From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4. Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the gimmick of
having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have one tribe leave
following a fire challenge without even talking was weird and pretty flat-footed. When I heard that both tribes were going to TC but only
one tribe would send someone home, I assumed there would be a combined
TC with all 11 players voting and just one person going home.
Obviously, that didnrCOt happen. Credit Shonee for at least figuring out
they would have to do a fire challenge, but she had the much more
logical guess that each tribe would conduct its own TC and vote and the
two players voted out would do the challenge. They have done that
before. That would have given both tribes a chance to talk and vote,
possibly in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama of the fire challenge that would result in one person leaving would have been great
TV. But doing a fire challenge with randomly chosen players just to
determine which tribe would even be there was dumb. What was the point
of the Immunity challenge, which was actually won by World?

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave the
game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can remember that
players came to TC and basically were sent back without any discussion.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise. I knew as a two-time winner he
would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a potential
3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding and going along
with the other World members desire to vote out Tony. In reality, I
think it was actually Cirie who probably folded and Parv was forced to
go along with her. One thing that surprised me a bit was that it was
Parv who ended up getting the podium idol by hanging around after the
others had left. I thought when everyone was forming in small groups to
have convos in the middle of TC that a couple of the girls would just
slip off to the side to have a pretend talk while Tony and Tommi were occupied, and then one would just slip behind the podium to grab the
idol. Grabbing it at the end like that was risky. I did think it was
funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP and asked him to hold it for her
while she searched for the idol.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol. That gimmick was first
used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a smart player
named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam Klein referenced it
on Winners at War, it is now often referred to as the Palesa idol.

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and three of
them are past winners. The men were already at a 6-8 disadvantage when
the season started and they are now down 2-8. Only Luke and Tommi
remain. I think Tommi is almost certainly next to go unless he wins
immunity. The merge vote is often someone easy that everyone agrees on,
and Tommi has no allies at all at this point. Not sure who would go
next. Luke would be the last man standing on the Aussie tribe, but he
has surprising support from Janine and Sarah. Also if Tommi really is
the merge vote, then Australia can theoretically run the board and do a Pagonging on World, depending on how World play their idols. IrCOm
thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid about being an
early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think that). The only remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no one is likely to think about or feel threatened by Lisa. I wonder if Parv and Kirby will get together, as
Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. As for Kass, she will probably
hold onto her idol for a while because I donrCOt think anyone will target
her either.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced and
best known of the remaining players. It's too early to pick a winner,
but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and seemingly no
enemies right now.
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From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the gimmick of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have one tribe leave following a fire challenge without even talking was weird and pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes were going to TC but only
one tribe would send someone home, I assumed there would be a combined
TC with all 11 players voting and just one person going home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen.-a Credit Shonee for at least figuring out they would have to do a fire challenge, but she had the much more logical guess
that each tribe would conduct its own TC and vote and the two players
voted out would do the challenge.-a They have done that before.-a That
would have given both tribes a chance to talk and vote, possibly in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama of the fire challenge that
would result in one person leaving would have been great TV.-a But doing
a fire challenge with randomly chosen players just to determine which
tribe would even be there was dumb.-a What was the point of the Immunity challenge, which was actually won by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I heard correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand point
it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave the
game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can remember that
players came to TC and basically were sent back without any discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time winner he
would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a potential
3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding and going along
with the other World members desire to vote out Tony.-a In reality, I
think it was actually Cirie who probably folded and Parv was forced to
go along with her.-a One thing that surprised me a bit was that it was
Parv who ended up getting the podium idol by hanging around after the
others had left.-a I thought when everyone was forming in small groups to have convos in the middle of TC that a couple of the girls would just
slip off to the side to have a pretend talk while Tony and Tommi were occupied, and then one would just slip behind the podium to grab the
idol.-a Grabbing it at the end like that was risky.-a I did think it was funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP and asked him to hold it for her while she searched for the idol.

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he pissed
her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was willing to
play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he got her booted.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw Kass
looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone takes out
Parv it'll probably be her.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a smart player
named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam Klein referenced it
on Winners at War, it is now often referred to as the Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an idol
attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to discover it
wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and three of
them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8 disadvantage when
the season started and they are now down 2-8.-a Only Luke and Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly next to go unless he wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often someone easy that everyone agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at all at this point.-a Not sure who would go next.-a Luke would be the last man standing on the Aussie tribe, but he
has surprising support from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if Tommi really is the merge vote, then Australia can theoretically run the board and do a Pagonging on World, depending on how World play their idols.-a IrCOm thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid about being an
early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think that).-a The only remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one is likely to think about or feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv and Kirby will get together, as
Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. As for Kass, she will probably
hold onto her idol for a while because I donrCOt think anyone will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English isn't good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC and
assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but not right
away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to get to the end.
If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced and
best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick a winner,
but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm assuming
they do which could be good for Cirie.
Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC because
of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up with a
challenge where everyone could compete?

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with Kass
or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted ~54 minutes.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you
mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next to no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that allows me to
better judge what's going on. American reality TV too often tries to
lead viewers with misleading confessionals.
--
Brian
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From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the gimmick of
having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have one tribe leave
following a fire challenge without even talking was weird and pretty
flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes were going to TC but only
one tribe would send someone home, I assumed there would be a combined
TC with all 11 players voting and just one person going home.
Obviously, that didnrCOt happen.-a Credit Shonee for at least figuring
out they would have to do a fire challenge, but she had the much more
logical guess that each tribe would conduct its own TC and vote and
the two players voted out would do the challenge.-a They have done that
before.-a That would have given both tribes a chance to talk and vote,
possibly in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama of the fire
challenge that would result in one person leaving would have been
great TV.-a But doing a fire challenge with randomly chosen players
just to determine which tribe would even be there was dumb.-a What was
the point of the Immunity challenge, which was actually won by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I heard correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand point
it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave the
game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can remember that
players came to TC and basically were sent back without any discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time winner he
would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a
potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding and
going along with the other World members desire to vote out Tony.-a In
reality, I think it was actually Cirie who probably folded and Parv
was forced to go along with her.-a One thing that surprised me a bit
was that it was Parv who ended up getting the podium idol by hanging
around after the others had left.-a I thought when everyone was forming
in small groups to have convos in the middle of TC that a couple of
the girls would just slip off to the side to have a pretend talk while
Tony and Tommi were occupied, and then one would just slip behind the
podium to grab the idol.-a Grabbing it at the end like that was risky.
I did think it was funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP and asked
him to hold it for her while she searched for the idol.

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he pissed
her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was willing to
play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he got her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point and
doing anything he could to survive. I still think she would have
preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her. She is now the
obvious top target on World.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw Kass looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone takes out
Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol. In fact, I
have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC and may
have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab it on the way
out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was
first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a smart
player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam Klein
referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often referred to as the
Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an idol attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to discover it
wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War. He was a super-fan, of course,
and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where Palesa had found
the podium idol. I think he may have even come up with the term "Palesa idol". Here is video of Adam's failed attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South Africa season. This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at TC. Palesa
is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/season/7/videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and three of
them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8 disadvantage
when the season started and they are now down 2-8.-a Only Luke and
Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly next to go unless he
wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often someone easy that everyone
agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at all at this point.-a Not sure who
would go next.-a Luke would be the last man standing on the Aussie
tribe, but he has surprising support from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if
Tommi really is the merge vote, then Australia can theoretically run
the board and do a Pagonging on World, depending on how World play
their idols.-a IrCOm thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid >> about being an early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think that).-a The
only remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one is likely to
think about or feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv and Kirby
will get together, as Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. As for
Kass, she will probably hold onto her idol for a while because I donrCOt
think anyone will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English isn't good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree. He is definitely getting a purple edit. Since he didn't even
win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for this
season. The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season would have
been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK winner had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass which would have
given them a 7-7 male-female split. If the UK winner had been included
and then had to drop out last minute, Kass could have been a last-minute replacement, which would explain the lopsided 6-8 male-female numbers.
I havr no proof of that, of course, but it would be ironic considering
what an interesting player Kass has turned out to be.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting. As the one remaining male on that
tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think he would be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he does have
relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent Shonee. It will
be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his idol and when he deems
the right moment to play it.

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is pretty
crafty and can be strategic when he wants to. The closest US equivalent
is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he does (example: he
is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson once did), though I think
Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC and assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but not right away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to get to the end.
If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced and
best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick a winner,
but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and seemingly no
enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched the
World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much about
Lisa. I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ season aired in Australia. It would have competed with the Australian Survivor seasons
that were running around the same times, so I kind of doubt it.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not researched any
of the players before the season. But I'm sure the others did.

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC because
of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up with a
challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury which prevented her from pushing with her legs. Maybe she injured it during
that long standing challenge the episode before. The fact they didn't elaborate was weird. Let's see if she can do remaining physical
challenges.

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with Kass
or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted ~54 minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows? Players who renege on
promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it would
be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance challenge comes
up. By the way, if I had been Kass in that situation, I might have
said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you drop off first and I will
promise you I will let you win the next one. Wonder if Parv would have
agreed to that?

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you
mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will
happen. I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate and
control her.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next to no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that allows me to
better judge what's going on. American reality TV too often tries to
lead viewers with misleading confessionals.

