Tag: Phoebe

Australian Survivor – Tues, Sept 20

Instead of starting with the awkward fallout of the attempt to vote out Kristie, we begin with kidnapped Sue’s introduction to her new blue tribe.
They must all have been wondering which of them Sue was there to send back to yellow, but it looks like that’s one twist the producers aren’t playing … for now.
Former yellow Nick gives her a hug but you just know it’s all going to blow up later on, as it did with JL.
At blue Kristie knows she had a lucky escape, but tells the camera she still has Phoebe as an ally. Oh, Kristie – I fear Conner’s naivety has rubbed off on you.
As Kate sunbakes on the beach we get a glimpse of her armpit and she’s no longer wearing a bandaid.
As Phoebe and Kristie chat the shelter they’ve built over the fire catches alight and thank goodness for Kristie’s quick thinking or their sleeping shelter could have gone up in flames a la Survivor Amazon.
At yellow, Nick starts chatting to Sue about why she voted him out – in front of the whole tribe, mind you – and it escalates quickly. Everyone else pretends they are off in the jungle with the chooks.

Immunity challenge time
This is a challenge they’ve used a few times on US Survivor (including Second Chance), involving spinning quickly to retrieve puzzle, then staggering drunkenly to a balance beam and so on. A few people usually get so dizzy they fall over.
The winner gets immunity and a Hungry Jack’s breakfast (with coffee) eaten by a waterfall.
Blue has to sit out more than half the team and it’s Sam v Conner to begin. Conner does really well, despite looking like he’s going to throw up at one point. Poor Sam takes a hard fall on to one of the poles and it looks like his own pole would have been injured in the process.


Kate then leads Magic Matt and she kills it. OMG – yellow is in the lead. Kristie takes on Brooke and keeps the lead. It’s Phoebe versus JL for blue and JL is a little dynamo, making up a tonne of ground.
The puzzle makers are Magic Matt versus Kate and while JLap says it’s neck and neck it looks like Matt is way ahead. Interestingly Kate did the puzzle last time and was beaten by Nick – does no one else want to have a go at puzzles and put a target on themselves?
Poor old yellow has to head back to camp without so much as a nibble of a hash brown.
Phoebe tells the camera: “The strangest thing is I trust Kristie the most in this tribe but, strategically, I have to vote for her.”

At the waterfull, everyone discovers the way to make Hungry Jack’s coffee taste good is to go 30 days or so without caffeine. Wonder if they will all have massive headaches a few hours later? Sue is stoked to a) be safe and b) eat something that’s not rice and beans and c) to wash herself in fresh water.


At yellow, Kate and Conner do an awkward yet rather sweet exchanging of trust with each other, involving placing invisible “trust” in each other’s hand. Aww – you wouldn’t see that on US Survivor.


Meanwhile, Phoebe is still playing Kristie, telling her they can pull Conner in to vote out Kate. Kristie says she just wants to have a chat with Kate and Phoebe’s mind works frantically to come up with a plausible reason this is a bad idea. But Kristie goes ahead and Kate, honest Kate, makes it clear the vote was Phoebe’s idea. Uh oh!
I know Phoebe is just playing the game and has done well to save herself from a few raw deals, but I can’t help but be Team Kristie on this one, due to her quirky, slightly awkward vibe.
“She’s the black widow; she’s weaving a web of lies,” Kate tells Kristie.
Conner is happy Phoebe and Kristie are mistrusting each other and he’s telling both of them what they want to hear.
Kristie tells the camera she’s determined to not be a goat and to make a move by taking out one of the biggest plays in the game. Ah, it’s refreshing to hear someone talking who’s actually watched Survivor. (And a nice little evil chuckle at the end of her spiel.) I don’t know if it will work but at least she’s trying.


Tribal council time
JLap again starts by reminding them how much they suck, having not won a challenge since the tribe shuffle. JLap desperately tries to get Kristie to say something bad about her tribemates or her fears but she won’t bite.
“This is very cryptic,” JLap smiles, shaking his head slowly.
Conner says it’s important they are strong in challenges as they still don’t know when the merge will be – but they must be thinking it’s the next day.
The votes are read: Kristie, Pheobe (sic – seriously – can’t she tell them how to spell her name), Phoebe (that must be Kate because she spelt it correctly before) and Pheb’s (ick).
Well played, Kristie!
It’s hugs all round and Kristie tells Phoebe, “I love you, babe”.

On Sunday: After 32 days it’s merge time at what looks like the Survivor auction. Yay!

Phoebe afterwards: Give Kristie credit for outplaying her and takes it with grace.

So, now the question is, what will happen to the three remaining yellows when they merge with blue to create the black tribe? I kind of hope Kristie teams up with Nick. I can see Kate getting along with Lee, Sam and El but whether there will be time for her to forge a bond is unclear – and she’s an obvious threat.



