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What just happened?-a That was kind of my first reaction to what is yet another fascinating, complicated, repeatedly confusing, and ultimately
very exciting episode.-a I again knew something was up when the the
immunity challenge ended so early in the episode.-a I had actually
decided not to check the time stamps during the episode, but I could
tell the IC had started and ended way too early.
Throughout the episode, I thought for sure Lisa was going home.-a The way she was framed and edited, she just came across as confused, indecisive
and the complete opposite of a possible eventual winner.-a It was also
weird that when Kass won her reward, she took Parv and Cirie, as I would have expected, but selected Tommi rather than Lisa to go to the spa. Tommi?-a Really?-a There was some talk later by the Aussies that she had left Lisa behind to keep an eye on the Aussies at camp, but that didn't really ring true.-a It was funny how as soon as the others left for the
spa, Lisa is shown walking away, maybe to do an interview or who knows
what, and the Aussies immediately took the opportunity to break into
what I suppose we should call Chekhov's box and learn that whatever had
been in there was gone.-a So much for Lisa keeping an eye on everything.
To me Lisa was really edited in such a way that suggested she was
unaware of everything that was going on and was just sort of muddling
her way through the show.
The IC was one we've seen before where you have to constantly keep
filling a bucket that has holes with water to keep an apparatus level,
and Tommi seemed to be the only one who understood the trick behind the challenge which is to fill the bucket up to the brim each time after
putting one just piece at a time in place.-a The others seemed to be
either not filling the bucket all the way or they were trying to put multiple pieces in place between fills.-a Tommi won the challenge easily which kept him safe and increased the idea in my mind that Lisa would be
the one to go.
Tribal was wild and live.-a One thing I noticed that's different from US
is that when players get up and move around to have private convos, JLP keeps doing his normal questioning so it's hard to follow both convo and questioning.-a In the US, Jeff would immediately stop and let the side convos take place.
Then we get to that weird exchange between Parv and Kass which I still
don't quite understand.-a JLP asks if anyone wants to play an idol or advantage.-a Kass starts to reach into her bag which signals to Parv that she has an idol.-a Parv then instantly announces she has the idol steal, which was smart since she got her bid in before the idol was actually played.-a Here's where it gets weird.-a Kass says oh don't worry, I'm playing it on Lisa, so Parv says ok, never mind, I won't play the advantage.-a Say what?
From Parv's viewpoint, why does she refrain from playing the advantage because Kass says she's playing it on Lisa?-a Obviously Parv knows Kass
is being voted out, so she needs to grab that idol.-a But suppose Kass
were lying?-a Once Parv announced she wasn't playing her advantage, Kass could have just announced she was playing it on herself.-a Also, since
Parv knows Kass is going home anyway, why not just use the advantage
anyway to get her second idol?-a Having revealed she has the advantage,
what value is there to Parv not playing the advantage?
From Kass' viewpoint, Parv announcing the advantage and then
withdrawing it when Kass said she wasn't playing the idol on herself
should have been a clear signal to Kass that she was the vote target.-a I mean, why did Kass think Parv changed her mind once she realized Kass
wasn't playing it on herself.-a I know English isn't your first language, Kass, but connect the dots.-a I can't wait to listen to her exit
interview tomorrow.
OK, so Kass goes home and they then do a gimmick I've seen before on the show of having a surprise second tribal council following an ad-hoc IC,
and it results in Tommi going home after Luke wins immunity.-a I wasn't surprised Tommi got the vote since I don't think he was really part of anyone's alliance and he does seem to be strong in challenges, but the
big question for me was whether Luke would have been the one voted out
if Tommi or someone other than Luke had won immunity.-a Luke had gotten votes in the first TC of the day, maybe because they were doing a vote split, so maybe he would have been the one voted off.
Tommi seemed to think it was unique that he had gotten voted out on the
same night he won an immunity necklace, and he may be right about that. Other than the Erik Reichenbach fiasco, I can't recall a previous time
that happened.
And then finally we had Lisa and her weird apparent request to quit to "save' Tommi.-a Given Lisa's apparent penchant for 4D chess, my first thought was that she was was faking her request knowing that JLP would
talk her out of it after informing her that there would still be a vote
to get someone out of the game.-a Is it possible she just faked the
request to lower her threat level?-a We've occasionally seen players threaten to quit before only to change their minds, but I've never seen
it done quite like this.
All in all, it was a fascinating episode, and it leaves us back to 50-50 with three "World" players and three Aussies.-a Parv continues to be the most dangerous remaining player, but I wonder how long her luck will
hold up?
I think it is interesting and significant that only two players so farCirie and Parv are much better players than the others. Having played so
have been on the right side of every single vote.-a Parv and Cirie.
On 8/31/2025 6:56 PM, Rick wrote:
What just happened?-a That was kind of my first reaction to what is yet
another fascinating, complicated, repeatedly confusing, and ultimately
very exciting episode.-a I again knew something was up when the the
immunity challenge ended so early in the episode.-a I had actually
decided not to check the time stamps during the episode, but I could
tell the IC had started and ended way too early.
I thought the first TC felt very long (in a good way) and the episode
was over when Kass was booted. When Jonathan said they were going to do another IC followed immediately by a second TC, I thought that was how
the next episode was going to start. I was not expecting a BB-like DE on Survivor!
Throughout the episode, I thought for sure Lisa was going home.-a The
way she was framed and edited, she just came across as confused,
indecisive and the complete opposite of a possible eventual winner.
It was also weird that when Kass won her reward, she took Parv and
Cirie, as I would have expected, but selected Tommi rather than Lisa
to go to the spa. Tommi?-a Really?-a There was some talk later by the
Aussies that she had left Lisa behind to keep an eye on the Aussies at
camp, but that didn't really ring true.-a It was funny how as soon as
the others left for the spa, Lisa is shown walking away, maybe to do
an interview or who knows what, and the Aussies immediately took the
opportunity to break into what I suppose we should call Chekhov's box
and learn that whatever had been in there was gone.-a So much for Lisa
keeping an eye on everything.
Lisa deserved to go home. She was lost the entire time as far as I'm concerned.
I was really surprised at how quickly Kass made her decisions on who to
take on reward. She clearly wasn't thinking end game. She should have
chosen one Aussie, one non-American, and Parv. She needed to choose Parv
to show she's loyal. I'm with you when it came to her choosing Tommi.
Did she think Tommi would help her get to the end and not Lisa? Keeping Cirie back at camp would have been good as she at least pays attention.
To me Lisa was really edited in such a way that suggested she was
unaware of everything that was going on and was just sort of muddling
her way through the show.
I think that actually was the case.
The IC was one we've seen before where you have to constantly keep
filling a bucket that has holes with water to keep an apparatus level,
and Tommi seemed to be the only one who understood the trick behind
the challenge which is to fill the bucket up to the brim each time
after putting one just piece at a time in place.-a The others seemed to
be either not filling the bucket all the way or they were trying to
put multiple pieces in place between fills.-a Tommi won the challenge
easily which kept him safe and increased the idea in my mind that Lisa
would be the one to go.
I don't recall ever seeing a balancing challenge that combined having to keep a leaky bucket full and walking across a balance beam. Kudos to
Tommi for figuring everything out pretty quickly.
Tribal was wild and live.-a One thing I noticed that's different from
US is that when players get up and move around to have private convos,
JLP keeps doing his normal questioning so it's hard to follow both
convo and questioning.-a In the US, Jeff would immediately stop and let
the side convos take place.
I much prefer how Jeff handles such situations. It's not fair to us and
it's like Jonathan is running cover for the players scheming.