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging style for
the episodes. I never thought about the confessional count before but
you may be right about that. It could also be that because these players
have all played before that they assume viewers already know most of
them. Course that doesn't explain the lack of confessionals for Tommi
and Kass, who I suspect very few people ever saw before.

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From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/25/2025 9:11 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the gimmick
of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have one tribe
leave following a fire challenge without even talking was weird and
pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes were going to TC
but only one tribe would send someone home, I assumed there would be
a combined TC with all 11 players voting and just one person going
home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen.-a Credit Shonee for at least
figuring out they would have to do a fire challenge, but she had the
much more logical guess that each tribe would conduct its own TC and
vote and the two players voted out would do the challenge.-a They have
done that before.-a That would have given both tribes a chance to talk
and vote, possibly in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama
of the fire challenge that would result in one person leaving would
have been great TV.-a But doing a fire challenge with randomly chosen
players just to determine which tribe would even be there was dumb.
What was the point of the Immunity challenge, which was actually won
by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I heard
correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand
point it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave
the game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can remember
that players came to TC and basically were sent back without any
discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time winner he
would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a
potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding and
going along with the other World members desire to vote out Tony.-a In
reality, I think it was actually Cirie who probably folded and Parv
was forced to go along with her.-a One thing that surprised me a bit
was that it was Parv who ended up getting the podium idol by hanging
around after the others had left.-a I thought when everyone was
forming in small groups to have convos in the middle of TC that a
couple of the girls would just slip off to the side to have a pretend
talk while Tony and Tommi were occupied, and then one would just slip
behind the podium to grab the idol.-a Grabbing it at the end like that
was risky. I did think it was funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP
and asked him to hold it for her while she searched for the idol.

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he
pissed her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was
willing to play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he got
her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point and
doing anything he could to survive.-a I still think she would have
preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her.-a She is now the obvious top target on World.

When Tony was talking about the key he made it sound like Parv told him
about it which clearly concerned the other girls. To regain favor with
them, she had to vote to boot Tony.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw Kass
looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone takes out
Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol.-a In fact, I
have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC and may
have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab it on the way
out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

They did discuss the podium idol before TC but under the context of one
of them grabbing it during TC in case they needed it. We should find out
at the start of Episode 5 if Parv tried pulling a fast one or if
grabbing it after TC was preplanned.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was
first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a smart
player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam Klein
referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often referred to as the
Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an idol
attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to discover it
wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War.-a He was a super-fan, of course,
and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where Palesa had found
the podium idol.-a I think he may have even come up with the term "Palesa idol".-a Here is video of Adam's failed attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

I thought that was rather recent but I couldn't recall the player or season.

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South Africa season.-a This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at TC.-a Palesa
is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/season/7/ videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and three
of them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8 disadvantage
when the season started and they are now down 2-8.-a Only Luke and
Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly next to go unless he
wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often someone easy that everyone
agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at all at this point.-a Not sure
who would go next.-a Luke would be the last man standing on the Aussie
tribe, but he has surprising support from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if >>> Tommi really is the merge vote, then Australia can theoretically run
the board and do a Pagonging on World, depending on how World play
their idols.-a IrCOm thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so
paranoid about being an early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think
that).-a The only remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one is
likely to think about or feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv
and Kirby will get together, as Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do.
As for Kass, she will probably hold onto her idol for a while because
I donrCOt think anyone will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English isn't
good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree.-a He is definitely getting a purple edit.-a Since he didn't even win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for this
season.-a The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season would have
been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK winner had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass which would have
given them a 7-7 male-female split.-a If the UK winner had been included
and then had to drop out last minute, Kass could have been a last-minute replacement, which would explain the lopsided 6-8 male-female numbers. I havr no proof of that, of course, but it would be ironic considering
what an interesting player Kass has turned out to be.

I think once they decided to go with 14 players they needed to keep the
tribes balanced in terms of gender to avoid potential backlash. I know
they've done male vs. female tribes in the past but now is different.
I'll leave it at that.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting.-a As the one remaining male on that
tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think he would be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he does have relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent Shonee.-a It will
be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his idol and when he deems
the right moment to play it.

With the merge happening I think he might be good for a while. Tommi
will be an easy target but I see the girls starting to devour each
other. We could end up with a S9 (the one Chris D. won). I could see
Luke using his HII to help take out a big player.

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is pretty
crafty and can be strategic when he wants to.-a The closest US equivalent
is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he does (example:-a he
is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson once did), though I think Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC and
assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but not
right away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to get to
the end. If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv should go for
it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced and
best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick a
winner, but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and
seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm
assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched the
World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much about
Lisa.-a I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ season aired in Australia.-a It would have competed with the Australian Survivor seasons that were running around the same times, so I kind of doubt it.

With such a small market, you'd think Survivor NZ would have been sold
to other markets. With streaming services, there's no reason why Banijay couldn't make all of these different versions available everywhere.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not researched any
of the players before the season.-a But I'm sure the others did.

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC because
of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up with a
challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury which prevented her from pushing with her legs.-a Maybe she injured it during
that long standing challenge the episode before.-a-a The fact they didn't elaborate was weird.-a Let's see if she can do remaining physical challenges.

If she was injured during a challenge you'd think they would make a big
deal about it. Or do the Aussies not acknowledge injuries incurred
playing the game?

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with
Kass or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted ~54
minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows?-a Players who renege on
promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it would
be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance challenge comes
up.-a By the way, if I had been Kass in that situation, I might have
said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you drop off first and I will
promise you I will let you win the next one.-a Wonder if Parv would have agreed to that?

Parv never would have agreed to that. She knows the target on her is way
too big to throw away immunity.

I remember Dreamz. He was like the original Rome who screwed over Yau Man.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you
mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will
happen.-a I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate and
control her.

Janine comes across as a manipulator. For the most part, the Australian
tribe is pretty unlikable.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next to
no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that allows me
to better judge what's going on. American reality TV too often tries
to lead viewers with misleading confessionals.

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging style for
the episodes.-a I never thought about the confessional count before but
you may be right about that. It could also be that because these players have all played before that they assume viewers already know most of them.-a-a Course that doesn't explain the lack of confessionals for Tommi and Kass, who I suspect very few people ever saw before.

I had no idea Finland has it's own version of Survivor nor Quebec. With
good editing, the producers should be able to tell us good stories about
the current season without having to resort too much to the past.
They've done a very good job of that with Parv. The mentions by Parv of
the Black Widow Brigade and Kass asking her about it, makes me think
something similar is going to happen this season. Except this time I can
see Parv being taken out by her own people. Kass seems pretty familiar
with her history and I can see Cirie wanting to take out Parv as revenge
for Fans vs. Favorites.
--
Brian
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/25/2025 5:44 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 9:11 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the gimmick
of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have one tribe
leave following a fire challenge without even talking was weird and
pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes were going to TC
but only one tribe would send someone home, I assumed there would be
a combined TC with all 11 players voting and just one person going
home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen.-a Credit Shonee for at least
figuring out they would have to do a fire challenge, but she had the
much more logical guess that each tribe would conduct its own TC and
vote and the two players voted out would do the challenge.-a They
have done that before.-a That would have given both tribes a chance
to talk and vote, possibly in the presence of the other tribe, and
the drama of the fire challenge that would result in one person
leaving would have been great TV.-a But doing a fire challenge with
randomly chosen players just to determine which tribe would even be
there was dumb. What was the point of the Immunity challenge, which
was actually won by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I heard
correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand
point it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave
the game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can remember
that players came to TC and basically were sent back without any
discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time winner
he would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a
potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding and
going along with the other World members desire to vote out Tony.
In reality, I think it was actually Cirie who probably folded and
Parv was forced to go along with her.-a One thing that surprised me a >>>> bit was that it was Parv who ended up getting the podium idol by
hanging around after the others had left.-a I thought when everyone
was forming in small groups to have convos in the middle of TC that
a couple of the girls would just slip off to the side to have a
pretend talk while Tony and Tommi were occupied, and then one would
just slip behind the podium to grab the idol.-a Grabbing it at the
end like that was risky. I did think it was funny how Parv handed
her torch to JLP and asked him to hold it for her while she searched
for the idol.

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he
pissed her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was
willing to play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he got
her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point and
doing anything he could to survive.-a I still think she would have
preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her.-a She is now the
obvious top target on World.

When Tony was talking about the key he made it sound like Parv told him about it which clearly concerned the other girls. To regain favor with
them, she had to vote to boot Tony.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw Kass
looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone takes out
Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol.-a In fact, I
have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC and
may have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab it on the
way out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

They did discuss the podium idol before TC but under the context of one
of them grabbing it during TC in case they needed it. We should find out
at the start of Episode 5 if Parv tried pulling a fast one or if
grabbing it after TC was preplanned.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was
first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a smart
player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam Klein
referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often referred to as the
Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an idol
attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to discover it
wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War.-a He was a super-fan, of course,
and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where Palesa had
found the podium idol.-a I think he may have even come up with the term
"Palesa idol".-a Here is video of Adam's failed attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

I thought that was rather recent but I couldn't recall the player or
season.