Facebooktwitterredditmail

Australian Survivor – Mon, Sept 19 – are you Team Phoebe or Team Kristie?

Yellow tribe arrives back at camp after the Craig blindside and everyone quizzes Phoebe about the where and when of the idol.
Kristie – who acted so well earlier – awkwardly lies that she only had an inkling that Phoebe had the idol. Even Conner – dear, sweet Conner – thinks her pants are on fire, and he trusts everyone. Sue is not happy. And that’s what you get when you don’t split the votes, people!
It’s Day 28 at blue tribe camp and everyone seems a bit chirpier. They even get to gaze at a rainbow as they talk about wanting to win yet another challenge.


Over at yellow, Kristie is up a tree trying to fish using Rohan’s dacks as a net. Her plan would work better if she stood in the water. And then we get a whiff of Phoebe – rocking a massive topknot – thinking of turning on ally Kristie, who is “a bit weird”. Uh, no, weird in Survivor is Phillip Sheppard, not Kristy of the expressive eyebrows.
Sue and Coma Kate go for a stroll and Sue has to fill Kate in about Kristie’s “Academy Award-winning performance”, because Kate is one of those always think the best of people types (as you would be, after her experience). Sue has the shits about the havoc Phoebe has wreaked on her alliance. How dare Phoebe play the game when the odds are against her!
(Side note: My, we’re getting a lot of footage of pounding waves tonight – does someone’s camp get washed away later? Or did they run out of wildlife shots?)

Challenge time
And we don’t even get a “Come on in, guys”. Blue team cracks up when they see yellow enter without Craig – that kind of “I’m horrified and shouldn’t laugh but I can’t stop” laughing.
The challenge is a memory test – yay! I wonder if the producers had to drop some of the bigger, more elaborate challenges they had planned because yellow has been decimated. First tribe to five wins.
Blue has to sit out FOUR people: Kylie, Elle, Flick and Lee. Magic Matt and Nick should ace this – plus blue has had a lot more to eat – but at least yellow is in with a chance.
The first round involves memorising five objects (coconut, mortar and pestle, tribal statue-type objects) and Nick wins the round against Conner. Conner just can’t catch a break.
Brooke beats Sue – the first person back to the mat with the correct objects wins, so it’s speed as well as memory. Kate beats Magic Matt – ouch, that’s gonna hurt, Matt. Perhaps you should have eaten the chicken.
Phoebe beats Jenna-Louise so at least it’s not a slaughter of yellow, as in previous challenges. Sam and Kristie both stuff it up and get a do over, but as Kristie sprints back her statue topples off the shelf and does not count.
Nick battles Phoebe and super fast Nick kills it. It’s Kate V Brooke and they have to memorise eight items. And Brooke wins and blue gets a meat and seafood feast. Poor yellow – they are doing it tough.


Yellow gets an awesome feast – it’s much better than what they often get on the US Show, with a mixture of fruit and protein. Perhaps it came from the resort a stone’s throw away? Good one, Samoa.
“Eat now and worry about what happens to the guts later,” says Lee.
Cut to poor little depressed yellow team. There is a chicken wandering around but no talk of eating it.
Kristie is determined to pick up everyone’s spirits and goes snail hunting on the beach so they can have a snack. Luckily they taste pretty good. “They do taste like mussel, says Conner.”
As they nibble their snails and put on brave faces, blue team are trying not to throw up from their pig out. “I’ve got the crab sweats,” gasps Nick, clutching a tree for support. He is sooo going to cop it from his students tomorrow morning. Sam spews in view of everyone – charming.

On Day 29 at blue, Kylie decides it’s time to try and forge alliances and get a girl power thing going. Why would you bring that up in front of El, Kylie – don’t you know how tight she is with Lee? Flick and JL are stunned and there is awkward silence. (More Survivor 101: Nod, smile, say “cool bananas” and then report back to your real alliance.) Kylie is really bad at the social aspects of Survivor, but a gun in the physical stuff.


At yellow Sue mentions she reckons Rohan would be a snake in real life – bit harsh, Sue. The talk turns to lying and Kristie again does a bad “I didn’t know Phoebe had the idol for sure). And then the minute Kristie is gone, to try and save her own skin, Phoebe throws Kristie under the bus completely by saying she knew all along.
And then Phoebe pulls Conner aside and tells him Kristie is basically a crazy person and wanted to vote Conner out earlier. Ouchie! Well, now I’m Team Kristie – do we get the merge tonight so she’ll be safe?