Then we get to that weird exchange between Parv and Kass which I still
don't quite understand.-a JLP asks if anyone wants to play an idol or
advantage.-a Kass starts to reach into her bag which signals to Parv
that she has an idol.-a Parv then instantly announces she has the idol
steal, which was smart since she got her bid in before the idol was
actually played.-a Here's where it gets weird.-a Kass says oh don't
worry, I'm playing it on Lisa, so Parv says ok, never mind, I won't
play the advantage.-a Say what?
This tweet from Mike Bloom is interesting.
#SurvivorAU
To clarify, Parvati's advantage cannot actually work the way she
claimed. Knowledge is Power has to be played before any votes are cast.
It's a 100% lie
This is quite possibly the best bluff I've ever seen with an advantage,
next to Tony with the Tyler Perry Idol
https://x.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1962183906771275990
Did Kass get screwed out of the game because she didn't know how the advantage works. Parv made a gutsy move that paid off because Kass
panicked.
-aFrom Parv's viewpoint, why does she refrain from playing the
advantage because Kass says she's playing it on Lisa?-a Obviously Parv
knows Kass is being voted out, so she needs to grab that idol.-a But
suppose Kass were lying?-a Once Parv announced she wasn't playing her
advantage, Kass could have just announced she was playing it on
herself.-a Also, since Parv knows Kass is going home anyway, why not
just use the advantage anyway to get her second idol?-a Having revealed
she has the advantage, what value is there to Parv not playing the
advantage?
Based on Mike Bloom's tweet, Parv could not play her advantage at that
time. Parv simply outsmarted Kass. Why Kass didn't play her idol on
herself makes no sense. It was clear that Parv had lost trust in her.
-aFrom Kass' viewpoint, Parv announcing the advantage and then
withdrawing it when Kass said she wasn't playing the idol on herself
should have been a clear signal to Kass that she was the vote target.
I mean, why did Kass think Parv changed her mind once she realized
Kass wasn't playing it on herself.-a I know English isn't your first
language, Kass, but connect the dots.-a I can't wait to listen to her
exit interview tomorrow.
Yes! It was so obvious at that point Kass was Parv's target.
OK, so Kass goes home and they then do a gimmick I've seen before on
the show of having a surprise second tribal council following an
ad-hoc IC, and it results in Tommi going home after Luke wins
immunity.-a I wasn't surprised Tommi got the vote since I don't think
he was really part of anyone's alliance and he does seem to be strong
in challenges, but the big question for me was whether Luke would have
been the one voted out if Tommi or someone other than Luke had won
immunity.-a Luke had gotten votes in the first TC of the day, maybe
because they were doing a vote split, so maybe he would have been the
one voted off.
As I mentioned earlier, the second TC was a surprise to me. On BB, when
they do a DE that is seen as the best time to take out a big player as
they only have the commercial break to campaign. In this case, I thought Parv would be targeted if she didn't win immunity. When she didn't win immunity, I was expecting the Aussies to team up with Tommi and Lisa to
do a vote split on Cirie and Parv to take one of them out. Instead we
got Parv badly outsmarting them thanks to some sloppy play by Tommi and Lisa's theatrics.
Tommi seemed to think it was unique that he had gotten voted out on
the same night he won an immunity necklace, and he may be right about
that. Other than the Erik Reichenbach fiasco, I can't recall a
previous time that happened.
Tommi might be right. Erik probably won his immunity the day before TC.
And then finally we had Lisa and her weird apparent request to quit to
"save' Tommi.-a Given Lisa's apparent penchant for 4D chess, my first
thought was that she was was faking her request knowing that JLP would
talk her out of it after informing her that there would still be a
vote to get someone out of the game.-a Is it possible she just faked
the request to lower her threat level?-a We've occasionally seen
players threaten to quit before only to change their minds, but I've
never seen it done quite like this.
When Jonathan told her that Tommi might still go home because they were still going to do another vote, I was like "You're going to get rid of
three people on one night?" Wouldn't that totally throw off the
production schedule? I think Lisa panicked because she's in over her
head playing against Parv. I can't see the jury thinking threatening to
quit was a 4D chess move.
All in all, it was a fascinating episode, and it leaves us back to
50-50 with three "World" players and three Aussies.-a Parv continues to
be the most dangerous remaining player, but I wonder how long her luck
will hold up?
Did you watch the preview for Episode 8?
I think it is interesting and significant that only two players so farCirie and Parv are much better players than the others. Having played so often makes a big difference. Their biggest worry might be a crazy twist tripping them up and/or a few bitter jurors. I can see Lisa being bitter
have been on the right side of every single vote.-a Parv and Cirie.
and Janine not voting based strictly on gameplay.
One other comment from me. I thought Shonee was very quiet this episode.
Was that strategy or was she totally confused?
--
On 9/1/2025 3:50 AM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 8/31/2025 6:56 PM, Rick wrote:
What just happened?-a That was kind of my first reaction to what is
yet another fascinating, complicated, repeatedly confusing, and
ultimately very exciting episode.-a I again knew something was up when
the the immunity challenge ended so early in the episode.-a I had
actually decided not to check the time stamps during the episode, but
I could tell the IC had started and ended way too early.
I thought the first TC felt very long (in a good way) and the episode
was over when Kass was booted. When Jonathan said they were going to
do another IC followed immediately by a second TC, I thought that was
how the next episode was going to start. I was not expecting a BB-like
DE on Survivor!
I wasn't watching the time and also thought it was just leading into the next episode, which they occasionally do on the show.
Throughout the episode, I thought for sure Lisa was going home.-a The
way she was framed and edited, she just came across as confused,
indecisive and the complete opposite of a possible eventual winner.
It was also weird that when Kass won her reward, she took Parv and
Cirie, as I would have expected, but selected Tommi rather than Lisa
to go to the spa. Tommi?-a Really?-a There was some talk later by the
Aussies that she had left Lisa behind to keep an eye on the Aussies
at camp, but that didn't really ring true.-a It was funny how as soon
as the others left for the spa, Lisa is shown walking away, maybe to
do an interview or who knows what, and the Aussies immediately took
the opportunity to break into what I suppose we should call Chekhov's
box and learn that whatever had been in there was gone.-a So much for
Lisa keeping an eye on everything.
Lisa deserved to go home. She was lost the entire time as far as I'm
concerned.
In that case, she should be kept as a goat to the end since she
apparently has no real story to tell for her season and is not a threat
to win challenges.
I was really surprised at how quickly Kass made her decisions on who
to take on reward. She clearly wasn't thinking end game. She should
have chosen one Aussie, one non-American, and Parv. She needed to
choose Parv to show she's loyal. I'm with you when it came to her
choosing Tommi. Did she think Tommi would help her get to the end and
not Lisa? Keeping Cirie back at camp would have been good as she at
least pays attention.
She clearly seemed to want to keep her World alliance together (minus Lisa).-a I don't think she was thinking strategically at all, other than
get rid of all the Aussies.
To me Lisa was really edited in such a way that suggested she was
unaware of everything that was going on and was just sort of muddling
her way through the show.
I think that actually was the case.
The IC was one we've seen before where you have to constantly keep
filling a bucket that has holes with water to keep an apparatus
level, and Tommi seemed to be the only one who understood the trick
behind the challenge which is to fill the bucket up to the brim each
time after putting one just piece at a time in place.-a The others
seemed to be either not filling the bucket all the way or they were
trying to put multiple pieces in place between fills.-a Tommi won the
challenge easily which kept him safe and increased the idea in my
mind that Lisa would be the one to go.