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South
Africa season.-a This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at TC.
Palesa is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/season/7/
videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and three
of them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8
disadvantage when the season started and they are now down 2-8.
Only Luke and Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly next
to go unless he wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often someone easy >>>> that everyone agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at all at this
point.-a Not sure who would go next.-a Luke would be the last man
standing on the Aussie tribe, but he has surprising support from
Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if Tommi really is the merge vote, then
Australia can theoretically run the board and do a Pagonging on
World, depending on how World play their idols.-a IrCOm thinking Parv >>>> may burn hers since she is so paranoid about being an early target
(and sherCOs not wrong to think that).-a The only remaining winners are >>>> she and Lisa, and no-a one is likely to think about or feel
threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv and Kirby will get together,
as Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. As for Kass, she will
probably hold onto her idol for a while because I donrCOt think anyone >>>> will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English isn't
good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree.-a He is definitely getting a purple edit.-a Since he didn't
even win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for this
season.-a The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season would have
been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK winner
had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass which would
have given them a 7-7 male-female split.-a If the UK winner had been
included and then had to drop out last minute, Kass could have been a
last-minute replacement, which would explain the lopsided 6-8
male-female numbers. I havr no proof of that, of course, but it would
be ironic considering what an interesting player Kass has turned out
to be.

I think once they decided to go with 14 players they needed to keep the tribes balanced in terms of gender to avoid potential backlash. I know they've done male vs. female tribes in the past but now is different.
I'll leave it at that.

They clearly aren't going to do another male vs. female season where
they start with an all-female team against an all-male team - I think
the only major reality show I watch that still does that is Hell's
Kitchen. I wasn't suggesting that. What I was saying is that the total number of males and females on each season is almost always evenly
divided 50-50. The only time that normally varies is if someone drops
out at the last minute and they have to bring in a backup. Having a 6-8 male-female division in the total count at the start of this season was
odd, even unprecedented, which is why I think a last minute substitution
may have happened.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting.-a As the one remaining male on that
tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think he would
be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he does have
relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent Shonee.-a It
will be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his idol and when he
deems the right moment to play it.

With the merge happening I think he might be good for a while. Tommi
will be an easy target but I see the girls starting to devour each
other. We could end up with a S9 (the one Chris D. won). I could see
Luke using his HII to help take out a big player.

I don't think we will see another S9 scenario. For one thing, the girls
Luke would be up against are much better players and more experienced
than the ones Chris outlasted. If Chris had been up against players
with the experience and skill of a Parvati, Cirie, Shonee, even Kass or
Kirby, I think they would wipe the floor with him. Luke is a good
player, but I don't think he is that good. He's going to have to time
it exactly right to know when to play that immunity. Also, Chris won
three of the last four immunities in S9, if I remember right, and I
don't think Luke can do that. He is physically strong, but I'm not sure
he cab win at the kinds of mental challenges we see in modern Survivor.

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is pretty
crafty and can be strategic when he wants to.-a The closest US
equivalent is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he does
(example:-a he is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson once did),
though I think Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC
and assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but
not right away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to
get to the end. If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv
should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced
and best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick a
winner, but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and
seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm
assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched the
World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much about
Lisa.-a I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ season aired
in Australia.-a It would have competed with the Australian Survivor
seasons that were running around the same times, so I kind of doubt it.

With such a small market, you'd think Survivor NZ would have been sold
to other markets. With streaming services, there's no reason why Banijay couldn't make all of these different versions available everywhere.

I think the problem is that Australian Survivor was just re-establishing itself around the time Survivor NZ aired, and they didn't want to dilute
the product by showing Survivor NZ in Australia or in countries that
already had a version of the show. Even though the same company is
behind many of these Survivor shows, it doesn't seem they want to mix
and match the shows to multiple countries like that.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not researched
any of the players before the season.-a But I'm sure the others did.

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC
because of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up
with a challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury
which prevented her from pushing with her legs.-a Maybe she injured it
during that long standing challenge the episode before.-a-a The fact
they didn't elaborate was weird.-a Let's see if she can do remaining
physical challenges.

If she was injured during a challenge you'd think they would make a big
deal about it. Or do the Aussies not acknowledge injuries incurred
playing the game?

No they acknowledge injuries and they normally explain when a player has
to sit out a challenge or even be removed from the game. The only thing
I can guess is that maybe it was something very personal or embarrassing
for Lisa like menstrual cramps or bleeding or something like that. Or
maybe it was just an editing choice not to include the explanation.

BTW, something you may not realize about JLP is that he has a medical
degree and actually worked as an ER physician for a few years before he
turned to acting. That background often helps him to explain medical
injuries to the audience, and that just makes it doubly weird that he
chose or was told not to elaborate on Lisa's problem.

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with
Kass or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted ~54
minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows?-a Players who renege on
promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it
would be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance challenge
comes up.-a By the way, if I had been Kass in that situation, I might
have said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you drop off first and I
will promise you I will let you win the next one.-a Wonder if Parv
would have agreed to that?

Parv never would have agreed to that. She knows the target on her is way
too big to throw away immunity.

I remember Dreamz. He was like the original Rome who screwed over Yau Man.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you
mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will
happen.-a I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate and
control her.

Janine comes across as a manipulator. For the most part, the Australian tribe is pretty unlikable.

I think Sarah is very personable and she was well-liked on her season,
though she is coming across this time as really indecisive. Luke and
Shonee also came across as very likeable on their previous seasons, and
I know they are both popular with Australian viewers. As I mentioned,
Luke is a jokester a bit like Tyson and loves playing to the camera.
We don't see it as much this season because everyone knows her, but
Shonee is always very playful and flirtatious with new players, much
like a young Parvati. But I'll grant you Janine is very tough and
no-nonsense and so is Kirby. I happen to like Kirby as a player because
I saw what she could do on her one previous season, but there is no
question she and Janine both have a hard edge.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next to
no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that allows me
to better judge what's going on. American reality TV too often tries
to lead viewers with misleading confessionals.

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging style
for the episodes.-a I never thought about the confessional count before
but you may be right about that. It could also be that because these
players have all played before that they assume viewers already know
most of them.-a-a Course that doesn't explain the lack of confessionals
for Tommi and Kass, who I suspect very few people ever saw before.

I had no idea Finland has it's own version of Survivor nor Quebec. With
good editing, the producers should be able to tell us good stories about
the current season without having to resort too much to the past.
They've done a very good job of that with Parv. The mentions by Parv of
the Black Widow Brigade and Kass asking her about it, makes me think something similar is going to happen this season. Except this time I can
see Parv being taken out by her own people. Kass seems pretty familiar
with her history and I can see Cirie wanting to take out Parv as revenge
for Fans vs. Favorites.

I agree they should be able to tell every character's story. The
problem with Tommi may literally be that there's no there there. If
he's not giving them good confessionals and isn't interacting much with
the other players (which seems to be the case), I think he will remain a mystery.

The reference to the Black Widow Brigade is interesting, but whether it
really foreshadows anything is unclear. If Tommi is really next to go,
then Luke is the only remaining male in the game. He has one idol
which he will have to use at some point. Once he uses it, then it's
certainly possible the women can collectively take him out, but then
everyone remaining will be a potential Black Widow and they will have to
turn on themselves. Should be interesting.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/25/2025 5:50 PM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:44 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 9:11 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the gimmick >>>>> of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have one tribe
leave following a fire challenge without even talking was weird and >>>>> pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes were going to TC >>>>> but only one tribe would send someone home, I assumed there would
be a combined TC with all 11 players voting and just one person
going home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen.-a Credit Shonee for at >>>>> least figuring out they would have to do a fire challenge, but she
had the much more logical guess that each tribe would conduct its
own TC and vote and the two players voted out would do the
challenge.-a They have done that before.-a That would have given both >>>>> tribes a chance to talk and vote, possibly in the presence of the
other tribe, and the drama of the fire challenge that would result
in one person leaving would have been great TV.-a But doing a fire
challenge with randomly chosen players just to determine which
tribe would even be there was dumb. What was the point of the
Immunity challenge, which was actually won by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I heard
correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand
point it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave
the game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can remember >>>>> that players came to TC and basically were sent back without any
discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time winner >>>>> he would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a
potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding and >>>>> going along with the other World members desire to vote out Tony.
In reality, I think it was actually Cirie who probably folded and
Parv was forced to go along with her.-a One thing that surprised me >>>>> a bit was that it was Parv who ended up getting the podium idol by
hanging around after the others had left.-a I thought when everyone >>>>> was forming in small groups to have convos in the middle of TC that >>>>> a couple of the girls would just slip off to the side to have a
pretend talk while Tony and Tommi were occupied, and then one would >>>>> just slip behind the podium to grab the idol.-a Grabbing it at the
end like that was risky. I did think it was funny how Parv handed
her torch to JLP and asked him to hold it for her while she
searched for the idol.

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he
pissed her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was
willing to play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he got
her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point and
doing anything he could to survive.-a I still think she would have
preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her.-a She is now the
obvious top target on World.

When Tony was talking about the key he made it sound like Parv told
him about it which clearly concerned the other girls. To regain favor
with them, she had to vote to boot Tony.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw
Kass looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone
takes out Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol.-a In fact, I
have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC and
may have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab it on
the way out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

They did discuss the podium idol before TC but under the context of
one of them grabbing it during TC in case they needed it. We should
find out at the start of Episode 5 if Parv tried pulling a fast one or
if grabbing it after TC was preplanned.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was
first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a smart >>>>> player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam Klein
referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often referred to as the >>>>> Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an idol
attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to discover it
wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War.-a He was a super-fan, of course,
and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where Palesa had
found the podium idol.-a I think he may have even come up with the
term "Palesa idol".-a Here is video of Adam's failed attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

I thought that was rather recent but I couldn't recall the player or
season.