Immunity challenge time
“Welcome back,” says JLap, before launching in to: “Phoebe, you’ve had eight losses.” And then they have to stand there shivering while they get rained on.
The challenge involves paddling a boat, opponents pulling a rope to drag the boat back, and doing a puzzle. The winner gets immunity and a huge, secret advantage. Brooke, JL, Sam and Magic Matt sit out for blue.
Nick makes quick work of the knots and drags the yellow boat back quickly. Kate does well but it’s tough in the slippery conditions and they are wearing reef shoes.
The puzzle has a lot of pieces and, from the sidelines, even Magic Matt concedes it looks tough. “Can Nick keep his title as the Puzzle King?” intones JLap. Nick takes a while to find his mojo but gets the hang of it and blue wins yet again. Poor Kate is devo and seems to start crying. Blue team looks awkwardly over at the team they keep thrashing, wishing they could hand over a participation medal.
JLap reveals the secret power is that blue gets to send a player to observe the yellow tribal. Cool. So, obviously, they’ll send Kylie. Just kidding. I’m guessing Matt because they may not trust Nick enough, although he has sworn revenge on his enemies.

Back at camp Phoebe tells everyone they should write “Kristie” and they seem to agree. She and Kate even fist bump on it, although Kate later tells the camera it’s a case of “keep your enemies closer”. Phoebe tells Conner to pretend to Kristie that he’s voting Sue. Conner, who is a terrible liar and is notorious for saying the wrong thing at tribal. We don’t see the tribe discussing how they are going to handle having an interloper from blue at tribal council, but surely they would have.


Tribal council
Ah, the interloper is Brooke! I wish we’d seen the conversation that led to that. Is JLap going to turn around and say: “Surprise – you’re now part of yellow.”
JLap makes them talk about why they each should not be voted out and then, through his questioning, makes it clear to onlooker Brooke that Phoebe has masterminded a lot of the vote outs. Kristie says she didn’t know for sure Phoebe had an idol and the others all say they don’t believe her but she defends with, correctly, saying she never actually saw it. Then she gives an emotional speech referencing her mini meltdown at the start of the game (guess she means the “someone took my bag” Abi-Maria-esque moment”. Kristie is a goner.
And this is when JLap drops the bomb … “Tonight, one of you will be leaving this tribe but you will not be leaving the game.” He reveals Brooke was told before tribal she had the power to take one person back to blue and there will be no vote. Ooh – twisty.


Brooke says she’s been tossing up between Phoebe (but her gameplay is making her nervous) and Sue. And it’s Sue. So, she took Sue in order to have a sacrificial lamb? Sue looks gutted.
As Phoebe rightly says, it’s not 10 versus 4. And then JLap appears wise by tweaking a Mark Twain saying to cheer them up with: “You need to remember what matters is not the size of the tribe in the fight but the size of the fight in the tribe.”

Next time: We see Kate telling Kristie Phoebe betrayed her and it looks like “game on, mole”.

And: So yet another tribal council where no-one goes home. You can tell the producers really want yellow to finally win a challenge, after which they will do a proper merge. I look forward to seeing the Kristie V Phoebe fallout. Will Conner be Team Phoebe and Kate Team Kristie, or vice versa?



Facebooktwitterredditmail

Australian Survivor – Tues, Sept 13

I still can’t get used to having three episodes of Survivor each week. When the US Version returns later this month with Gen X versus Millennials (yeah, I don’t know why they didn’t use Gen Y either) a mere 40 minutes of Survivor a week will pass in the blink of an eye. I am looking forward to seeing how the show covers the contestants being evacuated on day 2 due to a cyclone in Fiji – hopefully we get to see a little behind-the-scenes stuff.

After the Kat vote out we learn that Conner tipped off the core yellow alliance that Andrew was being targeted. And that Craig told Kristie the alliance was targeting Kat. Andrew is none too pleased and vows to have his revenge.
At yellow, Coma Kate wakes everyone by banging on a pan with a stick, just so the producers can get some comedic footage of Andrew attempting to do yoga. Kate says the yoga will prepare them to win the next challenge by lighting a fire in their bellies. Andrew bags it out off camera but has a bit of a go.
Over at blue everyone is sick of eating beans so the talk turns to whether they should eat the chickens, which apparently are not laying eggs.
Nick is pragmatic and says straight up they should eat the chook to give them energy. Most of the others agree, including Flick.
But Magic Matt, who used to work in a poultry shop, wants to let them roam free and says he wouldn’t eat the chicken anyway.
Cue a Nick confessional (we’ve missed you, Nick!) about Matt putting on a nice guy facade because he once had 62kg of chicken nuggets in his freezer.
Then Sam says they could all get food poisoning because they don’t know how to prepare a chook, Lee jumps on board with his new best bro and the backflips spread from there.
It seems no-one wants to be known as the Survivor chook killer. Last US season Mark the Chicken was a key character, but Chester and her friend haven’t been that fun to watch. Kill ’em, I say. Nick notes how much influence Matt has with the tribe.


[EDIT: Australian Survivor has since tweeted the blue still has Chester the Chicken – they let go two other chooks.)