I don't recall ever seeing a balancing challenge that combined having
to keep a leaky bucket full and walking across a balance beam. Kudos
to Tommi for figuring everything out pretty quickly.
Tribal was wild and live.-a One thing I noticed that's different from
US is that when players get up and move around to have private
convos, JLP keeps doing his normal questioning so it's hard to follow
both convo and questioning.-a In the US, Jeff would immediately stop
and let the side convos take place.
I much prefer how Jeff handles such situations. It's not fair to us
and it's like Jonathan is running cover for the players scheming.
Then we get to that weird exchange between Parv and Kass which I
still don't quite understand.-a JLP asks if anyone wants to play an
idol or advantage.-a Kass starts to reach into her bag which signals
to Parv that she has an idol.-a Parv then instantly announces she has
the idol steal, which was smart since she got her bid in before the
idol was actually played.-a Here's where it gets weird.-a Kass says oh
don't worry, I'm playing it on Lisa, so Parv says ok, never mind, I
won't play the advantage.-a Say what?
This tweet from Mike Bloom is interesting.
#SurvivorAU
To clarify, Parvati's advantage cannot actually work the way she
claimed. Knowledge is Power has to be played before any votes are
cast. It's a 100% lie
This is quite possibly the best bluff I've ever seen with an
advantage, next to Tony with the Tyler Perry Idol
https://x.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1962183906771275990
Since episode 8 has already now aired in Australia, I don't want to look
at Mike's tweet for fair of being spoiled on the next episode.-a My
initial reaction was that Mike was talking about the US Knowledge is
Power, which this isn't.-a But I went back and re-watched the scene where Parv read her advantage and it indeed says "present the scroll to
Jonathan when he says 'It is time to vote'". So Mike is right.-a This
makes it even stranger that she tried to bluff with it because Jonathan would just have told her it was too late to use it.-a I also think she
took a big chance because she now signaled to Kass that Kass was being targeted, which she couldn't have known Kass wouldn't realize.
Did Kass get screwed out of the game because she didn't know how the
advantage works. Parv made a gutsy move that paid off because Kass
panicked.
Kass didn't panic.-a She played her idol on Lisa which is what she
intended to do.-a It seems clear to me that Parv's move (or attempted
move) had no effect on what Kass was doing.-a I would say that Kass got screwed out of the game in SPITE of Parv's move since she failed to read
the signs that she was targeted.-a I agree Parv's move was gutsy but I
also thought it was fundamentally dumb and she got lucky she didn't
scare Kass with it.
-aFrom Parv's viewpoint, why does she refrain from playing the
advantage because Kass says she's playing it on Lisa?-a Obviously Parv
knows Kass is being voted out, so she needs to grab that idol.-a But
suppose Kass were lying?-a Once Parv announced she wasn't playing her
advantage, Kass could have just announced she was playing it on
herself.-a Also, since Parv knows Kass is going home anyway, why not
just use the advantage anyway to get her second idol?-a Having
revealed she has the advantage, what value is there to Parv not
playing the advantage?
Based on Mike Bloom's tweet, Parv could not play her advantage at that
time. Parv simply outsmarted Kass. Why Kass didn't play her idol on
herself makes no sense. It was clear that Parv had lost trust in her.
-aFrom Kass' viewpoint, Parv announcing the advantage and then
withdrawing it when Kass said she wasn't playing the idol on herself
should have been a clear signal to Kass that she was the vote target.
I mean, why did Kass think Parv changed her mind once she realized
Kass wasn't playing it on herself.-a I know English isn't your first
language, Kass, but connect the dots.-a I can't wait to listen to her
exit interview tomorrow.
Yes! It was so obvious at that point Kass was Parv's target.
OK, so Kass goes home and they then do a gimmick I've seen before on
the show of having a surprise second tribal council following an ad-
hoc IC, and it results in Tommi going home after Luke wins immunity.
I wasn't surprised Tommi got the vote since I don't think he was
really part of anyone's alliance and he does seem to be strong in
challenges, but the big question for me was whether Luke would have
been the one voted out if Tommi or someone other than Luke had won
immunity.-a Luke had gotten votes in the first TC of the day, maybe
because they were doing a vote split, so maybe he would have been the
one voted off.
As I mentioned earlier, the second TC was a surprise to me. On BB,
when they do a DE that is seen as the best time to take out a big
player as they only have the commercial break to campaign. In this
case, I thought Parv would be targeted if she didn't win immunity.
When she didn't win immunity, I was expecting the Aussies to team up
with Tommi and Lisa to do a vote split on Cirie and Parv to take one
of them out. Instead we got Parv badly outsmarting them thanks to some
sloppy play by Tommi and Lisa's theatrics.
Tommi seemed to think it was unique that he had gotten voted out on
the same night he won an immunity necklace, and he may be right about
that. Other than the Erik Reichenbach fiasco, I can't recall a
previous time that happened.
Tommi might be right. Erik probably won his immunity the day before TC.
Good point!-a There have occasionally been multiple tribal councils consecutively like this on different iterations of the show, but I don't ever recall this happening, especially same night.
And then finally we had Lisa and her weird apparent request to quit
to "save' Tommi.-a Given Lisa's apparent penchant for 4D chess, my
first thought was that she was was faking her request knowing that
JLP would talk her out of it after informing her that there would
still be a vote to get someone out of the game.-a Is it possible she
just faked the request to lower her threat level?-a We've occasionally
seen players threaten to quit before only to change their minds, but
I've never seen it done quite like this.
When Jonathan told her that Tommi might still go home because they
were still going to do another vote, I was like "You're going to get
rid of three people on one night?" Wouldn't that totally throw off the
production schedule? I think Lisa panicked because she's in over her
head playing against Parv. I can't see the jury thinking threatening
to quit was a 4D chess move.
Unscheduled departures have happened before on different iterations of
the show, including Micronesia when a planned final three became a final
two instead.-a Also Australia is famous for non-elimination episodes, and
my guess is they would have just done that here or changed from F3 to F2.
BTW, this is the sort of weird happening that led to nothing that might
very well have been edited out on the US show, assuming it never gets referenced again.-a On Aussie Survivor they show pretty much everything, even when it doesn't fit an overall storyline.
All in all, it was a fascinating episode, and it leaves us back to
50-50 with three "World" players and three Aussies.-a Parv continues
to be the most dangerous remaining player, but I wonder how long her
luck will hold up?
Did you watch the preview for Episode 8?
No, I have decided to not watch the remaining next episode previews
because they've been revealing too much.-a There are only three more episodes anyway.
I think it is interesting and significant that only two players soCirie and Parv are much better players than the others. Having played
far have been on the right side of every single vote.-a Parv and Cirie.
so often makes a big difference. Their biggest worry might be a crazy
twist tripping them up and/or a few bitter jurors. I can see Lisa
being bitter and Janine not voting based strictly on gameplay.
Lisa is not the bitter juror type and she is too much a fan of the game
to vote that way.-a But she is also overly awed by Parv and especially Cirie, so I think she will vote for either of them (Cirie first) if they
are in the finals.-a I also think she could easily be dragged to the end
as third wheel.
One other comment from me. I thought Shonee was very quiet this
episode. Was that strategy or was she totally confused?
--
I noticed that too.-a I think the answer is neither.-a I think it was probably just the way they edited the episode.-a Shonee is very sharp and strategic, but she is not the star of this season and I think they just
had too much other material to show this episode.
On 9/1/2025 8:39 AM, Rick wrote:
On 9/1/2025 3:50 AM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 8/31/2025 6:56 PM, Rick wrote:
What just happened?-a That was kind of my first reaction to what is
yet another fascinating, complicated, repeatedly confusing, and
ultimately very exciting episode.-a I again knew something was up
when the the immunity challenge ended so early in the episode.-a I
had actually decided not to check the time stamps during the
episode, but I could tell the IC had started and ended way too early.