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South
Africa season.-a This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at TC.
Palesa is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/season/7/
videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and three >>>>> of them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8
disadvantage when the season started and they are now down 2-8.
Only Luke and Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly next >>>>> to go unless he wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often someone
easy that everyone agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at all at
this point.-a Not sure who would go next.-a Luke would be the last
man standing on the Aussie tribe, but he has surprising support
from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if Tommi really is the merge vote,
then Australia can theoretically run the board and do a Pagonging
on World, depending on how World play their idols.-a IrCOm thinking >>>>> Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid about being an early
target (and sherCOs not wrong to think that).-a The only remaining
winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one is likely to think about or
feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv and Kirby will get
together, as Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. As for Kass, she >>>>> will probably hold onto her idol for a while because I donrCOt think >>>>> anyone will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English isn't
good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree.-a He is definitely getting a purple edit.-a Since he didn't
even win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for
this season.-a The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season would
have been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK winner
had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass which would
have given them a 7-7 male-female split.-a If the UK winner had been
included and then had to drop out last minute, Kass could have been a
last-minute replacement, which would explain the lopsided 6-8 male-
female numbers. I havr no proof of that, of course, but it would be
ironic considering what an interesting player Kass has turned out to be.

I think once they decided to go with 14 players they needed to keep
the tribes balanced in terms of gender to avoid potential backlash. I
know they've done male vs. female tribes in the past but now is
different. I'll leave it at that.

They clearly aren't going to do another male vs. female season where
they start with an all-female team against an all-male team - I think
the only major reality show I watch that still does that is Hell's Kitchen.-a I wasn't suggesting that.-a What I was saying is that the total number of males and females on each season is almost always evenly
divided 50-50. The only time that normally varies is if someone drops
out at the last minute and they have to bring in a backup.-a Having a 6-8 male-female division in the total count at the start of this season was
odd, even unprecedented, which is why I think a last minute substitution
may have happened.

The tribes are usually balanced in total numbers. What I'm saying is
that what was done in the past with little issue would never fly today.
If the World tribe had 4 males and the Aussies just 3 and the first for
boots were all Aussies, viewers would blame the gender imbalance
regardless of the gameplay.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting.-a As the one remaining male on that
tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think he would
be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he does have
relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent Shonee.-a It
will be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his idol and when
he deems the right moment to play it.

With the merge happening I think he might be good for a while. Tommi
will be an easy target but I see the girls starting to devour each
other. We could end up with a S9 (the one Chris D. won). I could see
Luke using his HII to help take out a big player.

I don't think we will see another S9 scenario.-a For one thing, the girls Luke would be up against are much better players and more experienced
than the ones Chris outlasted.-a If Chris had been up against players
with the experience and skill of a Parvati, Cirie, Shonee, even Kass or Kirby, I think they would wipe the floor with him.-a Luke is a good
player, but I don't think he is that good.-a He's going to have to time
it exactly right to know when to play that immunity.-a Also, Chris won
three of the last four immunities in S9, if I remember right, and I
don't think Luke can do that.-a He is physically strong, but I'm not sure
he cab win at the kinds of mental challenges we see in modern Survivor.

IIRC, Chris benefited a lot when the girls started bickering and lost
focus. Parv, etc. are much better players but will/can they stay united?

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is pretty
crafty and can be strategic when he wants to.-a The closest US
equivalent is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he does
(example:-a he is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson once
did), though I think Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC
and assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but
not right away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to
get to the end. If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv
should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced
and best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick a >>>>> winner, but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and
seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm
assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched the
World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much about
Lisa.-a I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ season aired
in Australia.-a It would have competed with the Australian Survivor
seasons that were running around the same times, so I kind of doubt it.

With such a small market, you'd think Survivor NZ would have been sold
to other markets. With streaming services, there's no reason why
Banijay couldn't make all of these different versions available
everywhere.

I think the problem is that Australian Survivor was just re-establishing itself around the time Survivor NZ aired, and they didn't want to dilute
the product by showing Survivor NZ in Australia or in countries that
already had a version of the show.-a Even though the same company is
behind many of these Survivor shows, it doesn't seem they want to mix
and match the shows to multiple countries like that.

Which makes no sense. Casual fans will not search other versions out but hardcore fans will. During the pandemic Paramount+ had seasons of
Survivor Australia available and then they disappeared without much
warning. Not sure what happened but I know a lot of hardcore fans were
happy when Australia seasons were available.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not researched
any of the players before the season.-a But I'm sure the others did.

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC
because of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up
with a challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury
which prevented her from pushing with her legs.-a Maybe she injured it
during that long standing challenge the episode before.-a-a The fact
they didn't elaborate was weird.-a Let's see if she can do remaining
physical challenges.

If she was injured during a challenge you'd think they would make a
big deal about it. Or do the Aussies not acknowledge injuries incurred
playing the game?

No they acknowledge injuries and they normally explain when a player has
to sit out a challenge or even be removed from the game.-a The only thing
I can guess is that maybe it was something very personal or embarrassing
for Lisa like menstrual cramps or bleeding or something like that.-a Or maybe it was just an editing choice not to include the explanation.

Maybe she'll address it in an exit interview.

BTW, something you may not realize about JLP is that he has a medical
degree and actually worked as an ER physician for a few years before he turned to acting.-a That background often helps him to explain medical injuries to the audience, and that just makes it doubly weird that he
chose or was told not to elaborate on Lisa's problem.

I did not know that about him. I agree it's weird that they just glossed
over Lisa's condition when it might have been the first time something
like that as ever happened.

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with
Kass or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted
~54 minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows?-a Players who renege on
promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it
would be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance
challenge comes up.-a By the way, if I had been Kass in that
situation, I might have said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you
drop off first and I will promise you I will let you win the next
one.-a Wonder if Parv would have agreed to that?

Parv never would have agreed to that. She knows the target on her is
way too big to throw away immunity.

I remember Dreamz. He was like the original Rome who screwed over Yau
Man.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you
mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will
happen.-a I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate and
control her.

Janine comes across as a manipulator. For the most part, the
Australian tribe is pretty unlikable.

I think Sarah is very personable and she was well-liked on her season, though she is coming across this time as really indecisive. Luke and
Shonee also came across as very likeable on their previous seasons, and
I know they are both popular with Australian viewers.-a As I mentioned,
Luke is a jokester a bit like Tyson and loves playing to the camera. We don't see it as much this season because everyone knows her, but Shonee
is always very playful and flirtatious with new players, much like a
young Parvati. But I'll grant you Janine is very tough and no-nonsense
and so is Kirby.-a I happen to like Kirby as a player because I saw what
she could do on her one previous season, but there is no question she
and Janine both have a hard edge.

Shonee does seem nice. I was taken a back a bit when she said she took
out George so he wouldn't join the 100 day club which she's part of. I
find Sarah hard to read but I've only seen her for four episodes.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next
to no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that
allows me to better judge what's going on. American reality TV too
often tries to lead viewers with misleading confessionals.

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging style
for the episodes.-a I never thought about the confessional count
before but you may be right about that. It could also be that because
these players have all played before that they assume viewers already
know most of them.-a-a Course that doesn't explain the lack of
confessionals for Tommi and Kass, who I suspect very few people ever
saw before.

I had no idea Finland has it's own version of Survivor nor Quebec.
With good editing, the producers should be able to tell us good
stories about the current season without having to resort too much to
the past. They've done a very good job of that with Parv. The mentions
by Parv of the Black Widow Brigade and Kass asking her about it, makes
me think something similar is going to happen this season. Except this
time I can see Parv being taken out by her own people. Kass seems
pretty familiar with her history and I can see Cirie wanting to take
out Parv as revenge for Fans vs. Favorites.

I agree they should be able to tell every character's story.-a The
problem with Tommi may literally be that there's no there there.-a If
he's not giving them good confessionals and isn't interacting much with
the other players (which seems to be the case), I think he will remain a mystery.

The reference to the Black Widow Brigade is interesting, but whether it really foreshadows anything is unclear.-a-a If Tommi is really next to go, then Luke is the only remaining male in the game.-a-a He has one idol
which he will have to use at some point.-a Once he uses it, then it's certainly possible the women can collectively take him out, but then everyone remaining will be a potential Black Widow and they will have to turn on themselves.-a Should be interesting.

Does Survivor Australia tend to have a lot of advantages? What about
Reward Challenges? I'm just wondering if Luke could luck out and "win" a power.