It’s challenge time
Her former tribemates are delighted to see Kat was voted out. Brooke and El rock up carrying the chooks and they try to wheedle JLap into swapping the chooks for other food. He tells them to suck it up and learn how to fish.


We see the challenge is a Survivor classic, Hot Pursuit, where contestants weighed down with sandbags must chase each other through thigh-deep water (this is the one where eventual winner, firefighter Tom Westman, proved a challenge beast in Palau – more here). As people drop out, they pass their sandbags to stronger team members. Lee and Sam should do well here and, yes, blue team starts out at a fair trot. Matt drops out and passes his 6kg bag to Firey Kylie, while Sue is first to go on yellow, handing over to Kate. This must be strategy to not give the bags to the big guys. Andrew flakes out then offers the helpful advice from the sidelines to “pace yourself”. Kylie suggests to blue that she and Nick should detach so that Lee and Sam can sprint to a win. Seems smart. Sam is carrying 24kg by himself. Kristie falls over and Spidey Sam sprints to tag yellow, almost strangling Lee in the process. He finally manages to tag Conner and blue wins a chocolate feast reward.
Coma Kate, who did a great job in the challenge, is sick of losing. “We can’t keep on using the same formula to lose,” she tells the camera. Ooh, please tell me Kat is going to start talking to Phoebe.

Blue team gets to dig into brownies, doughnuts and chocolate milk and, boy, they are going to have such huge sugar crashes a few hours later, not to mention they’ll be rushing into the bushes.
Magic Matt skols a one-litre bottle of chocolate milk to impress the crowd. After the feast the chicken release takes place and poor Nick and Flick are sad to see so much food walking away.
Loser yellow is sad to miss out on chocolate. Kate goes sea cucumber hunting with Phoebe and Kristie but it’s just an excuse to talk strategy.
“I don’t know about you guys but he missed me off at tribal,” Kate tells them, referring to Andrew. This is Kate, who at the start of the season looked like she was too nice to form alliances and would just play a physical game. Yay!
“I’m sick of dragging dead meat along for the ride,” Kate tells the camera.

It’s immunity challenge time
It’s another holding things up challenge. Contestants must hold up a net into which their rivals toss coconuts to make it heavier.
Sue and Craig hold the ropes for yellow while Sam and Flick do it for blue. For yellow the girls prove to be the best coconut chuckers. Blue targets the net of Craig, who performed so well at the challenge where they had to hoist up a tribe member. There is not a single coconut in Sue’s net. After a massive effort Craig’s rope slips through his fingers. What a champion.
Yellow is targeting Sam but now there are quite a few coconuts in Sue’s net and JLap gives her props for doing so well. Craig is cheering her on from the sidelines and she outlasts Sam. We see Andrew struggling just to walk back to pick up a coconut, to add to the “Andrew doesn’t try” edit. Despite her valiant effort Sue can’t outlast Flick, who is only just now getting weight in her net. Blue wins immunity so yellow is back at tribal yet again.

Back at camp, Sue wants to stay loyal to the alliance and, since Andrew wants Kristie gone, they are voting Kristie. Kate tells Andrew she’s going with the flow and we learn that Andrew in fact hates Kate. Kristie and Phoebe sound out Craig about ditching the dead wood that is Andrew and, while he knows where they’re coming from, he’s non-committal.
Eventually Kate broaches the subject of Andy’s loserishness with Craig. They are struggling with their desire to win versus loyalty guaranteeing safety. Andrew knows he’s in trouble and all of a sudden is best buds with Conner, talking about how Kate may flip.
In the shelter Andrew whispers to Kristie that they should do a deal to save each other and he’ll guarantee she and Phoebe safety.
And [this is where my four-year-old wakes up crying because of the heavy rain here in SA and I miss the next five minutes of scheming – aargh! I shall have to catch it on TenPlay]. I can’t see Kristie trusting Andrew, though. It would be a shame if Kate is voted out as she’s a physical force, but she is a huge threat to win the final prize.


At tribal council
JLap starts with much praise for Craig and Sue’s rope-holding prowess before they get into the “who’s in the majority?” speculation. Kate says she’ll be voting with her head, heart and guts. There’s a lot of drawn-out questioning about alliances but no exciting answers.
We only see Andrew write down a K and they are trying to make us think he’s voting for Kate, but surely it’s Kristie.
The votes are Andrew, Kristie, Andy, Kristy, Andrew (so he knows someone flipped), Kristie and Andrew. So I’m guessing Craig joined the girls to vote out Andrew.
Andrew is cheerful enough as his torch is snuffed but as he walks off, mutters: “I didn’t see that coming. Jesus.”

Next time
Craig is still looking for the idol that Phoebe found a few days ago. They really don’t like to give much away with their previews.