I thought the first TC felt very long (in a good way) and the episode
was over when Kass was booted. When Jonathan said they were going to
do another IC followed immediately by a second TC, I thought that was
how the next episode was going to start. I was not expecting a
BB-like DE on Survivor!
I wasn't watching the time and also thought it was just leading into
the next episode, which they occasionally do on the show.
Throughout the episode, I thought for sure Lisa was going home.-a The >>>> way she was framed and edited, she just came across as confused,
indecisive and the complete opposite of a possible eventual winner.
It was also weird that when Kass won her reward, she took Parv and
Cirie, as I would have expected, but selected Tommi rather than Lisa
to go to the spa. Tommi?-a Really?-a There was some talk later by the >>>> Aussies that she had left Lisa behind to keep an eye on the Aussies
at camp, but that didn't really ring true.-a It was funny how as soon >>>> as the others left for the spa, Lisa is shown walking away, maybe to
do an interview or who knows what, and the Aussies immediately took
the opportunity to break into what I suppose we should call
Chekhov's box and learn that whatever had been in there was gone.
So much for Lisa keeping an eye on everything.
Lisa deserved to go home. She was lost the entire time as far as I'm
concerned.
In that case, she should be kept as a goat to the end since she
apparently has no real story to tell for her season and is not a
threat to win challenges.
Cirie for sure should want her on the jury as Lisa would be a guaranteed vote for her. She just needs someone else to take her out which
shouldn't be hard to do.
I was really surprised at how quickly Kass made her decisions on who
to take on reward. She clearly wasn't thinking end game. She should
have chosen one Aussie, one non-American, and Parv. She needed to
choose Parv to show she's loyal. I'm with you when it came to her
choosing Tommi. Did she think Tommi would help her get to the end and
not Lisa? Keeping Cirie back at camp would have been good as she at
least pays attention.
She clearly seemed to want to keep her World alliance together (minus
Lisa).-a I don't think she was thinking strategically at all, other
than get rid of all the Aussies.
I agree. It seems like everyone other than Cirie and Parv are playing a
team game forgetting that just one person can win the game.
To me Lisa was really edited in such a way that suggested she was
unaware of everything that was going on and was just sort of
muddling her way through the show.
I think that actually was the case.
The IC was one we've seen before where you have to constantly keep
filling a bucket that has holes with water to keep an apparatus
level, and Tommi seemed to be the only one who understood the trick
behind the challenge which is to fill the bucket up to the brim each
time after putting one just piece at a time in place.-a The others
seemed to be either not filling the bucket all the way or they were
trying to put multiple pieces in place between fills.-a Tommi won the >>>> challenge easily which kept him safe and increased the idea in my
mind that Lisa would be the one to go.
I don't recall ever seeing a balancing challenge that combined having
to keep a leaky bucket full and walking across a balance beam. Kudos
to Tommi for figuring everything out pretty quickly.
Tribal was wild and live.-a One thing I noticed that's different from >>>> US is that when players get up and move around to have private
convos, JLP keeps doing his normal questioning so it's hard to
follow both convo and questioning.-a In the US, Jeff would
immediately stop and let the side convos take place.
I much prefer how Jeff handles such situations. It's not fair to us
and it's like Jonathan is running cover for the players scheming.
Then we get to that weird exchange between Parv and Kass which I
still don't quite understand.-a JLP asks if anyone wants to play an
idol or advantage.-a Kass starts to reach into her bag which signals
to Parv that she has an idol.-a Parv then instantly announces she has >>>> the idol steal, which was smart since she got her bid in before the
idol was actually played.-a Here's where it gets weird.-a Kass says oh >>>> don't worry, I'm playing it on Lisa, so Parv says ok, never mind, I
won't play the advantage.-a Say what?
This tweet from Mike Bloom is interesting.
#SurvivorAU
To clarify, Parvati's advantage cannot actually work the way she
claimed. Knowledge is Power has to be played before any votes are
cast. It's a 100% lie
This is quite possibly the best bluff I've ever seen with an
advantage, next to Tony with the Tyler Perry Idol
https://x.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1962183906771275990
Since episode 8 has already now aired in Australia, I don't want to
look at Mike's tweet for fair of being spoiled on the next episode.
My initial reaction was that Mike was talking about the US Knowledge
is Power, which this isn't.-a But I went back and re-watched the scene
where Parv read her advantage and it indeed says "present the scroll
to Jonathan when he says 'It is time to vote'". So Mike is right.
This makes it even stranger that she tried to bluff with it because
Jonathan would just have told her it was too late to use it.-a I also
think she took a big chance because she now signaled to Kass that Kass
was being targeted, which she couldn't have known Kass wouldn't realize.
It was a risky move. How strict is Survivor Australia at enforcing the rules? If Kass had said nothing would they have allowed Parv to take her HII?
Did Kass get screwed out of the game because she didn't know how the
advantage works. Parv made a gutsy move that paid off because Kass
panicked.
Kass didn't panic.-a She played her idol on Lisa which is what she
intended to do.-a It seems clear to me that Parv's move (or attempted
move) had no effect on what Kass was doing.-a I would say that Kass got
screwed out of the game in SPITE of Parv's move since she failed to
read the signs that she was targeted.-a I agree Parv's move was gutsy
but I also thought it was fundamentally dumb and she got lucky she
didn't scare Kass with it.
That's not how I saw things. Kass was going to use her HII on herself
and then switched to Lisa when she thought Parv was going to steal her
idol.
-aFrom Parv's viewpoint, why does she refrain from playing the
advantage because Kass says she's playing it on Lisa?-a Obviously
Parv knows Kass is being voted out, so she needs to grab that idol.
But suppose Kass were lying?-a Once Parv announced she wasn't playing >>>> her advantage, Kass could have just announced she was playing it on
herself.-a Also, since Parv knows Kass is going home anyway, why not
just use the advantage anyway to get her second idol?-a Having
revealed she has the advantage, what value is there to Parv not
playing the advantage?
Based on Mike Bloom's tweet, Parv could not play her advantage at
that time. Parv simply outsmarted Kass. Why Kass didn't play her idol
on herself makes no sense. It was clear that Parv had lost trust in her. >>>
-aFrom Kass' viewpoint, Parv announcing the advantage and then
withdrawing it when Kass said she wasn't playing the idol on herself
should have been a clear signal to Kass that she was the vote
target. I mean, why did Kass think Parv changed her mind once she
realized Kass wasn't playing it on herself.-a I know English isn't
your first language, Kass, but connect the dots.-a I can't wait to
listen to her exit interview tomorrow.
Yes! It was so obvious at that point Kass was Parv's target.
OK, so Kass goes home and they then do a gimmick I've seen before on
the show of having a surprise second tribal council following an ad-
hoc IC, and it results in Tommi going home after Luke wins immunity.
I wasn't surprised Tommi got the vote since I don't think he was
really part of anyone's alliance and he does seem to be strong in
challenges, but the big question for me was whether Luke would have
been the one voted out if Tommi or someone other than Luke had won
immunity.-a Luke had gotten votes in the first TC of the day, maybe
because they were doing a vote split, so maybe he would have been
the one voted off.
As I mentioned earlier, the second TC was a surprise to me. On BB,
when they do a DE that is seen as the best time to take out a big
player as they only have the commercial break to campaign. In this
case, I thought Parv would be targeted if she didn't win immunity.