An all female last half of the season would be very interesting.
Definitely not what I was expecting when I started to watch the season!
--
Brian
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/26/2025 12:11 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:50 PM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:44 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 9:11 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the
gimmick of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have
one tribe leave following a fire challenge without even talking
was weird and pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes >>>>>> were going to TC but only one tribe would send someone home, I
assumed there would be a combined TC with all 11 players voting
and just one person going home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen. >>>>>> Credit Shonee for at least figuring out they would have to do a
fire challenge, but she had the much more logical guess that each >>>>>> tribe would conduct its own TC and vote and the two players voted >>>>>> out would do the challenge.-a They have done that before.-a That
would have given both tribes a chance to talk and vote, possibly
in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama of the fire
challenge that would result in one person leaving would have been >>>>>> great TV.-a But doing a fire challenge with randomly chosen players >>>>>> just to determine which tribe would even be there was dumb. What
was the point of the Immunity challenge, which was actually won by >>>>>> World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I
heard correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the
challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand
point it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to leave >>>>>> the game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can
remember that players came to TC and basically were sent back
without any discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time winner >>>>>> he would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the face of a
potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up folding
and going along with the other World members desire to vote out
Tony. In reality, I think it was actually Cirie who probably
folded and Parv was forced to go along with her.-a One thing that >>>>>> surprised me a bit was that it was Parv who ended up getting the
podium idol by hanging around after the others had left.-a I
thought when everyone was forming in small groups to have convos
in the middle of TC that a couple of the girls would just slip off >>>>>> to the side to have a pretend talk while Tony and Tommi were
occupied, and then one would just slip behind the podium to grab
the idol.-a Grabbing it at the end like that was risky. I did think >>>>>> it was funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP and asked him to
hold it for her while she searched for the idol.

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he
pissed her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was
willing to play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he got >>>>> her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point
and doing anything he could to survive.-a I still think she would
have preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her.-a She is
now the obvious top target on World.

When Tony was talking about the key he made it sound like Parv told
him about it which clearly concerned the other girls. To regain favor
with them, she had to vote to boot Tony.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw
Kass looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone
takes out Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol.-a In fact, I >>>> have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC and
may have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab it on
the way out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

They did discuss the podium idol before TC but under the context of
one of them grabbing it during TC in case they needed it. We should
find out at the start of Episode 5 if Parv tried pulling a fast one
or if grabbing it after TC was preplanned.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was >>>>>> first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a
smart player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam
Klein referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often referred to >>>>>> as the Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an
idol attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to
discover it wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War.-a He was a super-fan, of
course, and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where
Palesa had found the podium idol.-a I think he may have even come up
with the term "Palesa idol".-a Here is video of Adam's failed attempt. >>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

I thought that was rather recent but I couldn't recall the player or
season.

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South
Africa season.-a This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at
TC. Palesa is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/season/7/ videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and
three of them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8
disadvantage when the season started and they are now down 2-8.
Only Luke and Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly
next to go unless he wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often
someone easy that everyone agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at
all at this point.-a Not sure who would go next.-a Luke would be the >>>>>> last man standing on the Aussie tribe, but he has surprising
support from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if Tommi really is the merge >>>>>> vote, then Australia can theoretically run the board and do a
Pagonging on World, depending on how World play their idols.-a IrCOm >>>>>> thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid about being
an early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think that).-a The only >>>>>> remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one is likely to think >>>>>> about or feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv and Kirby will >>>>>> get together, as Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. As for
Kass, she will probably hold onto her idol for a while because I
donrCOt think anyone will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English isn't >>>>> good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree.-a He is definitely getting a purple edit.-a Since he didn't
even win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for
this season.-a The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season
would have been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK winner
had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass which
would have given them a 7-7 male-female split.-a If the UK winner had >>>> been included and then had to drop out last minute, Kass could have
been a last-minute replacement, which would explain the lopsided 6-8
male- female numbers. I havr no proof of that, of course, but it
would be ironic considering what an interesting player Kass has
turned out to be.

I think once they decided to go with 14 players they needed to keep
the tribes balanced in terms of gender to avoid potential backlash. I
know they've done male vs. female tribes in the past but now is
different. I'll leave it at that.

They clearly aren't going to do another male vs. female season where
they start with an all-female team against an all-male team - I think
the only major reality show I watch that still does that is Hell's
Kitchen.-a I wasn't suggesting that.-a What I was saying is that the
total number of males and females on each season is almost always
evenly divided 50-50. The only time that normally varies is if someone
drops out at the last minute and they have to bring in a backup.
Having a 6-8 male-female division in the total count at the start of
this season was odd, even unprecedented, which is why I think a last
minute substitution may have happened.

The tribes are usually balanced in total numbers. What I'm saying is
that what was done in the past with little issue would never fly today.
If the World tribe had 4 males and the Aussies just 3 and the first for boots were all Aussies, viewers would blame the gender imbalance
regardless of the gameplay.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting.-a As the one remaining male on that
tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think he
would be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he does
have relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent
Shonee.-a It will be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his
idol and when he deems the right moment to play it.

With the merge happening I think he might be good for a while. Tommi
will be an easy target but I see the girls starting to devour each
other. We could end up with a S9 (the one Chris D. won). I could see
Luke using his HII to help take out a big player.

I don't think we will see another S9 scenario.-a For one thing, the
girls Luke would be up against are much better players and more
experienced than the ones Chris outlasted.-a If Chris had been up
against players with the experience and skill of a Parvati, Cirie,
Shonee, even Kass or Kirby, I think they would wipe the floor with
him.-a Luke is a good player, but I don't think he is that good.-a He's
going to have to time it exactly right to know when to play that
immunity.-a Also, Chris won three of the last four immunities in S9, if
I remember right, and I don't think Luke can do that.-a He is
physically strong, but I'm not sure he cab win at the kinds of mental
challenges we see in modern Survivor.

IIRC, Chris benefited a lot when the girls started bickering and lost
focus. Parv, etc. are much better players but will/can they stay united?

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is pretty
crafty and can be strategic when he wants to.-a The closest US
equivalent is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he does
(example:-a he is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson once
did), though I think Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC
and assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but
not right away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to
get to the end. If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv
should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced >>>>>> and best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick a >>>>>> winner, but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol and >>>>>> seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm
assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched the
World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much about
Lisa.-a I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ season
aired in Australia.-a It would have competed with the Australian
Survivor seasons that were running around the same times, so I kind
of doubt it.

With such a small market, you'd think Survivor NZ would have been
sold to other markets. With streaming services, there's no reason why
Banijay couldn't make all of these different versions available
everywhere.

I think the problem is that Australian Survivor was just
re-establishing itself around the time Survivor NZ aired, and they
didn't want to dilute the product by showing Survivor NZ in Australia
or in countries that already had a version of the show.-a Even though
the same company is behind many of these Survivor shows, it doesn't
seem they want to mix and match the shows to multiple countries like
that.

Which makes no sense. Casual fans will not search other versions out but hardcore fans will. During the pandemic Paramount+ had seasons of
Survivor Australia available and then they disappeared without much
warning. Not sure what happened but I know a lot of hardcore fans were
happy when Australia seasons were available.

Keep in mind that even though there may be one company with the ultimate rights to the series, they still have to negotiate with individual
networks. The Aussie Ten network or whatever it's called probably
demands some exclusivity in agreeing to show Australian Survivor, so
that probably prevents competing shows like Survivor NZ from airing, and
it keeps Australian Survivor from being propagated on other platforms.
The pandemic was a weird time where networks and TV companies were
losing money left and right, so they were trying things and doing things
they won't repeat now. Ultimately, it all comes down to money and
contracts, and like it or not, the networks are much more concerned
about casual fans than hardcore because their numbers are so much greater.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not researched
any of the players before the season.-a But I'm sure the others did.

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC
because of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up
with a challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury
which prevented her from pushing with her legs.-a Maybe she injured
it during that long standing challenge the episode before.-a-a The
fact they didn't elaborate was weird.-a Let's see if she can do
remaining physical challenges.

If she was injured during a challenge you'd think they would make a
big deal about it. Or do the Aussies not acknowledge injuries
incurred playing the game?

No they acknowledge injuries and they normally explain when a player
has to sit out a challenge or even be removed from the game.-a The only
thing I can guess is that maybe it was something very personal or
embarrassing for Lisa like menstrual cramps or bleeding or something
like that.-a Or maybe it was just an editing choice not to include the
explanation.

Maybe she'll address it in an exit interview.

BTW, something you may not realize about JLP is that he has a medical
degree and actually worked as an ER physician for a few years before
he turned to acting.-a That background often helps him to explain
medical injuries to the audience, and that just makes it doubly weird
that he chose or was told not to elaborate on Lisa's problem.

I did not know that about him. I agree it's weird that they just glossed over Lisa's condition when it might have been the first time something
like that as ever happened.

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with
Kass or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted
~54 minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows?-a Players who renege on
promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it
would be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance
challenge comes up.-a By the way, if I had been Kass in that
situation, I might have said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you
drop off first and I will promise you I will let you win the next
one.-a Wonder if Parv would have agreed to that?

Parv never would have agreed to that. She knows the target on her is
way too big to throw away immunity.

I remember Dreamz. He was like the original Rome who screwed over Yau
Man.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you
mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will
happen.-a I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate and
control her.

Janine comes across as a manipulator. For the most part, the
Australian tribe is pretty unlikable.

I think Sarah is very personable and she was well-liked on her season,
though she is coming across this time as really indecisive. Luke and
Shonee also came across as very likeable on their previous seasons,
and I know they are both popular with Australian viewers.-a As I
mentioned, Luke is a jokester a bit like Tyson and loves playing to
the camera. We don't see it as much this season because everyone knows
her, but Shonee is always very playful and flirtatious with new
players, much like a young Parvati. But I'll grant you Janine is very
tough and no-nonsense and so is Kirby.-a I happen to like Kirby as a
player because I saw what she could do on her one previous season, but
there is no question she and Janine both have a hard edge.