The vote reveal
Yes, we see Craig did indeed vote with Kate, Phoebe and Kristie. Andrew tells the camera he has no regrets and recognises he was too cocky.
“What better way to go out of Survivor then to be blindsided,” he says.

Thoughts
Well, I’m glad Kate finally decided to play the game. Craig should be able to talk Sue round and smooth over any talk of broken loyalty as they seem tight. It will be interesting to see where Conner falls in all of this, and what Phoebe does with her idol.



Facebooktwitterredditmail

Australian Survivor – Mon, Sept 12 – Is Phoebe a goner?

Ten are promoting tonight as a Phoebe V Andrew showdown, but no doubt it’s all hype. I do enjoy listening to Andrew’s confessionals and seeing his Penner-style hat.
I hope we do check in with the blue team this episode as we only saw their interaction briefly last night – I miss Nick’s commentary.

Back at camp after tribal, everyone is shocked Rohan actually handed his idol over to Phoebe. We as viewers were shocked, too, because the editors failed to give us an inkling” that Rohan was even considering it.
Craig tells the camera that Rohan sent himself home, and that they are stuffed without his strength in challenges.
Andrew is delighted Rohan went and now has little scrapper Conner in his sights as a middle man who could be potentially be lured by the siren call of Kat, Kristie and Phoebe.
Andrew reckons he’s the only one playing the game. “I have a Ferrari in my brain and the rest are driving Hyundai Excels,” he says. So, Andrew is another one who knows what to say to get the camera time and entertain us here at home. And now we know Hyundai is not a sponsor.
A dispirited Phoebe is trying to chill on the beach when Kat rubs her the wrong way by listing the 1001 things she hated about Rohan. If I were Kat I’d be keeping my distance from Phoebe and showing the yellow core alliances I wanted nothing to do with her. Cosying up to the next obvious target is dangerous.
Meanwhile, Craig has been looking for the hidden immunity idol, using the clue he fluked upon at the shuffle feast, to no avail. (And with Phoebe playing Rohan’s HII last night, does that mean it will be re-hidden on the same beach?)

It’s Day 22 and we get some stunning aerial shots of Samoa (hope this boosts their tourism) and, over at blue beach, everyone is living the sweet life. They have all the comfort items and the fishing gear. Lee is loving having Spidey Sam to buddy around with, but he’s a bit worried he and El will be targets when the good times end. El is confident, however, that give time, they can both play a good social game and forge new alliances.
Back at blue Phoebe goes idol hunting because she has run out of options. Having noticed Craig “collecting firewood” in one area and finding it a bit suss, she has a hunt around and, wallah: idol! Good on you, Phoebe – hopefully you won’t have to play it within the next 24 hours.
Her tribemates are discussing how screwed they’ll be at the challenge without Rohan’s strength, but Andrew’s not fussed: “For me, challenges just get in the way of the real part of the game; which is voting people out.” Hear, hear, Andrew. I really only like the challenges when they go to individual immunity and they are tests of endurance, balance or intelligence, rather than the giant team obstacle course ones that favour the protein shake pack.”
But, since we are getting a lot of Andrew talking, do they try and vote out Phoebe tonight (or Pheobe, as a lot of them think she’s named) and, because they don’t split the votes, Andrew goes home? That would be good TV.

Come on in, guys
JLap has ditched the navy T-shirt for marle grey and his Wolverine-veined forearms are glistening in the sun, but blue tribe doesn’t have time to admire his outfit because they are shocked that Rohan was voted out. Straight away they pick Kat as the mastermind, which is giving Kat more credit than she deserves.
The challenge involves a lot of climbing, balancing and creating ladder rungs, ending in a puzzle. Brooke sits out for blue. Kylie is going to pretty much skip through this challenge and El’s army background will help. I can’t see yellow winning this – they don’t have the co-ordination. I really want an update on Kate’s boil – it might hurt a lot for her to have to stretch her arm so high for this challenge. Poor Sue is a short-arse and can barely reach the top rung.
“Kat, struggling a bit for Vavau,” intones JLap. She teases back: “I’m not struggling, buddy!”
Thanks to Nick, blue knows what the puzzle picture will be almost straight away. He and Magic Matt get to work for blue while it’s Kate and Andrew for yellow.
The result is predictable and yellow will be back at tribal council.

(Side note: The editors are being a bit mean with the Kat edit tonight: First there was a shot of her looking like a dead fish in the shelter, mouth agape and half an eye open, and then in the challenge there was a lingering shot on her backside as she struggled to climb over the obstacle. Just because she’s a “villain” doesn’t mean they need to seek out all the unflattering shots they can find.)