When she didn't win immunity, I was expecting the Aussies to team up
with Tommi and Lisa to do a vote split on Cirie and Parv to take one
of them out. Instead we got Parv badly outsmarting them thanks to
some sloppy play by Tommi and Lisa's theatrics.
Tommi seemed to think it was unique that he had gotten voted out on
the same night he won an immunity necklace, and he may be right
about that. Other than the Erik Reichenbach fiasco, I can't recall a
previous time that happened.
Tommi might be right. Erik probably won his immunity the day before TC.
Good point!-a There have occasionally been multiple tribal councils
consecutively like this on different iterations of the show, but I
don't ever recall this happening, especially same night.
And then finally we had Lisa and her weird apparent request to quit
to "save' Tommi.-a Given Lisa's apparent penchant for 4D chess, my
first thought was that she was was faking her request knowing that
JLP would talk her out of it after informing her that there would
still be a vote to get someone out of the game.-a Is it possible she
just faked the request to lower her threat level?-a We've
occasionally seen players threaten to quit before only to change
their minds, but I've never seen it done quite like this.
When Jonathan told her that Tommi might still go home because they
were still going to do another vote, I was like "You're going to get
rid of three people on one night?" Wouldn't that totally throw off
the production schedule? I think Lisa panicked because she's in over
her head playing against Parv. I can't see the jury thinking
threatening to quit was a 4D chess move.
Unscheduled departures have happened before on different iterations of
the show, including Micronesia when a planned final three became a
final two instead.-a Also Australia is famous for non-elimination
episodes, and my guess is they would have just done that here or
changed from F3 to F2.
If they're famous for doing nonelimination episodes then they should
have just sent Lisa packing. The episode still would have had a voted
boot plus two ICs and two TCs. As far as I'm concerned, that would have
been a lot better than building up a bunch of tension in the tribe and
then killing it off by not booting someone the next cycle.
BTW, this is the sort of weird happening that led to nothing that
might very well have been edited out on the US show, assuming it never
gets referenced again.-a On Aussie Survivor they show pretty much
everything, even when it doesn't fit an overall storyline.
I like that they show us a lot more game-related action, especially the
long TCs. I'd rather have that than meaningless reward challenge trips.
This show was very guilty of that this episode with the spa reward. What
was the purpose of that footage? Other than Kass's choices and how
quickly she made them, there was no game implications.
All in all, it was a fascinating episode, and it leaves us back to
50-50 with three "World" players and three Aussies.-a Parv continues
to be the most dangerous remaining player, but I wonder how long her
luck will hold up?
Did you watch the preview for Episode 8?
No, I have decided to not watch the remaining next episode previews
because they've been revealing too much.-a There are only three more
episodes anyway.
I think it is interesting and significant that only two players soso often makes a big difference. Their biggest worry might be a crazy
far have been on the right side of every single vote.-a Parv and Cirie. >>> Cirie and Parv are much better players than the others. Having played
twist tripping them up and/or a few bitter jurors. I can see Lisa
being bitter and Janine not voting based strictly on gameplay.
Lisa is not the bitter juror type and she is too much a fan of the
game to vote that way.-a But she is also overly awed by Parv and
especially Cirie, so I think she will vote for either of them (Cirie
first) if they are in the finals.-a I also think she could easily be
dragged to the end as third wheel.
My comment about Lisa was based on the preview.
One other comment from me. I thought Shonee was very quiet this
episode. Was that strategy or was she totally confused?
--
I noticed that too.-a I think the answer is neither.-a I think it was
probably just the way they edited the episode.-a Shonee is very sharp
and strategic, but she is not the star of this season and I think they
just had too much other material to show this episode.
Could be. They had to give Tommi a fair amount of screentime. Episode 7
was basically Parv putting on a clinic on how to play strategically so
it makes perfect sense she received the most airtime.
On 9/1/2025 2:58 PM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 9/1/2025 8:39 AM, Rick wrote:
On 9/1/2025 3:50 AM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 8/31/2025 6:56 PM, Rick wrote:
What just happened?-a That was kind of my first reaction to what is >>>>> yet another fascinating, complicated, repeatedly confusing, andI thought the first TC felt very long (in a good way) and the
ultimately very exciting episode.-a I again knew something was up
when the the immunity challenge ended so early in the episode.-a I
had actually decided not to check the time stamps during the
episode, but I could tell the IC had started and ended way too early. >>>>
episode was over when Kass was booted. When Jonathan said they were
going to do another IC followed immediately by a second TC, I
thought that was how the next episode was going to start. I was not
expecting a BB-like DE on Survivor!
I wasn't watching the time and also thought it was just leading into
the next episode, which they occasionally do on the show.
Throughout the episode, I thought for sure Lisa was going home.
The way she was framed and edited, she just came across as
confused, indecisive and the complete opposite of a possible
eventual winner. It was also weird that when Kass won her reward,
she took Parv and Cirie, as I would have expected, but selected
Tommi rather than Lisa to go to the spa. Tommi?-a Really?-a There was >>>>> some talk later by the Aussies that she had left Lisa behind to
keep an eye on the Aussies at camp, but that didn't really ring
true.-a It was funny how as soon as the others left for the spa,
Lisa is shown walking away, maybe to do an interview or who knows
what, and the Aussies immediately took the opportunity to break
into what I suppose we should call Chekhov's box and learn that
whatever had been in there was gone. So much for Lisa keeping an
eye on everything.
Lisa deserved to go home. She was lost the entire time as far as I'm
concerned.
In that case, she should be kept as a goat to the end since she
apparently has no real story to tell for her season and is not a
threat to win challenges.
Cirie for sure should want her on the jury as Lisa would be a
guaranteed vote for her. She just needs someone else to take her out
which shouldn't be hard to do.
I was really surprised at how quickly Kass made her decisions on who
to take on reward. She clearly wasn't thinking end game. She should
have chosen one Aussie, one non-American, and Parv. She needed to
choose Parv to show she's loyal. I'm with you when it came to her
choosing Tommi. Did she think Tommi would help her get to the end
and not Lisa? Keeping Cirie back at camp would have been good as she
at least pays attention.
She clearly seemed to want to keep her World alliance together (minus
Lisa).-a I don't think she was thinking strategically at all, other
than get rid of all the Aussies.
I agree. It seems like everyone other than Cirie and Parv are playing
a team game forgetting that just one person can win the game.
To me Lisa was really edited in such a way that suggested she was
unaware of everything that was going on and was just sort of
muddling her way through the show.
I think that actually was the case.
The IC was one we've seen before where you have to constantly keep
filling a bucket that has holes with water to keep an apparatus
level, and Tommi seemed to be the only one who understood the trick >>>>> behind the challenge which is to fill the bucket up to the brim
each time after putting one just piece at a time in place.-a The
others seemed to be either not filling the bucket all the way or
they were trying to put multiple pieces in place between fills.
Tommi won the challenge easily which kept him safe and increased
the idea in my mind that Lisa would be the one to go.
I don't recall ever seeing a balancing challenge that combined
having to keep a leaky bucket full and walking across a balance
beam. Kudos to Tommi for figuring everything out pretty quickly.
Tribal was wild and live.-a One thing I noticed that's different
from US is that when players get up and move around to have private >>>>> convos, JLP keeps doing his normal questioning so it's hard to
follow both convo and questioning.-a In the US, Jeff would
immediately stop and let the side convos take place.
I much prefer how Jeff handles such situations. It's not fair to us
and it's like Jonathan is running cover for the players scheming.
