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!

Survivor 36 Ghost Island - final results

Spoilers below!

History was made tonight!  A tie for the first time!  I’m pretty sure that’s why Jeff Probst explains what happens in a tie situation at the end of the previous season of Survivor.  Here’s how all the craziness broke down:

•  At the first immunity challenge, Wendel wins combined immunity/reward – 5 points for him.  He lets Sebastian and Angela feast with him.
• At the first tribal council, Sebastian gets scared of Dom’s theatrics with a fake immunity idol and doesn’t play his advantage to vote him out.  Well, they needed one more person to vote with him and Donathan anyway.  Ultimately, Sebastian gets voted out by his alliance.  Angela, Dom, Laurel, and Wendel voted for him and get 2 points each.
• Angela, Dom, Donathan, Laurel and Wendel earn 5 points each for surviving the 1^st tribal council.
• At the second immunity challenge, Wendel wins again – 5 points for him.
• At the second tribal council, Wendel gives his immunity idol to Laurel – 5 points for her!  Her and Dom play their idols but it didn’t matter – everyone voted for Donathan.  2 points each for Angela, Dom, Laurel and Wendel for voting unanimously and also 5 points to each of them for surviving the second tribal council.
• At the third immunity challenge, Dom wins – 5 points for Dom.
• At the third tribal council, although Dom toyed with the idea of facing Wendel in the fire-making challenge himself, he chooses to take Laurel to the final 3 and pits Angela against Wendel in the fire-making challenge.  Wendel wins, and Angela is eliminated.
• 5 points each to Dom, Laurel, and Wendel for surviving the 3^rd tribal council.
• At the final tribal council, for the first time in Survivor history, there is a tie for winning votes between Dom and Wendel at 5 each.  Laurel is forced to cast the last winning vote, which has Wendel’s name on it.  5 points goes to Wendel for being the last one standing after the final tribal council plus 12 total bonus points for each winning vote cast for him at 2 points each.
• Wendel earns a total of 46 points in the final episode, and Dom and Laurel tie at 24.

Here are all the prize winners in the pool:

• 1^st place, $470:  Koby – his first prize win since joining the pool in season 32.
• 2^nd place, $295:  ME!!  The last time I won a prize was 2^nd place in season 12!!  And it was a measly $67 back then!
• 3^rd place, $175:  Rene Sr – before this he’s won a 4^th place (season 18) and a last place (season 21)
• 4^th place, $120:  StarvinDarvin – his first win since joining the pool in season 33.
• 5^th place, $60:  Cory Pro – looks like Cory’s first prize since joining in season 27.
• Middle place, $30:  Cathy and Nikki Pro share this for $15 each.  Both have been previous prize winners.
• Last place, $30:  Colleen L – looks like it’s her first prize since joining in season 27.
• All winners: please confirm with me if I can e-transfer the prize money to your email accounts, or some other method.

Next season:  Davids vs Goliaths!  Sounds fun.  Gotta be better than this Ghost Island idea crap.

My episode observations:

• What the hell was Angela thinking, telling Dom about Sebastian’s plan to vote Dom out?  Why didn’t she go along with that plan??  Laurel and Donathan are clearly not the only ones to blame for letting Dom and Wendel get to the end.  It was like another Redemption Island season where Boston Rob’s followers would not turn against him!  At least this season there were 2 “Robfathers” so it at least made it interesting.
• If Sebastian had any strategy, he would respect strategy, and not cry about getting fooled by Dom and his fake idol.
• Yes, Laurel’s path took her to the end, but she got no votes.  She should have taken a risk by turning on Dom and Wendel earlier, because there was 100% chance she was not going to win against them anyway.  In hindsight.