Back at yellow beach, Andrew pulls his alliance buddies plus Conner aside to discuss the vote and has Kat in his sights. He tells Kat that Phoebe is the target.
Coma Kate is worried they are on a sinking ship and has a very roundabout chat with Craig about how much Andrew sucks at challenges because he’s not trying (although I don’t think either of them actually uttters his name). Ooh – this could be fun.
We’d seen Andrew sit out a tonne of challenges but I thought he was just out of shape, but now we learn that he doesn’t even have a go and doesn’t help around camp. Phoebe is gunning for Andrew, too, with her former tribemates. She wants him gone so much she is willing to work with Kat, even though she despises her now.
“He’s shit at challenges,” (now there’s a word you wouldm’t hear on US Survivor) Phoebe tells Kat and Pigtails Kristie, then confesses she found the idol. Kat doesn’t believe her – just show her, Phoebe. Saying “I swear on my life; why would I lie” doesn’t cut it on Survivor. The three of them approach Conner to try and get something started when Andy, once again, appears to stymie the conversation, as he does so often this episode.


Tribal council
JLap has ditched the chinos for some smart casual shorts. I am not a fan of him mixing up the wardrobe. He prods for comments about how surprising it was to see Rohan voted out, given he had muscles. Sue tells JLap they didn’t do that badly in the challenge but no-one is buying that. Kate tells JLap the tribe needs to get some more “oomph” and Phoebe gives a passionate speech about how much effort she puts in at each challenge because she knows she’s in danger. Sue says she tries hard, too, but Andrew doesn’t bother to say he tries and just talks about loyalty.
Kat – who must be thinking they are talking about her being a dud at challenges – announces to everyone she pledged loyalty to the core yellow alliance at the last tribal and the look on Phoebe and Kristie’s faces is priceless. Kristie is great for reaction shots so I hope she sticks around for a bit.
Kristie gets up to vote and Kat whispers to Phoebe: “I’m with you.” Phoebe does not look reassured. We see Kristie vote for Andrew and Andrew vote for Kat.
The votes are: Kat, Andy, Kat, Andrew, Kat, Kat and it’s Kat. Phoebe must be glad she didn’t play the idol – I wonder if she voted for Kat?
A smiling Kat turns to the tribe as her torch is snuffed: “It’s been an absolute pleasure, guys. Play hard. See you on the outside.” Bye, Kat – go home and burn that leopard print thing.

Next time
We just get footage of Andrew blathering about getting his revenge on the “stupid girls” who voted for him.

The vote reveal
Everyone on yellow voted for Kat and, yes, Phoebe did indeed vote for Kat (which I imagine she only decided to do after Kat’s “I’m with Vavau” speech).



Facebooktwitterredditmail

Australian Survivor – Sun, Sept 11

The ads are talking up tonight’s ep as the “biggest blunder ever”, so let’s hope it’s not all hype. Does Phoebe set a honey trap for Rohan and convince him to hand over his idol (shades of Erik the ice cream scooper), then vote him out?

Here we go
Finally, yellow team’s Craig gets a chance to read the piece of paper he found in his napkin at the tribe shuffle feast. Plus he’s sporting a spiffy new tank top – guess since it goes for 55 days the contestants were allowed to pack more than one top this time. It gives him clues about the idol being hidden in a spot that gets covered at high tide.
Over at blue Jennah Louise is the odd person out, with no connections to her tribemates (well, other than Nick, but she’s his arch nemesis).
At yellow, Pigtails Kristie is using the tried and tested method of doing yoga on the beach in a bid to get Kate to like her. Kat is sucking up to yellow by giving Craig a massage (ick), saying he feels tight. “It’s probably because we sleep on logs,” he replies. I like Craig.
Former blues Model Rohan and Lawyer Phoebe know they have to come up with a plan or they’re toast – but Rohan has an idol.
Yellow is keen to win the challenge, given it is composed of people Nick basically rejected in the schoolyard pick for the tribe swap – or people who though they had voted him out on that twisty nighty where tribal was a fakeout.

Come on in, guys
It’s challenge time and for once it’s not in the ocean. JLap tries to elicit some fighting words from a few players before revealing that the mud pit in front of them is a take on the old Survivor challenge where they use their bodies to scoop up as much mud as possible. Usually this involves sets of scales or a bucket but today they have to fill up a wooden box.
The winners get to go somewhere where there is a shower, toothbrushes and razors. Flick is most excited about the razor, planning to cut a few throats with it later on.
The challenge begins and Conner uses his shirt to scoop up a bunch of mud and Lee carries a big blob on his head (a method Woo of the floppy hair employed effectively in one of his seasons). At first a couple of the girls don’t even get their faces or hair muddy – what the! There are quite a few “oh – sorry” moments as tribemates grab the muddy ones on their bits in a bid to scrape off the mud.
Blue team wins convincingly. At the very least Nick would be familiar with the challenge from past seasons, so perhaps they discussed a winning strategy.
“Do you want a hug?” a barely recognisable mud-coated Nick asks JLap. If only he’d said yes – that would truly set him apart from Jeff, and it’s not like he even wears the same shirt every day.
Pigtails Kristie tells the camera it’s ok to lose reward as long as you win immunity. Hmm, Kristie is getting a lot of air time. What does this mean?

