Survivor 34: "Game Changers" | RIP Dan Kay, Survivor: Gabon

[dbunting]

8 hours ago, Gertrude said:

Next week is what is interesting me so much. It's entirely possible that there is only one player eligible to receive votes. That would suck a lot, even though it might be exciting in the moment. Imagine not getting any votes at tribal but being the default vote out anyway no matter what anyone really wants. I think the probability of that is low, but it's not unbelievably low.

Yeah, Tai has 2 idols, Troyzan  and Sarah(sort of) one each, then immunity challenge and someone is odd person out, Cirie or Aubry. The preview shows Tai seemingly giving away his idol to Culpepper, will see how true that is. 

Wouldn't it be funny if this challenge was a quiz type of one, and CIrie ended up winning it.

[dbunting]

Well it played out pretty close to what I think a lot of us expected. Culpepper kept winning challenges, Troyzan kept riding his coat tails, Tai couldn't handle the mental part of the game, Aubrey didn't have the numbers, Cirie was odd person out and Sarah wins.

The final six tribal was interesting. Poor Cirie goes out without actually getting a single vote! This kind of thing is what can happen with that many advantages and idols out there. Tai and Aubrey had the right of it, it was Aubrey they were targeting. They just had no idea about Troyzan and his idol.

Now in retrospect i think Sarah was right to not go with Tai and Aubrey. She might not have beaten Aubrey in the finale. I haven't watched the reunion show yet so I don't know if it came up but Aubrey may have won it based on the "relationship" issues that kept coming up on Sarah during final deliberations. 

Culpepper, i think he could have won it if he had used his head instead of getting emotional. The previous tribal council showed, or seemed to show that everyone was against Tai for flipping and lying, so what do you do, you get rid of him and keep the biggest player all season in Sarah? It shows how confident he was and how little he thought of her. He would likely have won it almost by default, kind of how Cirie got the boot!

Sarah, i am ok with her winning, she was in charge for a large portion of the game. She found advantages and got another one by playing the game properly. She seemed to be laser focused on what her plans were and stuck with them, only losing her cool the one time with Cirie and then apologized right after once she realized she was wrong. Don't know if I would call her or any other of the final five game changers but it was still an entertaining season.

[Dr. Pepper]

The season turned pretty boring midway and I'm surprised I stuck with it.  I mostly stuck just to see what happened to Cirie and it was a gut punch that she was voted out by default.  Lady can't catch a break.  I would have boycotted the show forever if Culpepper had one. Gag. He is such a nasty person who tries to pretend he's a good guy.  I can't stand the Ozzies and Culpeppers of the game acting as though being able to win immunity challenges is all.  Ozzy with his whole "you're in charge of your own destiny" never ceases to annoy me.  Um, no.  Glad Sara pointed out that everyone has different skills and you have to use those to your advantage.  

Anyway, bummer of a season, Sara deserved it though she didn't make for an entertaining winner.  I kinda wish all the early boots just come right back and start over so we have a thoroughly entertaining season.  Are there enough winners to be able to pull a winners season together?

[Gertrude]

Yeah, notice it's always alpha males that value challenge dominance? I'm not saying that physicality isn't important because it is a pillar of the game and is capable of getting you far, but man, it's not everything and I think we've seen that the social aspect pretty much always wins out. Is there a winner whose game was mainly physical over social? And I was unsurprised to see Culpepper's nature come out at the end. And he was so defeated during that final tribal and whiny at the reunion. Trial lawyer experience didn't really help, did it? We TOLD you we didn't want to see Troyzan and Culpepper on the show again, but you didn't believe we knew what we were doing when we didn't vote for them. I can see them maaaaybe wanting Culpepper back again (please no) but I can't imagine Troyzan is coming back again.

Sarah was a good winner, just not very dynamic or engaging. I was rooting for her anyway since she's a home-town girl. Her and Denise Stapley. She was driving for a lot of the second half and she made good decision, made good relationships. I mean, my heart was always with Cirie, but I didn't have that much hope on that score.

Cirie's boot played out just like I hoped it wouldn't. I can't imagine that Cirie would have made it to the final, so in that case, she might as well have gone out like she did. It's fitting of her legend because god-damned, she's a slippery one. Voted out when not one single vote was against her that tribal. Her and Sandra are undisputed titans of the game to me.

ETA: AHA! Just looked at a list of winners and Mike Holloway is a winner that got through on sheer physical dominance. Everyone wanted him out but he kept surviving and it won people over in the end. He was the only one that struck me that way. We've had many physical winners, but they won because of their social and strategic skills.

[Slurktan]

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I agree with the notion that physicality doesn't win over the social aspect but it is fascinating that the contestants themselves seem to think it is up until the final council in almost every season.  They always target the strong alpha males post merge and never the shady types. If I were on the show I'd target the Sara types over the alpha males every single time.  Alpha males you can play off against one another.

[dbunting]

3 hours ago, Slurktan said:

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I agree with the notion that physicality doesn't win over the social aspect but it is fascinating that the contestants themselves seem to think it is up until the final council in almost every season.  They always target the strong alpha males post merge and never the shady types. If I were on the show I'd target the Sara types over the alpha males every single time.  Alpha males you can play off against one another.

Speaking my language! challenge beasts seem to get all kinds of respect but never win in the end. I think it's because most players see themselves as smart, cunning, witty, but can't relate to the challenge beast so they don't respect them. They don't think they earned it as much as say Cochran who would never be considered a beast.

[Whiskeyjack]

Went into the night cheering for Cirie, and it sucked how she went out. 

That said, thought Sarah deserved to win - she played a good game.  So no complaints I guess.  Only thing is that, while she played well strategically, there's something about her that's kind of unlikable.  For me, at least. 

Very happy that Culpepper didn't win.  The way he treated Tai was bullshit.

[Whiskeyjack]

Also, next year's theme might be one of the dumbest they've ever had - Heroes, Healers, and Hustlers? 

I know its just an excuse to split people up, but at least with things like White Collar, Blue Collar, No Collar there was some logic to it.  How do categories like Heroes vs. Hustlers even fit together, outside of both starting with the letter "H"?

[SpaceChampion]

Apparently Andrea met Zeke a few years ago on a Survivor superfan's youtube show called Survivor Brooklyn.  Also Sophie Clarke.  But some fans seem to think she developed a chip on her shoulder regarding Zeke from it, and it might have carried over to this season.