Shonee does seem nice. I was taken a back a bit when she said she took
out George so he wouldn't join the 100 day club which she's part of. I
find Sarah hard to read but I've only seen her for four episodes.

Shonee was just being snarky. She and George have a love-hate
relationship, and I think the 100-day comment was just playing to the
cameras.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next
to no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that
allows me to better judge what's going on. American reality TV too
often tries to lead viewers with misleading confessionals.

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging style
for the episodes.-a I never thought about the confessional count
before but you may be right about that. It could also be that
because these players have all played before that they assume
viewers already know most of them.-a-a Course that doesn't explain the >>>> lack of confessionals for Tommi and Kass, who I suspect very few
people ever saw before.

I had no idea Finland has it's own version of Survivor nor Quebec.
With good editing, the producers should be able to tell us good
stories about the current season without having to resort too much to
the past. They've done a very good job of that with Parv. The
mentions by Parv of the Black Widow Brigade and Kass asking her about
it, makes me think something similar is going to happen this season.
Except this time I can see Parv being taken out by her own people.
Kass seems pretty familiar with her history and I can see Cirie
wanting to take out Parv as revenge for Fans vs. Favorites.

I agree they should be able to tell every character's story.-a The
problem with Tommi may literally be that there's no there there.-a If
he's not giving them good confessionals and isn't interacting much
with the other players (which seems to be the case), I think he will
remain a mystery.

The reference to the Black Widow Brigade is interesting, but whether
it really foreshadows anything is unclear.-a-a If Tommi is really next
to go, then Luke is the only remaining male in the game.-a-a He has one
idol which he will have to use at some point.-a Once he uses it, then
it's certainly possible the women can collectively take him out, but
then everyone remaining will be a potential Black Widow and they will
have to turn on themselves.-a Should be interesting.

Does Survivor Australia tend to have a lot of advantages? What about
Reward Challenges? I'm just wondering if Luke could luck out and "win" a power.

Yes, they do have advantages, like the Knowledge is Power thing that
Parv won. And they also have Reward challenges, though they haven't
seemed to be doing them this season for some reason. They do a lot of
the same things the US version does, but just to a lesser degree.

An all female last half of the season would be very interesting.
Definitely not what I was expecting when I started to watch the season!

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/26/2025 8:43 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/26/2025 12:11 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:50 PM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:44 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 9:11 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the
gimmick of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have >>>>>>> one tribe leave following a fire challenge without even talking >>>>>>> was weird and pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes >>>>>>> were going to TC but only one tribe would send someone home, I
assumed there would be a combined TC with all 11 players voting >>>>>>> and just one person going home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen. >>>>>>> Credit Shonee for at least figuring out they would have to do a >>>>>>> fire challenge, but she had the much more logical guess that each >>>>>>> tribe would conduct its own TC and vote and the two players voted >>>>>>> out would do the challenge.-a They have done that before.-a That >>>>>>> would have given both tribes a chance to talk and vote, possibly >>>>>>> in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama of the fire
challenge that would result in one person leaving would have been >>>>>>> great TV.-a But doing a fire challenge with randomly chosen
players just to determine which tribe would even be there was
dumb. What was the point of the Immunity challenge, which was
actually won by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I
heard correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the
challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand >>>>>> point it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to
leave the game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can >>>>>>> remember that players came to TC and basically were sent back
without any discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor.

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time
winner he would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the
face of a potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end up >>>>>>> folding and going along with the other World members desire to
vote out Tony. In reality, I think it was actually Cirie who
probably folded and Parv was forced to go along with her.-a One >>>>>>> thing that surprised me a bit was that it was Parv who ended up >>>>>>> getting the podium idol by hanging around after the others had
left.-a I thought when everyone was forming in small groups to
have convos in the middle of TC that a couple of the girls would >>>>>>> just slip off to the side to have a pretend talk while Tony and >>>>>>> Tommi were occupied, and then one would just slip behind the
podium to grab the idol.-a Grabbing it at the end like that was >>>>>>> risky. I did think it was funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP >>>>>>> and asked him to hold it for her while she searched for the idol. >>>>>>

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he
pissed her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was
willing to play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he
got her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point
and doing anything he could to survive.-a I still think she would
have preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her.-a She is
now the obvious top target on World.

When Tony was talking about the key he made it sound like Parv told
him about it which clearly concerned the other girls. To regain
favor with them, she had to vote to boot Tony.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw
Kass looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone
takes out Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol.-a In fact, >>>>> I have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC
and may have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab it >>>>> on the way out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

They did discuss the podium idol before TC but under the context of
one of them grabbing it during TC in case they needed it. We should
find out at the start of Episode 5 if Parv tried pulling a fast one
or if grabbing it after TC was preplanned.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick was >>>>>>> first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when a
smart player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since Adam >>>>>>> Klein referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often referred >>>>>>> to as the Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an
idol attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to
discover it wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War.-a He was a super-fan, of
course, and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where
Palesa had found the podium idol.-a I think he may have even come up >>>>> with the term "Palesa idol".-a Here is video of Adam's failed attempt. >>>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

I thought that was rather recent but I couldn't recall the player or
season.

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South
Africa season.-a This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at
TC. Palesa is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/
season/7/ videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and
three of them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8 >>>>>>> disadvantage when the season started and they are now down 2-8. >>>>>>> Only Luke and Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly >>>>>>> next to go unless he wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often
someone easy that everyone agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at >>>>>>> all at this point.-a Not sure who would go next.-a Luke would be >>>>>>> the last man standing on the Aussie tribe, but he has surprising >>>>>>> support from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if Tommi really is the
merge vote, then Australia can theoretically run the board and do >>>>>>> a Pagonging on World, depending on how World play their idols. >>>>>>> IrCOm thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid about >>>>>>> being an early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think that).-a The >>>>>>> only remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one is likely to >>>>>>> think about or feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder if Parv and
Kirby will get together, as Kirby seemed to say she wanted to do. >>>>>>> As for Kass, she will probably hold onto her idol for a while
because I donrCOt think anyone will target her either.

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English
isn't good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree.-a He is definitely getting a purple edit.-a Since he didn't >>>>> even win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for
this season.-a The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season
would have been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK
winner had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass
which would have given them a 7-7 male-female split.-a If the UK
winner had been included and then had to drop out last minute, Kass >>>>> could have been a last-minute replacement, which would explain the
lopsided 6-8 male- female numbers. I havr no proof of that, of
course, but it would be ironic considering what an interesting
player Kass has turned out to be.

I think once they decided to go with 14 players they needed to keep
the tribes balanced in terms of gender to avoid potential backlash.
I know they've done male vs. female tribes in the past but now is
different. I'll leave it at that.

They clearly aren't going to do another male vs. female season where
they start with an all-female team against an all-male team - I think
the only major reality show I watch that still does that is Hell's
Kitchen.-a I wasn't suggesting that.-a What I was saying is that the
total number of males and females on each season is almost always
evenly divided 50-50. The only time that normally varies is if
someone drops out at the last minute and they have to bring in a
backup. Having a 6-8 male-female division in the total count at the
start of this season was odd, even unprecedented, which is why I
think a last minute substitution may have happened.

The tribes are usually balanced in total numbers. What I'm saying is
that what was done in the past with little issue would never fly
today. If the World tribe had 4 males and the Aussies just 3 and the
first for boots were all Aussies, viewers would blame the gender
imbalance regardless of the gameplay.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting.-a As the one remaining male on that >>>>> tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think he
would be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he does >>>>> have relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent
Shonee.-a It will be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his
idol and when he deems the right moment to play it.

With the merge happening I think he might be good for a while. Tommi
will be an easy target but I see the girls starting to devour each
other. We could end up with a S9 (the one Chris D. won). I could see
Luke using his HII to help take out a big player.

I don't think we will see another S9 scenario.-a For one thing, the
girls Luke would be up against are much better players and more
experienced than the ones Chris outlasted.-a If Chris had been up
against players with the experience and skill of a Parvati, Cirie,
Shonee, even Kass or Kirby, I think they would wipe the floor with
him.-a Luke is a good player, but I don't think he is that good.-a He's >>> going to have to time it exactly right to know when to play that
immunity.-a Also, Chris won three of the last four immunities in S9,
if I remember right, and I don't think Luke can do that.-a He is
physically strong, but I'm not sure he cab win at the kinds of mental
challenges we see in modern Survivor.

IIRC, Chris benefited a lot when the girls started bickering and lost
focus. Parv, etc. are much better players but will/can they stay united?

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is pretty >>>>> crafty and can be strategic when he wants to.-a The closest US
equivalent is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he does >>>>> (example:-a he is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson once
did), though I think Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after TC >>>>>> and assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv but >>>>>> not right away. Parv will need to work with some of the Aussies to >>>>>> get to the end. If Kirby's serious about working together, Parv
should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most experienced >>>>>>> and best known of the remaining players.-a It's too early to pick >>>>>>> a winner, but I would keep an eye on Kass who has a secret idol >>>>>>> and seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm
assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched
the World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much
about Lisa.-a I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ
season aired in Australia.-a It would have competed with the
Australian Survivor seasons that were running around the same
times, so I kind of doubt it.

With such a small market, you'd think Survivor NZ would have been
sold to other markets. With streaming services, there's no reason
why Banijay couldn't make all of these different versions available
everywhere.