At reward
The girls wash each other and shave their legs – why would you bother? The boys wash each other and Lee even cleans Jennah Louise’s ears with a cotton bud. JL is wondering how she can sneak her way in when Kylie starts telling her to not give in. JL is hopeful she can join up with El, Lee and Sam also, but we’ve yet to see evidence of this.

More Kristie confessionals as her losing yellow tribe heads to the ocean to rinse off.
Rohan uses the cleaning time to schmooze up to Conner and Andrew but Andrew is straight on to him. Rohan spills his guts to them about everything that happened at his old team’s past tribals (including that they tried to vote out Kat) and he tells them that he got the idol clue. Silly Rohan – Phoebe is going to kill you. Andrew straight away tells Kat what was said and she is quick to (wisely) throw Rohan under the bus, saying he has the idol. And even if he didn’t, I’d still be saying that he did.
Craig is finding it hard to get away from camp to look for the idol, given, as he says, the tides come in and out every six hours. He needs to tell someone so they can help him look.
Instead, he gets the whole tribe to go for a walk in the guise of “exploring”, which apparently they’ve never before done. This is hard to believe, so perhaps production told them they weren’t allowed to.

Blue team arrives back from the reward to find their whole camp is drenched, the fire is out and life sucks again. Over at yellow they are also freezing and sleepless but businessman Andrew seems to be tolerating it well, although he has more body fat than the girls. Nanna Sue is over being wet and not having had a decent sleep since the game began but, again, seems rather stoic about it.

Immunity challenge time
Brooke tells JLap the spa challenge revealed a few people were lightweights at drinking champers but, sadly, we didn’t see any of that. I love it on US Survivor when people who are starving get drunk and say things they shouldn’t.
The challenge is basically a game of super rough basketball played in waist-deep water. Coma Kate proves a physical force for yellow and Lee and Rohan have a good ole wrestle now they are rivals – no doubt photos of this muscle-bound match-up will be popping up over the net by now. Nick sinks one for blue. Kylie takes numerous shots for blue (she’s probably the shortest girl out there) and finally sinks one.
I love watching Kat have a death grip around the waist of teeny Brooke, and again Kate sinks the ball. The last round is the all-boys challenge again. There’s a lot of giving each other boardshort wedgies. Eventually they are all so knackered no-one has the heart to chase down Magic Matt when he gets free with the ball, and he wins it for blue. There is much hugging, even between opponents – something you don’t see on US Survivor. I’m guessing the challenge took a long time to film and they were all just glad it was finally over.
So, Nick is safe for another night at least and Rohan must be panicking.

Back at yellow – after a little joking about how much Craig enjoyed holding some of those blue boys tightly – Phoebe is dispirited and we get a glimpse of the bandage under Kate’s arm but no boil update – dammit. She tries to get in with Kate but Kate’s non-committal (and, also, Kate isn’t exactly at the top of her alliance so she probably doesn’t know what’s happening). Rohan blurts out to Sue that the idol was found (then immediately regrets it) and, then, while Kat is within earshot, tells Sue and Conner how dangerous and evil Kat is and that he wants to target her.
“I’ll write down Rohan and it will be the greatest day of my life,” Kat tells Craig and Sue afterwards. Kat and Craig would be a great team going forward, if they can trust each other. Interestingly yellow seems to have totally embraced Conner as one of them, but they are dubious about Kat. “She’s a flipper,” says Craig as, in the jungle, Kat tries to convince Kristie to vote for Rohan.

Phoebe tells Rohan she will be the target and that she needs his idol, but doesn’t think he will hand it over. Well, people have fallen for the honey trap (such as Erik the ice-cream scooper) before, so you never know.
Phoebe tries to convince Kat and Kristie to vote for Sue, so that if Rohan plays the idol one of the yellow core will go home. Which shows a marked lack of strategy – why not go for a stronger player, like Craig? Sure, Sue has social game but Craig is an obvious triple threat and would look good as a “scalp” when it comes to showing you can make the big moves.

Tribal council
JLap starts with a chat about how they all felt about the tribe shakeup (it’s not a merge, JLap!). Andrew says how great it was to keep his original tribe together – how soon Jennah Louise has been forgotten. Andrew tells the former reds that if any of them are worried about their futures they need to join the yellow vote. Phoebe realises – and only just now, it seems – that she’s out of the loop. There’s a bit of whispering between Rohan and Phoebe and Phoebe and Kat. God I hope Kat goes with yellow, just so I can see Phoebe and Rohan’s faces.
Interestingly, a sick-looking Phoebe votes for Sue while Rohan votes for Kat (who’s wearing her striped palazzo pants). Andrew votes for Phoebe.