Then we get to that weird exchange between Parv and Kass which I
still don't quite understand.-a JLP asks if anyone wants to play an >>>>> idol or advantage.-a Kass starts to reach into her bag which signals >>>>> to Parv that she has an idol.-a Parv then instantly announces she
has the idol steal, which was smart since she got her bid in before >>>>> the idol was actually played.-a Here's where it gets weird.-a Kass
says oh don't worry, I'm playing it on Lisa, so Parv says ok, never >>>>> mind, I won't play the advantage.-a Say what?
This tweet from Mike Bloom is interesting.
#SurvivorAU
To clarify, Parvati's advantage cannot actually work the way she
claimed. Knowledge is Power has to be played before any votes are
cast. It's a 100% lie
This is quite possibly the best bluff I've ever seen with an
advantage, next to Tony with the Tyler Perry Idol
https://x.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1962183906771275990
Since episode 8 has already now aired in Australia, I don't want to
look at Mike's tweet for fair of being spoiled on the next episode.
My initial reaction was that Mike was talking about the US Knowledge
is Power, which this isn't.-a But I went back and re-watched the scene
where Parv read her advantage and it indeed says "present the scroll
to Jonathan when he says 'It is time to vote'". So Mike is right.
This makes it even stranger that she tried to bluff with it because
Jonathan would just have told her it was too late to use it.-a I also
think she took a big chance because she now signaled to Kass that
Kass was being targeted, which she couldn't have known Kass wouldn't
realize.
It was a risky move. How strict is Survivor Australia at enforcing the
rules? If Kass had said nothing would they have allowed Parv to take
her HII?
No, the show would enforce the rule, especially since it was called out specifically in the parchment.-a I actually think what may have happened
in this case is that Parv may have misunderstood the rule and then
realized it when she started reading it to the jury.-a She started
reading the part about the steal-a-vote and then I think she may have
seen the part about when you have to play it and stopped reading.-a When Kass said she was playing it for Lisa, she used that as an excuse to say
she wouldn't play it.
Otherwise, there is really no reason for Parv to expose the advantage to everyone and then not use it.-a I hope Parv is asked about this when she
is eventually interviewed.
Did Kass get screwed out of the game because she didn't know how the
advantage works. Parv made a gutsy move that paid off because Kass
panicked.
Kass didn't panic.-a She played her idol on Lisa which is what she
intended to do.-a It seems clear to me that Parv's move (or attempted
move) had no effect on what Kass was doing.-a I would say that Kass
got screwed out of the game in SPITE of Parv's move since she failed
to read the signs that she was targeted.-a I agree Parv's move was
gutsy but I also thought it was fundamentally dumb and she got lucky
she didn't scare Kass with it.
That's not how I saw things. Kass was going to use her HII on herself
and then switched to Lisa when she thought Parv was going to steal her
idol.
No, it was clear there had been talk about Lisa being targeted and Kass
even asked Parv if she was voting for Lisa (and Parv lied and said yes).
-aI think Kass fully intended to play it on Lisa.-a If she had been intending to play it on herself, she would either have just done so
after Parv put the advantage away, or she would have put the idol back
and not used it.-a You can tell Kass was completely blindsided by the
vote and had no idea she was being targeted.-a She obviously was feeling safe, which it is believable that she would want to protect Lisa, who
she considers part of her World alliance but who she knows isn't really
part of the Parv-Cirie alliance.
Unless they discuss it next episode, we'll probably have to wait for
Kass' exit interview to fully understand what happened.-a Unfortunately, Shannon Guss announced during her recap that the planned interview with
Kass didn't happen because of scheduling problems and she might not be
able to talk to her until after the season.
Good point!-a There have occasionally been multiple tribal councils-aFrom Parv's viewpoint, why does she refrain from playing the
advantage because Kass says she's playing it on Lisa?-a Obviously
Parv knows Kass is being voted out, so she needs to grab that idol. >>>>> But suppose Kass were lying?-a Once Parv announced she wasn't
playing her advantage, Kass could have just announced she was
playing it on herself.-a Also, since Parv knows Kass is going home
anyway, why not just use the advantage anyway to get her second
idol?-a Having revealed she has the advantage, what value is there
to Parv not playing the advantage?
Based on Mike Bloom's tweet, Parv could not play her advantage at
that time. Parv simply outsmarted Kass. Why Kass didn't play her
idol on herself makes no sense. It was clear that Parv had lost
trust in her.
-aFrom Kass' viewpoint, Parv announcing the advantage and then
withdrawing it when Kass said she wasn't playing the idol on
herself should have been a clear signal to Kass that she was the
vote target. I mean, why did Kass think Parv changed her mind once
she realized Kass wasn't playing it on herself.-a I know English
isn't your first language, Kass, but connect the dots.-a I can't
wait to listen to her exit interview tomorrow.
Yes! It was so obvious at that point Kass was Parv's target.
OK, so Kass goes home and they then do a gimmick I've seen before
on the show of having a surprise second tribal council following an >>>>> ad- hoc IC, and it results in Tommi going home after Luke wins
immunity. I wasn't surprised Tommi got the vote since I don't think >>>>> he was really part of anyone's alliance and he does seem to be
strong in challenges, but the big question for me was whether Luke
would have been the one voted out if Tommi or someone other than
Luke had won immunity.-a Luke had gotten votes in the first TC of
the day, maybe because they were doing a vote split, so maybe he
would have been the one voted off.
As I mentioned earlier, the second TC was a surprise to me. On BB,
when they do a DE that is seen as the best time to take out a big
player as they only have the commercial break to campaign. In this
case, I thought Parv would be targeted if she didn't win immunity.
When she didn't win immunity, I was expecting the Aussies to team up
with Tommi and Lisa to do a vote split on Cirie and Parv to take one
of them out. Instead we got Parv badly outsmarting them thanks to
some sloppy play by Tommi and Lisa's theatrics.
Tommi seemed to think it was unique that he had gotten voted out on >>>>> the same night he won an immunity necklace, and he may be right
about that. Other than the Erik Reichenbach fiasco, I can't recall
a previous time that happened.
Tommi might be right. Erik probably won his immunity the day before TC. >>>
consecutively like this on different iterations of the show, but I
don't ever recall this happening, especially same night.
And then finally we had Lisa and her weird apparent request to quit >>>>> to "save' Tommi.-a Given Lisa's apparent penchant for 4D chess, my
first thought was that she was was faking her request knowing that
JLP would talk her out of it after informing her that there would
still be a vote to get someone out of the game.-a Is it possible she >>>>> just faked the request to lower her threat level?-a We've
occasionally seen players threaten to quit before only to change
their minds, but I've never seen it done quite like this.
When Jonathan told her that Tommi might still go home because they
were still going to do another vote, I was like "You're going to get
rid of three people on one night?" Wouldn't that totally throw off
the production schedule? I think Lisa panicked because she's in over
her head playing against Parv. I can't see the jury thinking
threatening to quit was a 4D chess move.
Unscheduled departures have happened before on different iterations
of the show, including Micronesia when a planned final three became a
final two instead.-a Also Australia is famous for non-elimination
episodes, and my guess is they would have just done that here or
changed from F3 to F2.
If they're famous for doing nonelimination episodes then they should
have just sent Lisa packing. The episode still would have had a voted
boot plus two ICs and two TCs. As far as I'm concerned, that would
have been a lot better than building up a bunch of tension in the
tribe and then killing it off by not booting someone the next cycle.
They wouldn't have done a non-elim for this episode because it would
have taken away all the suspense.-a JLP and the show clearly don't want anyone to quit, so they would never reward a player for quitting as
would have effectively happened in this case.-a If they were going to
throw a non-elim in it would have been at final five or final four
tribal, probably.-a But in this case --a since they are setup for a final three with a seven-person jury, I think if Lisa had quit, they would probably do a Micronesia and go with-a final two but keeping the seven- person jury since they would also be excluding Lisa from the jury.