I think the problem is that Australian Survivor was just re-
establishing itself around the time Survivor NZ aired, and they
didn't want to dilute the product by showing Survivor NZ in Australia
or in countries that already had a version of the show.-a Even though
the same company is behind many of these Survivor shows, it doesn't
seem they want to mix and match the shows to multiple countries like
that.

Which makes no sense. Casual fans will not search other versions out
but hardcore fans will. During the pandemic Paramount+ had seasons of
Survivor Australia available and then they disappeared without much
warning. Not sure what happened but I know a lot of hardcore fans were
happy when Australia seasons were available.

Keep in mind that even though there may be one company with the ultimate rights to the series, they still have to negotiate with individual networks.-a The Aussie Ten network or whatever it's called probably
demands some exclusivity in agreeing to show Australian Survivor, so
that probably prevents competing shows like Survivor NZ from airing, and
it keeps Australian Survivor from being propagated on other platforms.
The pandemic was a weird time where networks and TV companies were
losing money left and right, so they were trying things and doing things they won't repeat now.-a Ultimately, it all comes down to money and contracts, and like it or not, the networks are much more concerned
about casual fans than hardcore because their numbers are so much greater.

Paramount Global owns Ten Network so that's not the issue. I'm pretty
sure Banijay is the problem as seasons of BB Canada were also pulled off
of Paramount+.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not researched >>>>> any of the players before the season.-a But I'm sure the others did. >>>>>

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC
because of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up >>>>>> with a challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury
which prevented her from pushing with her legs.-a Maybe she injured >>>>> it during that long standing challenge the episode before.-a-a The
fact they didn't elaborate was weird.-a Let's see if she can do
remaining physical challenges.

If she was injured during a challenge you'd think they would make a
big deal about it. Or do the Aussies not acknowledge injuries
incurred playing the game?

No they acknowledge injuries and they normally explain when a player
has to sit out a challenge or even be removed from the game.-a The
only thing I can guess is that maybe it was something very personal
or embarrassing for Lisa like menstrual cramps or bleeding or
something like that.-a Or maybe it was just an editing choice not to
include the explanation.

Maybe she'll address it in an exit interview.

BTW, something you may not realize about JLP is that he has a medical
degree and actually worked as an ER physician for a few years before
he turned to acting.-a That background often helps him to explain
medical injuries to the audience, and that just makes it doubly weird
that he chose or was told not to elaborate on Lisa's problem.

I did not know that about him. I agree it's weird that they just
glossed over Lisa's condition when it might have been the first time
something like that as ever happened.

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal with >>>>>> Kass or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie lasted >>>>>> ~54 minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows?-a Players who renege on
promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it
would be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance
challenge comes up.-a By the way, if I had been Kass in that
situation, I might have said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you
drop off first and I will promise you I will let you win the next
one.-a Wonder if Parv would have agreed to that?

Parv never would have agreed to that. She knows the target on her is
way too big to throw away immunity.

I remember Dreamz. He was like the original Rome who screwed over
Yau Man.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like you >>>>>> mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner.

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will
happen.-a I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate and >>>>> control her.

Janine comes across as a manipulator. For the most part, the
Australian tribe is pretty unlikable.

I think Sarah is very personable and she was well-liked on her
season, though she is coming across this time as really indecisive.
Luke and Shonee also came across as very likeable on their previous
seasons, and I know they are both popular with Australian viewers.
As I mentioned, Luke is a jokester a bit like Tyson and loves playing
to the camera. We don't see it as much this season because everyone
knows her, but Shonee is always very playful and flirtatious with new
players, much like a young Parvati. But I'll grant you Janine is very
tough and no-nonsense and so is Kirby.-a I happen to like Kirby as a
player because I saw what she could do on her one previous season,
but there is no question she and Janine both have a hard edge.

Shonee does seem nice. I was taken a back a bit when she said she took
out George so he wouldn't join the 100 day club which she's part of. I
find Sarah hard to read but I've only seen her for four episodes.

Shonee was just being snarky.-a She and George have a love-hate relationship, and I think the 100-day comment was just playing to the cameras.

That makes sense. You need to make good TV so you get asked back.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing next >>>>>> to no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage that
allows me to better judge what's going on. American reality TV too >>>>>> often tries to lead viewers with misleading confessionals.

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging style >>>>> for the episodes.-a I never thought about the confessional count
before but you may be right about that. It could also be that
because these players have all played before that they assume
viewers already know most of them.-a-a Course that doesn't explain
the lack of confessionals for Tommi and Kass, who I suspect very
few people ever saw before.

I had no idea Finland has it's own version of Survivor nor Quebec.
With good editing, the producers should be able to tell us good
stories about the current season without having to resort too much
to the past. They've done a very good job of that with Parv. The
mentions by Parv of the Black Widow Brigade and Kass asking her
about it, makes me think something similar is going to happen this
season. Except this time I can see Parv being taken out by her own
people. Kass seems pretty familiar with her history and I can see
Cirie wanting to take out Parv as revenge for Fans vs. Favorites.

I agree they should be able to tell every character's story.-a The
problem with Tommi may literally be that there's no there there.-a If
he's not giving them good confessionals and isn't interacting much
with the other players (which seems to be the case), I think he will
remain a mystery.

The reference to the Black Widow Brigade is interesting, but whether
it really foreshadows anything is unclear.-a-a If Tommi is really next
to go, then Luke is the only remaining male in the game.-a-a He has one >>> idol which he will have to use at some point.-a Once he uses it, then
it's certainly possible the women can collectively take him out, but
then everyone remaining will be a potential Black Widow and they will
have to turn on themselves.-a Should be interesting.

Does Survivor Australia tend to have a lot of advantages? What about
Reward Challenges? I'm just wondering if Luke could luck out and "win"
a power.

Yes, they do have advantages, like the Knowledge is Power thing that
Parv won.-a And they also have Reward challenges, though they haven't
seemed to be doing them this season for some reason.-a They do a lot of
the same things the US version does, but just to a lesser degree.

I'm surprised with a season like this that they don't have nonstop RCs.
Not necessarily for food but to gain advantages. Come to think of it, I
don't think I've heard these guys mention food once.

I see you've posted on Episode 5. I'll look for it and try to watch it
later today.
--
Brian
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.survivor

On 8/26/2025 2:01 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/26/2025 8:43 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/26/2025 12:11 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:50 PM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 5:44 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/25/2025 9:11 AM, Rick wrote:

On 8/25/2025 2:40 AM, Brian Smith wrote:

On 8/24/2025 6:39 PM, Rick wrote:

Here are my thoughts on Episode 4.-a Spoilers ahead...

This was a great final pre-merge episode, but I thought the
gimmick of having both tribes go to Tribal Council only to have >>>>>>>> one tribe leave following a fire challenge without even talking >>>>>>>> was weird and pretty flat-footed.-a When I heard that both tribes >>>>>>>> were going to TC but only one tribe would send someone home, I >>>>>>>> assumed there would be a combined TC with all 11 players voting >>>>>>>> and just one person going home. Obviously, that didnrCOt happen. >>>>>>>> Credit Shonee for at least figuring out they would have to do a >>>>>>>> fire challenge, but she had the much more logical guess that
each tribe would conduct its own TC and vote and the two players >>>>>>>> voted out would do the challenge.-a They have done that before. >>>>>>>> That would have given both tribes a chance to talk and vote,
possibly in the presence of the other tribe, and the drama of >>>>>>>> the fire challenge that would result in one person leaving would >>>>>>>> have been great TV.-a But doing a fire challenge with randomly >>>>>>>> chosen players just to determine which tribe would even be there >>>>>>>> was dumb. What was the point of the Immunity challenge, which >>>>>>>> was actually won by World?

The point of the IC was to fight for individual immunity. If I
heard correctly, Jonathan told them that at the start of the
challenge.

The twist was crazy but still made for good TV. From a game stand >>>>>>> point it sucked. Tony's game ended pretty well due to bad luck.

I could be wrong but, other than cases where a player has to
leave the game for medical reasons, this is the first time I can >>>>>>>> remember that players came to TC and basically were sent back >>>>>>>> without any discussion.

I can't recall it ever happening in the U.S. version of Survivor. >>>>>>>

The Tony vote-out was not a surprise.-a I knew as a two-time
winner he would be targeted and I was pretty sure that in the >>>>>>>> face of a potential 3-3 deadlock, the American girls would end >>>>>>>> up folding and going along with the other World members desire >>>>>>>> to vote out Tony. In reality, I think it was actually Cirie who >>>>>>>> probably folded and Parv was forced to go along with her.-a One >>>>>>>> thing that surprised me a bit was that it was Parv who ended up >>>>>>>> getting the podium idol by hanging around after the others had >>>>>>>> left.-a I thought when everyone was forming in small groups to >>>>>>>> have convos in the middle of TC that a couple of the girls would >>>>>>>> just slip off to the side to have a pretend talk while Tony and >>>>>>>> Tommi were occupied, and then one would just slip behind the
podium to grab the idol.-a Grabbing it at the end like that was >>>>>>>> risky. I did think it was funny how Parv handed her torch to JLP >>>>>>>> and asked him to hold it for her while she searched for the idol. >>>>>>>

I don't think Parv folded concerning voting out Tony. I think he >>>>>>> pissed her off trying to blow up her game. She realized Tony was >>>>>>> willing to play hardcore and needed to stamp that out before he >>>>>>> got her booted.