Survivor 36 Ghost Island - week 4 results

Click here to see week 4 results

Well, that was a pretty open and shut case.  No special magical items to turn the tides.  Just straight up which of the 3 original Malolo’s is going home?  Here’s what happened in terms of pool points:

• The new Naviti tribe wins reward.  2 points each for Angela, Chris, Domenick, Donathan, James, Laurel, Libby and Wendel.
• They send Stephanie to Ghost Island but no advantage or idol is waiting for her there.
• At the immunity challenge, the new Naviti tribe wins again.  This time 3 points each to all the contestants mentioned above.
• At tribal council, Michael and Jenna jump on the bandwagon and vote with Bradley, Chelsea, Desiree, Kellyn, and Sebastian – sending Stephanie home.  2 points each for everyone that voted for her.
• 5 points each for everyone that survived the week.

In the pool, only 2 entries remain with all 9 picks and those entries are:

• Cait&Josh2 and Greg M, both tied for 1^st place.
•  Colleen L has a perfect losing streak so far and is the only entry with only 4 picks remaining, and she owns last place
• Mary S jumped up 3 spots into 3^rd and Eva C jumped 4 spots into 7^th.
• Nikki Pro fell 12 spots from 11^th to 23^rd

Next week: they’re dropping buffs again?  Forming 3 tribes of 5?

My episode observations:

• What a pitching arm Chris has!  That was incredible.
• Again, Ghost Island is lame and is a waste.  Total wasted opportunity to give the underdogs something to even the odds.
• I think this is the most we’ve heard Chelsea and Jenna speak.
• My winner pick was Stephanie 2 weeks ago.  Now I have no clue who to pick.  The original Naviti has the numbers so I’m going to say… nevermind I think Libby will win.  No one will see her as a threat, but she does has some brains and strategy to her.

Survivor 36 Ghost Island - week 3 results

Click here to see week 3 results

Decent episode!  Unfortunately, the ending was the result of last week’s tribe swap that was probably too early.  But it was a good fight by the underdogs nonetheless.  Here’s how the pool points were awarded:

•  Dom receives the legacy advantage willed to him by the ghost of Morgan.  5 points for him.
• The new Naviti tribe wins the reward challenge.  2 points each for Angela, Chris, Dom, Donathan, James, Laurel, Libby, and Wendel.
•  Then the same tribe wins the immunity challenge. 3 points for each of them.
• At tribal council, Michael plays his idol, but incorrectly for Stephanie.  The original Naviti tribe of Bradley, Chelsea, Desiree, Kellyn and Sebastian vote out Brendan and they get 2 points each for sticking together and getting the job done.
• 5 points each for everyone that survived this tribal council which excludes Brendan.
• Domenick earns the most points with 15, thanks to the legacy advantage given to him.

In the pool, Brendan was picked the most (83 entries), and:

• Only 5 entries remain with all 9 picks
• 3 entries are tied for 1^st.
• Colleen L ties BillyJo for last place.
• Mary S jumped 33 spots into 6th, and MSGM jumped up 21 spots to 10^th.
• Eric fell 15 spots from 1^st to 16^th.

Next week:  Jenna flirts with Sebastian, Donathan starts to like Chris, Desiree becomes a human torpedo.

My episode observations:

• Kellyn really did make the right call on Ghost Island by not gambling with her vote!
• What the heck?  When Michael first announced he was going to play the idol for both him and Brendan, and then Bradley made a disappointed face, he still played it for Stephanie?  We must have missed what he saw.  I did like his lie though.  He stretched the idol as far as he could take it, and it made sense.
• I think Domenick made a mistake by telling Laurel about his idol so fast.  She could have been acting that she was on his side  But she seems genuine, so we’ll see if that backfires on him or not.  She could tell Donathan and then Donathan could tell Chris next week.
• This was the first time Ghost Island didn’t save someone from Tribal Council.  If it had continued to work as it had been, and Kellyn was taken away from tribal council, it would have made the episode a whole lot more interesting with 4 vs 4.  Sucks for Brendan.
• What a perfectly executed give-and-go play by Chris and Wendel at the reward challenge.  I can appreciate that.  Laurel was a beast in that challenge also.
• What a comeback from Naviti in the immunity challenge!  Jeff said it himself – never give up!