Also, another reason this may have just been a ploy by Lisa is that Lisa could have just turned to everyone and said something like - "I do not
want to play any more.-a I would like everyone to vote me out".-a We've occasionally seen players do that and their tribe mates went along with them.-a Since Lisa never said that or made that request, I think it is possible she knew her request would be met with objections by the host. Again, we won't know for sure until she is eventually interviewed.
BTW, this is the sort of weird happening that led to nothing that
might very well have been edited out on the US show, assuming it
never gets referenced again.-a On Aussie Survivor they show pretty
much everything, even when it doesn't fit an overall storyline.
I like that they show us a lot more game-related action, especially
the long TCs. I'd rather have that than meaningless reward challenge
trips. This show was very guilty of that this episode with the spa
reward. What was the purpose of that footage? Other than Kass's
choices and how quickly she made them, there was no game implications.
Well again, that goes back to the show trying to show everything even if
it doesn't have game implications.-a I wouldn't be surprised if they actually hid an idol or advantage and it just wasn't found.
On 9/1/2025 3:06 PM, Rick wrote:
On 9/1/2025 2:58 PM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 9/1/2025 8:39 AM, Rick wrote:
On 9/1/2025 3:50 AM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 8/31/2025 6:56 PM, Rick wrote:
What just happened?-a That was kind of my first reaction to what is >>>>>> yet another fascinating, complicated, repeatedly confusing, andI thought the first TC felt very long (in a good way) and the
ultimately very exciting episode.-a I again knew something was up >>>>>> when the the immunity challenge ended so early in the episode.-a I >>>>>> had actually decided not to check the time stamps during the
episode, but I could tell the IC had started and ended way too early. >>>>>
episode was over when Kass was booted. When Jonathan said they were >>>>> going to do another IC followed immediately by a second TC, I
thought that was how the next episode was going to start. I was not >>>>> expecting a BB-like DE on Survivor!
I wasn't watching the time and also thought it was just leading into
the next episode, which they occasionally do on the show.
Throughout the episode, I thought for sure Lisa was going home.
The way she was framed and edited, she just came across as
confused, indecisive and the complete opposite of a possible
eventual winner. It was also weird that when Kass won her reward, >>>>>> she took Parv and Cirie, as I would have expected, but selected
Tommi rather than Lisa to go to the spa. Tommi?-a Really?-a There >>>>>> was some talk later by the Aussies that she had left Lisa behind
to keep an eye on the Aussies at camp, but that didn't really ring >>>>>> true.-a It was funny how as soon as the others left for the spa,
Lisa is shown walking away, maybe to do an interview or who knows >>>>>> what, and the Aussies immediately took the opportunity to break
into what I suppose we should call Chekhov's box and learn that
whatever had been in there was gone. So much for Lisa keeping an
eye on everything.
Lisa deserved to go home. She was lost the entire time as far as
I'm concerned.
In that case, she should be kept as a goat to the end since she
apparently has no real story to tell for her season and is not a
threat to win challenges.
Cirie for sure should want her on the jury as Lisa would be a
guaranteed vote for her. She just needs someone else to take her out
which shouldn't be hard to do.
I was really surprised at how quickly Kass made her decisions on
who to take on reward. She clearly wasn't thinking end game. She
should have chosen one Aussie, one non-American, and Parv. She
needed to choose Parv to show she's loyal. I'm with you when it
came to her choosing Tommi. Did she think Tommi would help her get
to the end and not Lisa? Keeping Cirie back at camp would have been >>>>> good as she at least pays attention.
She clearly seemed to want to keep her World alliance together
(minus Lisa).-a I don't think she was thinking strategically at all,
other than get rid of all the Aussies.
I agree. It seems like everyone other than Cirie and Parv are playing
a team game forgetting that just one person can win the game.
To me Lisa was really edited in such a way that suggested she was >>>>>> unaware of everything that was going on and was just sort of
muddling her way through the show.
I think that actually was the case.
The IC was one we've seen before where you have to constantly keep >>>>>> filling a bucket that has holes with water to keep an apparatus
level, and Tommi seemed to be the only one who understood the
trick behind the challenge which is to fill the bucket up to the
brim each time after putting one just piece at a time in place.
The others seemed to be either not filling the bucket all the way >>>>>> or they were trying to put multiple pieces in place between fills. >>>>>> Tommi won the challenge easily which kept him safe and increased
the idea in my mind that Lisa would be the one to go.
I don't recall ever seeing a balancing challenge that combined
having to keep a leaky bucket full and walking across a balance
beam. Kudos to Tommi for figuring everything out pretty quickly.
Tribal was wild and live.-a One thing I noticed that's different
from US is that when players get up and move around to have
private convos, JLP keeps doing his normal questioning so it's
hard to follow both convo and questioning.-a In the US, Jeff would >>>>>> immediately stop and let the side convos take place.
I much prefer how Jeff handles such situations. It's not fair to us >>>>> and it's like Jonathan is running cover for the players scheming.
Then we get to that weird exchange between Parv and Kass which I
still don't quite understand.-a JLP asks if anyone wants to play an >>>>>> idol or advantage.-a Kass starts to reach into her bag which
signals to Parv that she has an idol.-a Parv then instantly
announces she has the idol steal, which was smart since she got
her bid in before the idol was actually played.-a Here's where it >>>>>> gets weird.-a Kass says oh don't worry, I'm playing it on Lisa, so >>>>>> Parv says ok, never mind, I won't play the advantage.-a Say what?
This tweet from Mike Bloom is interesting.
#SurvivorAU
To clarify, Parvati's advantage cannot actually work the way she
claimed. Knowledge is Power has to be played before any votes are
cast. It's a 100% lie
This is quite possibly the best bluff I've ever seen with an
advantage, next to Tony with the Tyler Perry Idol
https://x.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1962183906771275990
Since episode 8 has already now aired in Australia, I don't want to
look at Mike's tweet for fair of being spoiled on the next episode.
My initial reaction was that Mike was talking about the US Knowledge
is Power, which this isn't.-a But I went back and re-watched the
scene where Parv read her advantage and it indeed says "present the
scroll to Jonathan when he says 'It is time to vote'". So Mike is
right. This makes it even stranger that she tried to bluff with it
because Jonathan would just have told her it was too late to use
it.-a I also think she took a big chance because she now signaled to
Kass that Kass was being targeted, which she couldn't have known
Kass wouldn't realize.
It was a risky move. How strict is Survivor Australia at enforcing
the rules? If Kass had said nothing would they have allowed Parv to
take her HII?
No, the show would enforce the rule, especially since it was called
out specifically in the parchment.-a I actually think what may have
happened in this case is that Parv may have misunderstood the rule and
then realized it when she started reading it to the jury.-a She started
reading the part about the steal-a-vote and then I think she may have
seen the part about when you have to play it and stopped reading.
When Kass said she was playing it for Lisa, she used that as an excuse
to say she wouldn't play it.
Parv definitely misread the parchment.
Otherwise, there is really no reason for Parv to expose the advantage
to everyone and then not use it.-a I hope Parv is asked about this when
she is eventually interviewed.
Did Kass get screwed out of the game because she didn't know how
the advantage works. Parv made a gutsy move that paid off because
Kass panicked.
Kass didn't panic.-a She played her idol on Lisa which is what she
intended to do.-a It seems clear to me that Parv's move (or attempted >>>> move) had no effect on what Kass was doing.-a I would say that Kass
got screwed out of the game in SPITE of Parv's move since she failed
to read the signs that she was targeted.-a I agree Parv's move was
gutsy but I also thought it was fundamentally dumb and she got lucky
she didn't scare Kass with it.
