunity challenge was hilarious, explaining how much he was trying to sabotage their team, but Naseer and Erika ruining it.  And retying the knots!!
• So, now that Brad got voted out with part of the 3-way immunity idol, will Zander never get to vote again until there are 6 players left? That's a looooong way away. He's pretty screwed if this is the case.

Please, let me know your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!