Till next week!

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - FINAL results

Okay, let's go over the pool results first.  Andrea came back from Redemption Island but was immediately voted out again which did not make a huge impact on the pool, besides creating more distance between entries.  Entries that had Rob got double points (180) for the final tribal council.  

Everyone who won a prize were first time winners!  LeeAnn squeaked by Devin to take 1st place, forcing him to take 2nd.  Amy jumped from 5th to 3rd, forcing Brad to take 4th.  Kristie had no competition for last place.  So the prizes are:

• 1st, $225:  LeeAnn (played 3 seasons)
• 2nd, $90:  Devin (played 1 season)
• 3rd, $70:  Amy (played 5 seasons)
• 4th, $45:  Brad (played 3 seasons)
• Last, $20:  Kristie (played 1 season)

Prize winners, please send me your mailing address where I can mail a cheque, OR preferably, your email address if you have Interac e-Transfer setup.  I prefer e-Transfers because I don't have to worry about cheques getting lost in the mail, and it gets taken out of my bank account right away.  I just completed my very first two e-transfers recently (both sending and receiving) and it was quick and easy.

Okay, some stuff I want to say about the season finale in a very random order:

1. I'm tired of the "I'm over here and you're over there" reasonings for finalists used against the jury.  If a finalist hasn't played the game well enough to give themselves a good chance to win the game at the end, they might as well be sitting on the jury anyway.  What I'm saying is, riding coattails will almost never get you enough votes to win at the end so you must as well try something drastic to put you in a winning position.  I think it's really embarrassing for finalists who get no votes.
2. I was very bitter when I only found out at the reunion show that Ashley and Natalie knew that Rob had the immunity idol.  Had I known, I wouldn't have been cursing at the girls for not flipping on Rob during that tribal council of 5 remaining.
3. Russell, at the reunion show, should have given his tribe a harder time about throwing the challenge, nailing home the fact that soon afterwards they lost every immunity challenge and got picked off one by one.
4. I think everyone was disappointed with Phillip's speech to the jury.  We were all hoping he would play the "faked insanity to insure my place at the finals" card, but it turns out he really is that... strange (as a nice way of putting it).
5. Natalie and Phillip actually thought they had chances of winning after admitting they owe their success to Rob?  Dave was very accurate during his jury speech to the other jurors regarding this.
6. As Probst said it, Rob played the most perfect game in the history of Survivor.  He had total control over his large alliance, wasn't a jerk to anyone (which cost Russell $1M during his first season), found the immunity idol and kept it a secret (mostly), and even won individual immunity challenges himself.  Congrats Rob.

Survivor is still successful enough to do another season!  Two previous contestants are returning again (I'd rather they didn't), as well as Redemption Island (not sure how I feel about that).  I hope this season isn't full of blind sheep following the shepherd - too scared or stupid to pull drastic moves - like the last two seasons.  See you all again in September for season 23.  Hope you all enjoyed and still enjoy the pool.

Have a great summer,

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 13 results

Just when Rob thought he had his pecking order, Ashley goes and wins immunity, forcing him to choose between voting off Natalie or Grant.  He chose Grant, and that may actually be his undoing.  Team Natley (or Ashalie) might decide to get rid of Rob before the finals, with help from whoever comes back from Redemption Island.  Guess we'll see on Sunday's finale!

In the pool, 30 entries had Grant (tied for most popular with Mike).  Now there are 3 entries that have all 4 remaining contestants.  Devin has a good lead on LeeAnn at the top, but remember everyone: contestants earn points after each tribal council in the finale, with the sole survivor earning double-points.  There's going to be lots of action in the pool on Sunday.  Don't miss it!