The votes are about to be read and Phoebe plays the idol – so Rohan DID give it to her. I feel a bit gipped we didn’t get a dramatic handing over at tribal. Let’s hope yellow split the vote.
JLap reads the votes: Rohan, Kat, Sue, Pheobe (sic), Pheobe, Phoebe, Pheb’s (sic), Pheobe (sic) and Rohan. Rohan is gone. Phoebe looks dreadful.
Phoebe turns to Kat: “We could have had four-four.”. Kat: “Now we’re all on the bottom.”

Next time: All we see is Kat talking about getting revenge on Rohan and annoying Phoebe. That’s it. No challenge preview, no strategising.
Vote reveal: Boy, yellow were lucky the old reds were so disorganised, as they left themselves wide open by all voting for Phoebe. We see Kat and Kristie cast the two Rohan votes.

So, Kat, Kristie and Phoebe will be in trouble next time round but their votes for Rohan may give them an in with some of the core yellows. Perhaps Andrew will use them to move against Craig – a desire he mentioned some episodes ago, once, and about which we’ve not heard since. And if the core yellow does decide to stick together there will be seem easy vote offs that will last them to the real merge.



Facebooktwitterredditmail

Australian Survivor – Mon, Aug 29 – It’s all about chests

How long will it be before a tribe shake-up? Hard to know with such a huge cast. Chat here for Australian Survivor.

I just added some thoughts about last night’s (Sunday’s) episode to the previous Survivor post http://talkingtv.net/2016/08/australian-survivor-episode-3/

Monday Survivor
1. Doesn’t Phoebe know people who talk about how well they are positioned in the game always get their comeuppance?
2. When the yellow team credits rolled there was a blonde woman with a double barelled name who I swear must have just been helicoptered in to Samoa.
3. Nick is in trouble unless there is a tribe shakeup soon.
4. How frustrating was it when Kylie and Pete were wandering past the mud wall that so obviously is where the idol is hidden. What are they expecting: a brick wall? At least Pete has the excuse he’s unwell.
4a. Will Kate’s decision to be so frank with her tribe about her dreadful accident bite her down the track? She could be seen as a big threat to win due to her overcoming such adversity.
5. OMG – JLap is wearing a cap at the challenge, but it’s not a Probst-style two toner.
6. It’s another similar challenge of running, climbing, hauling and puzzling. I look forward to them whittling down the numbers so we can get to the more interesting balance and endurance challenges.
7. Even JLap calls Pete “Fiegsy”. Awesome.
8. JLap notes yellow are “half swimming, half running – like dolphins.” Hmm, running dolphins, JLap?
9. Lee was showing some Andrew Savage-like qualities with his super strength in the challenge.
10. It was a challenge of chests, both made of wood and muscle.
11. As long as every challenge ends in a puzzle, blue needs to keep magician Matt and yellow Nick.
12. Glad they changed the rules so the puzzlers can tap out. But it still doesn’t help red. Kate must be relieved they can’t point the finger at her
13. I like yellow asking JLap to make a deal so they can get flint, and thus fire (their flint broke). He must have been clued up before as, unlike Probst, he doesn’t get narky about it, but just says it’s a deal if they return all their comfort items and fishing gear. I wish he’d thrown in “and you’ll also be going to tribal council”, just to mix things up.
14. We haven’t seen much of formerly crazy Pigtails Kristy.
15. Lee comes across as not a big fan of the show. He’s not into strategy at all.
16. The girls need to blindside Rohan now while he would be reluctant to play the idol so early. Losing a physical player isn’t such a consideration with a tribe shakeup no doubt just around the corner; the loyalty of an alliance is more important. Being the underdog tribe going into a merge is actually an advantage, as you can become the swing vote for the stronger tribes.
17. But before we get to tribal, it’s over to blue beach, presumably for Pete to request a medevac. And here comes JLap on a speedboat. Please, please put your doctorin’ past to good use, JLap. Fiegsy says he’s barely eaten for 12 days, after picking up a bug before filming began. He’s quitting – and no physical from JLap.
18. “He’s a ripper bloke,” says Magician Matt – words you’d never here in US Survivor. So Pete is gone and we still don’t know why he was rocking a red suit.
19. The Aussies need to learn to be more circumspect at tribal. They should have studied Boston Rob tribal footage.
20. So no-one’s going home tonight from red because of Fiegsy quitting. I can’t recall US Survivor every waiting til another team got to the ready to vote stage before telling them they had a reprieve.
21. Looks like things are pretty awkward at red next week with Kat justifiably angry she was on the chopping block. They’d better hope they don’t merge before they can lose again and ditch her, or she’ll be throwing bombs at them.



Facebooktwitterredditmail