That's not how I saw things. Kass was going to use her HII on herself
and then switched to Lisa when she thought Parv was going to steal
her idol.
No, it was clear there had been talk about Lisa being targeted and
Kass even asked Parv if she was voting for Lisa (and Parv lied and
said yes). -a-aI think Kass fully intended to play it on Lisa.-a If she
had been intending to play it on herself, she would either have just
done so after Parv put the advantage away, or she would have put the
idol back and not used it.-a You can tell Kass was completely
blindsided by the vote and had no idea she was being targeted.-a She
obviously was feeling safe, which it is believable that she would want
to protect Lisa, who she considers part of her World alliance but who
she knows isn't really part of the Parv-Cirie alliance.
Unless they discuss it next episode, we'll probably have to wait for
Kass' exit interview to fully understand what happened.
Unfortunately, Shannon Guss announced during her recap that the
planned interview with Kass didn't happen because of scheduling
problems and she might not be able to talk to her until after the season.
More info would help
-aFrom Parv's viewpoint, why does she refrain from playing the
advantage because Kass says she's playing it on Lisa?-a Obviously >>>>>> Parv knows Kass is being voted out, so she needs to grab that
idol. But suppose Kass were lying?-a Once Parv announced she wasn't >>>>>> playing her advantage, Kass could have just announced she was
playing it on herself.-a Also, since Parv knows Kass is going home >>>>>> anyway, why not just use the advantage anyway to get her second
idol?-a Having revealed she has the advantage, what value is there >>>>>> to Parv not playing the advantage?
Based on Mike Bloom's tweet, Parv could not play her advantage at
that time. Parv simply outsmarted Kass. Why Kass didn't play her
idol on herself makes no sense. It was clear that Parv had lost
trust in her.
-aFrom Kass' viewpoint, Parv announcing the advantage and then
withdrawing it when Kass said she wasn't playing the idol on
herself should have been a clear signal to Kass that she was the
vote target. I mean, why did Kass think Parv changed her mind once >>>>>> she realized Kass wasn't playing it on herself.-a I know English
isn't your first language, Kass, but connect the dots.-a I can't
wait to listen to her exit interview tomorrow.
Yes! It was so obvious at that point Kass was Parv's target.
OK, so Kass goes home and they then do a gimmick I've seen before >>>>>> on the show of having a surprise second tribal council following
an ad- hoc IC, and it results in Tommi going home after Luke wins >>>>>> immunity. I wasn't surprised Tommi got the vote since I don't
think he was really part of anyone's alliance and he does seem to >>>>>> be strong in challenges, but the big question for me was whether
Luke would have been the one voted out if Tommi or someone other
than Luke had won immunity.-a Luke had gotten votes in the first TC >>>>>> of the day, maybe because they were doing a vote split, so maybe
he would have been the one voted off.
As I mentioned earlier, the second TC was a surprise to me. On BB,
when they do a DE that is seen as the best time to take out a big
player as they only have the commercial break to campaign. In this
case, I thought Parv would be targeted if she didn't win immunity.
When she didn't win immunity, I was expecting the Aussies to team
up with Tommi and Lisa to do a vote split on Cirie and Parv to take >>>>> one of them out. Instead we got Parv badly outsmarting them thanks
to some sloppy play by Tommi and Lisa's theatrics.
Tommi seemed to think it was unique that he had gotten voted out
on the same night he won an immunity necklace, and he may be right >>>>>> about that. Other than the Erik Reichenbach fiasco, I can't recall >>>>>> a previous time that happened.
Tommi might be right. Erik probably won his immunity the day before >>>>> TC.
Good point!-a There have occasionally been multiple tribal councils
consecutively like this on different iterations of the show, but I
don't ever recall this happening, especially same night.
And then finally we had Lisa and her weird apparent request to
quit to "save' Tommi.-a Given Lisa's apparent penchant for 4D
chess, my first thought was that she was was faking her request
knowing that JLP would talk her out of it after informing her that >>>>>> there would still be a vote to get someone out of the game.-a Is it >>>>>> possible she just faked the request to lower her threat level?
We've occasionally seen players threaten to quit before only to
change their minds, but I've never seen it done quite like this.
When Jonathan told her that Tommi might still go home because they
were still going to do another vote, I was like "You're going to
get rid of three people on one night?" Wouldn't that totally throw
off the production schedule? I think Lisa panicked because she's in >>>>> over her head playing against Parv. I can't see the jury thinking
threatening to quit was a 4D chess move.
Unscheduled departures have happened before on different iterations
of the show, including Micronesia when a planned final three became
a final two instead.-a Also Australia is famous for non-elimination
episodes, and my guess is they would have just done that here or
changed from F3 to F2.
If they're famous for doing nonelimination episodes then they should
have just sent Lisa packing. The episode still would have had a voted
boot plus two ICs and two TCs. As far as I'm concerned, that would
have been a lot better than building up a bunch of tension in the
tribe and then killing it off by not booting someone the next cycle.
They wouldn't have done a non-elim for this episode because it would
have taken away all the suspense.-a JLP and the show clearly don't want
anyone to quit, so they would never reward a player for quitting as
would have effectively happened in this case.-a If they were going to
throw a non-elim in it would have been at final five or final four
tribal, probably.-a But in this case --a since they are setup for a
final three with a seven-person jury, I think if Lisa had quit, they
would probably do a Micronesia and go with-a final two but keeping the
seven- person jury since they would also be excluding Lisa from the jury.
The episode wouldn't have been a nonelimination one as someone had been voted off right before they did the second IC. Someone quitting would
have added to the craziness of the episode. U.S. Survivor has had some memorable episodes of people quitting and TC either being canceled or
not happening at all. People still talk about Na'Onka and Purple Kelly
even though that happened a hundred years ago.
How would Lisa have been rewarded for quitting? Making jury was probably
on her bucket list if she couldn't win.
A F2 for this season wouldn't be bad. I'm sure their goal going in was
to have one Aussie, one non-American, and an American in F3. Going into
this episode I thought that was a possibility. After the episode not so much!
Also, another reason this may have just been a ploy by Lisa is that
Lisa could have just turned to everyone and said something like - "I
do not want to play any more.-a I would like everyone to vote me out".
We've occasionally seen players do that and their tribe mates went
along with them.-a Since Lisa never said that or made that request, I
think it is possible she knew her request would be met with objections
by the host. Again, we won't know for sure until she is eventually
interviewed.
Lisa says and does a lot of things that makes her look very sketch. I
would find it very hard to trust her.
BTW, this is the sort of weird happening that led to nothing that
might very well have been edited out on the US show, assuming it
never gets referenced again.-a On Aussie Survivor they show pretty
much everything, even when it doesn't fit an overall storyline.
I like that they show us a lot more game-related action, especially
the long TCs. I'd rather have that than meaningless reward challenge
trips. This show was very guilty of that this episode with the spa
reward. What was the purpose of that footage? Other than Kass's
choices and how quickly she made them, there was no game implications.
Well again, that goes back to the show trying to show everything even
if it doesn't have game implications.-a I wouldn't be surprised if they
actually hid an idol or advantage and it just wasn't found.
The edit should have at least shown the camera zoom in on a note. We did
get to see Kass and Parv brush their teeth which was nice.
Have you watched Episode 8 yet? I watched it earlier this afternoon. It
was a lot less intense than the past few episodes but it did set up what could be an interesting finale. They said the finale is over two nights
but didn't give any dates!