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 12 results

This one was the family episode.  Steve got eliminated at the RI duel, and Mike won, choosing to give everyone on Rob's tribe (who all voted him and his friends out) time with their loved ones.  It may pay off for Mike in the end, but it probably won't make a difference.  We'll see.  Rob wins immunity, beating Grant - the NFL player!  My calves would have started cramping on the fifth trip up those stairs.  They blindside Andrea and send her packing.  I think Phillip actually does have a chance of beating Rob in the end - well, he's the only one that has a chance, unless Matt, Ralph, or Mike makes it to the finals which will make things interesting.

In the pool, 18 entries had Andrea.  LeeAnn is the only one with the remaining 5 picks left, and is looking to take first place from Devin in the next few shows.  Kristie is still in last at the bottom.  If the Redemption Island survivor comes back and actually survives a tribal council (or even wins), it will shake up the pool pretty good.  

See y'all next week.

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 11 results

Another double-knockout!  But it was pretty predictable until the very end:  Philip goes a little nuts again when he finds his shorts; Julie got eliminated from the game on Redemption Island; Grant wins immunity and reward which he shares with Rob and Andrea; and Steve tries to persuade the girls to blindside Rob while they still have a chance, but like the mindless sheep of last season they chose to stick to their alliance which will doom them in the end.  Ralph gets voted out first (he actually spelled someone's name right - Rob - on his ballot for once), and then they have a surprise immunity memory challenge right afterwards which Rob wins, so Steve gets voted out.  All of Russell Hantz's old tribe got voted out after they threw an immunity challenge to get rid of him.  His revenge is pretty much complete (unless one of them comes back from Redemption Island and wins the game).

In the pool, 8 entries had both Ralph and Russel, including Kristie at the bottom who normally would have sealed last place prize but Redemption Island might change that.  Devin remains at the top and is one of four entries that have 5 of the last 6 contestants left on the show.  Again, Redemption Island could switch things up pretty good, even at the top.  It doesn't look like anyone will be reinserted from RI into the game next week, but most likely the week after that.

Quote of the night: "YOU CAN'T STAND THE TRUTH!!" -- Phillip (NOT Jack Nicholson)

Have a great week everyone,

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 10 results

Another boring episode in my opinion.  David (the "puzzle master") got eliminated from the game in a Redemption Island 3-way challenge and became the 1st jury member.  The show, including Probst at Tribal Council, tried to flesh out a racial conflict that really had no meat and was just a weak assumption on Philip's part.  It's sad the show has come to that.  I can't say Redemption Island is a failure yet, but where are the reward challenges where the winner has to choose 2 people to bring, or the immunity challenges where they pick each other off by smashing objects that belong to each contestant?  Those are the events that really shook things up and made the show unpredictable.  These last 3 tribal councils really had no surprise in them.  The survivor of Redemption Island will change nothing unless making it to the final three - and even then, does he/she really deserve to win the whole thing?

Julie from Russell's old tribe got voted out and 16 pool entries had her.  Devin is now the solely in first place but there are many entries with 5 picks left waiting to take that from him.  DW still barely owns last place.  Gisele's #2 entry fell 6 spots but her #1 entry jumped 7.

In the next episode, we get to see Matt whine more, which I'm getting tired of.  I'm also finding Philip less and less entertaining.

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 9 results

Did I see a bit of Russell in Rob tonight in the way he's controlling his tribe?  I liked it.  Actually, I shouldn't be surprised - Rob controlled his tribe or alliance the same way in his last two seasons in the game, and sometimes we forget the villain that he was.  Anyway, there were two tribal councils tonight (it was like two episodes combined) - I guess the show didn't want to prolong the inevitable demise of Russel's old tribe.  Mike was voted off in the first tribal council, David was voted off in the second, and they join Matt on Redemption Island.  MAN, Ralph cannot spell - did he spell Phillip "Philite"?  Russell is probably enjoying the show immensely at home, seeing his former tribe lose a member every week since they threw a challenge to vote him off.

In the pool, things got shaken up quite a bit.  Brad and Devin grabbed the top two spots, and Rachel, the only other entry with 6 picks left, jumped 8 spots to hopefully challenge them in the future.  DW still has last place locked down at the bottom.  Only 6 entries didn't have either Mike or David.

I wonder what's gonna happen next week at Redemption Island.  We don't have a clue.  It'd be neat if more than 2 people came back from the Island into the game.

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 8 results

Fool Me Once...

So Matt beats Sarita at the Redemption Island duel, gets reinserted into the game, becomes part of the merge, gets tempted by Mike to switch sides with a great offer of final three, but instead decides to trust backstabber Rob and therefore gets his stupid ass voted out by his old tribe again.  Back to Redemption Island he goes.

In the pool, every entry that had Matt got him back but lost him again, so the number of picks left for all entries didn't change.  However, remaining contestants still earn points because they "survived" another tribal council.  This resulted is some small ranking changes.  Shiyan is barely keeping first place at the top and DW claimed last place for now.

Matt has a chance to get back in the game if he keeps winning challenges, but I personally am not rooting for him anymore.  He doesn't deserve a third chance in my opinion (even though he is one of my picks!).

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 7 results

So Stephanie got beat by Matt on Redemption Island at a game of Memory.  She's history.  Rob's tribe won the immunity/reward challenge and it was pretty ingenious of him finding the hidden immunity idol clue right away and really funny when he threw the clue into the volcano!!  Russell's old tribe (notice how I don't use their weird and hard-to-remember tribe names) decided to keep their tribe strong by keeping David over Sarita.

In the pool, 16 entries had Sarita, but not Shiyan, who now claimed sole top spot.  There's still a lot of game left and anything can happen.

Next week, the survivor of the Redemption Island duel will rejoin the game, and there will be a merge as well!  Should be a good episode.

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 6 results

Well Matt continues his winning streak on Redemption Island by eliminating Krista.  Meanwhile, Stephanie tries to convince her tribe to vote off Sarita instead, but when they lost the immunity challenge big time, the tribe chose  Sarita's trustworthiness over "Stifinie's" physical ability.  Not much else happened worth noting.

In the pool, 14 entries had Stephanie, including the top two, so no one has a perfect entry anymore.  Kristie still has a hold on last place but more have come down to give her a run.  Gisele's #2 entry jumped 6 spots, while John dropped 10.

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 5 results

Well, Phillip seemed to display a little more intelligence and restraint.  Matt won his third Redemption Island duel in a row.  After Rob's team won the immunity/reward challenge, it was pretty wily and cunning for him to swap the new immunity clue that he and Grant found with the vague, first one that Rob found earlier.  After Russell's old tribe lost the challenge, it was no surprise that either Krista or Stephanie was gonna go.

Only 17 entries in the pool had Krista.  There are two entries remaining at the top with all picks intact, and Kristie has claimed last place all to herself, for now.

Looks like Phillip is gonna raise some hell next week.

Jay

Survivor Redemption Island - week 4 results

Russell's Survivor run has finally come to an end.  Matt beat him on Redemption Island, and as most of you saw, he was anticipating lasting much longer.  Rob cunningly created an opportunity to keep his tribe busy while he raced around like crazy to find an immunity idol.  After Rob's tribe lost another immunity challenge (another challenge where I think having Matt would have helped; speaking of the challenge, I'm tired of seeing challenges where the same people can do multiple tasks; every member should have to participate) Philip became annoying again but not annoying enough to save Kristina from being voted out.  It was only a matter of time for her.

In the pool, 20 out of 45 entries had Kristina.  Only 3 are left perfect at the top now, and 3 remain tied for last place.

In next week's preview, we see Philip acting nuts as usual and also perhaps some conflict starting in Russell's old tribe.  A little appeal has been lost now that Russell's gone.

Jay