But Parv is smart enough to know Tony was desperate by that point >>>>>> and doing anything he could to survive.-a I still think she would >>>>>> have preferred keeping him around to be a shield for her.-a She is >>>>>> now the obvious top target on World.

When Tony was talking about the key he made it sound like Parv told >>>>> him about it which clearly concerned the other girls. To regain
favor with them, she had to vote to boot Tony.

Parv getting the HII at the end was classic. I wonder if she saw >>>>>>> Kass looking back? I'm impressed by Kass's game play. If anyone >>>>>>> takes out Parv it'll probably be her.

Yes, I'm pretty sure she knew Parv was getting the idol.-a In fact, >>>>>> I have to think the girls would have discussed the idol before TC >>>>>> and may have had an agreement that one of them would try to grab
it on the way out if no opportunity presented itself during TC.

They did discuss the podium idol before TC but under the context of >>>>> one of them grabbing it during TC in case they needed it. We should >>>>> find out at the start of Episode 5 if Parv tried pulling a fast one >>>>> or if grabbing it after TC was preplanned.

One little bit of trivia about the podium idol.-a That gimmick >>>>>>>> was first used on my favorite Survivor South Africa season when >>>>>>>> a smart player named Palesa secured the idol, and ever since
Adam Klein referenced it on Winners at War, it is now often
referred to as the Palesa idol.

Do you remember what season it was someone thought there was an >>>>>>> idol attached to the podium and tried to take it off only to
discover it wasn't an idol? Jeff's reaction was pretty funny.

Yes, that was Adam at Winners at War.-a He was a super-fan, of
course, and had watched the Survivor South Africa season where
Palesa had found the podium idol.-a I think he may have even come >>>>>> up with the term "Palesa idol".-a Here is video of Adam's failed
attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe4YZyjcTM

I thought that was rather recent but I couldn't recall the player
or season.

And here is video of Palesa finding the TC idol during her South
Africa season.-a This is the first time an idol was ever hidden at >>>>>> TC. Palesa is on the far right as you watch the scene:

https://www.dstv.com/m-net/en-za/show/survivor-south-africa/
season/7/ videos/survivor-sa-palesa-makes-her-move/video

At this point, the first four vote-outs have all been men and >>>>>>>> three of them are past winners.-a The men were already at a 6-8 >>>>>>>> disadvantage when the season started and they are now down 2-8. >>>>>>>> Only Luke and Tommi remain.-a I think Tommi is almost certainly >>>>>>>> next to go unless he wins immunity.-a The merge vote is often >>>>>>>> someone easy that everyone agrees on, and Tommi has no allies at >>>>>>>> all at this point.-a Not sure who would go next.-a Luke would be >>>>>>>> the last man standing on the Aussie tribe, but he has surprising >>>>>>>> support from Janine and Sarah.-a-a Also if Tommi really is the >>>>>>>> merge vote, then Australia can theoretically run the board and >>>>>>>> do a Pagonging on World, depending on how World play their
idols. IrCOm thinking Parv may burn hers since she is so paranoid >>>>>>>> about being an early target (and sherCOs not wrong to think
that).-a The only remaining winners are she and Lisa, and no-a one >>>>>>>> is likely to think about or feel threatened by Lisa.-a I wonder >>>>>>>> if Parv and Kirby will get together, as Kirby seemed to say she >>>>>>>> wanted to do. As for Kass, she will probably hold onto her idol >>>>>>>> for a while because I donrCOt think anyone will target her either. >>>>>>>

I've been least impressed with Tommi. I wonder if his English
isn't good enough to effectively strategize with the others?

I agree.-a He is definitely getting a purple edit.-a Since he didn't >>>>>> even win his season, I am unclear on why he was even selected for >>>>>> this season.-a The male winner of last year's Survivor UK season
would have been a much better choice.

Speaking of which, I was wondering if perhaps the Survivor UK
winner had originally been included in the cast in place of Kass
which would have given them a 7-7 male-female split.-a If the UK
winner had been included and then had to drop out last minute,
Kass could have been a last-minute replacement, which would
explain the lopsided 6-8 male- female numbers. I havr no proof of >>>>>> that, of course, but it would be ironic considering what an
interesting player Kass has turned out to be.

I think once they decided to go with 14 players they needed to keep >>>>> the tribes balanced in terms of gender to avoid potential backlash. >>>>> I know they've done male vs. female tribes in the past but now is
different. I'll leave it at that.

They clearly aren't going to do another male vs. female season where
they start with an all-female team against an all-male team - I
think the only major reality show I watch that still does that is
Hell's Kitchen.-a I wasn't suggesting that.-a What I was saying is
that the total number of males and females on each season is almost
always evenly divided 50-50. The only time that normally varies is
if someone drops out at the last minute and they have to bring in a
backup. Having a 6-8 male-female division in the total count at the
start of this season was odd, even unprecedented, which is why I
think a last minute substitution may have happened.

The tribes are usually balanced in total numbers. What I'm saying is
that what was done in the past with little issue would never fly
today. If the World tribe had 4 males and the Aussies just 3 and the
first for boots were all Aussies, viewers would blame the gender
imbalance regardless of the gameplay.

Don't forget Luke has a HII which no one knows about.

Luke's situation is interesting.-a As the one remaining male on
that tribe and someone who is strong in challenges, I would think >>>>>> he would be targeted, but no one is talking about him much and he >>>>>> does have relationships with Sarah, Janine and to a lesser extent >>>>>> Shonee.-a It will be interesting to see how long he hangs onto his >>>>>> idol and when he deems the right moment to play it.

With the merge happening I think he might be good for a while.
Tommi will be an easy target but I see the girls starting to devour >>>>> each other. We could end up with a S9 (the one Chris D. won). I
could see Luke using his HII to help take out a big player.

I don't think we will see another S9 scenario.-a For one thing, the
girls Luke would be up against are much better players and more
experienced than the ones Chris outlasted.-a If Chris had been up
against players with the experience and skill of a Parvati, Cirie,
Shonee, even Kass or Kirby, I think they would wipe the floor with
him.-a Luke is a good player, but I don't think he is that good.
He's going to have to time it exactly right to know when to play
that immunity.-a Also, Chris won three of the last four immunities in >>>> S9, if I remember right, and I don't think Luke can do that.-a He is
physically strong, but I'm not sure he cab win at the kinds of
mental challenges we see in modern Survivor.

IIRC, Chris benefited a lot when the girls started bickering and lost
focus. Parv, etc. are much better players but will/can they stay united? >>>

Despite the fact that he often acts like a jokester, Luke is
pretty crafty and can be strategic when he wants to.-a The closest >>>>>> US equivalent is probably Tyson in terms of some of the things he >>>>>> does (example:-a he is famous for stealing/hoarding food as Tyson >>>>>> once did), though I think Tyson is probably smarter.

My sense is that Kass knows Parv went for the podium idol after >>>>>>> TC and assumes she has it. I can see Kass trying to take out Parv >>>>>>> but not right away. Parv will need to work with some of the
Aussies to get to the end. If Kirby's serious about working
together, Parv should go for it.

Parvati, Cirie, Luke and Shonee are probably the most
experienced and best known of the remaining players.-a It's too >>>>>>>> early to pick a winner, but I would keep an eye on Kass who has >>>>>>>> a secret idol and seemingly no enemies right now.

Kass is definitely a huge threat. Do the Aussies know Lisa? I'm >>>>>>> assuming they do which could be good for Cirie.

I'm pretty sure the smarter Aussie players would have researched
the World players, but I don't know specifically if they know much >>>>>> about Lisa.-a I can't recall if it was ever mentioned if the NZ
season aired in Australia.-a It would have competed with the
Australian Survivor seasons that were running around the same
times, so I kind of doubt it.

With such a small market, you'd think Survivor NZ would have been
sold to other markets. With streaming services, there's no reason
why Banijay couldn't make all of these different versions available >>>>> everywhere.

I think the problem is that Australian Survivor was just re-
establishing itself around the time Survivor NZ aired, and they
didn't want to dilute the product by showing Survivor NZ in
Australia or in countries that already had a version of the show.
Even though the same company is behind many of these Survivor shows,
it doesn't seem they want to mix and match the shows to multiple
countries like that.

Which makes no sense. Casual fans will not search other versions out
but hardcore fans will. During the pandemic Paramount+ had seasons of
Survivor Australia available and then they disappeared without much
warning. Not sure what happened but I know a lot of hardcore fans
were happy when Australia seasons were available.

Keep in mind that even though there may be one company with the
ultimate rights to the series, they still have to negotiate with
individual networks.-a The Aussie Ten network or whatever it's called
probably demands some exclusivity in agreeing to show Australian
Survivor, so that probably prevents competing shows like Survivor NZ
from airing, and it keeps Australian Survivor from being propagated on
other platforms. The pandemic was a weird time where networks and TV
companies were losing money left and right, so they were trying things
and doing things they won't repeat now.-a Ultimately, it all comes down
to money and contracts, and like it or not, the networks are much more
concerned about casual fans than hardcore because their numbers are so
much greater.

Paramount Global owns Ten Network so that's not the issue. I'm pretty
sure Banijay is the problem as seasons of BB Canada were also pulled off
of Paramount+.

We do know that Kirby fairly explicitly said she had not
researched any of the players before the season.-a But I'm sure the >>>>>> others did.

Some comments from me:

--WTF was that bullshit about Lisa having to sit out of the IC
because of an underlying medical condition? Couldn't they come up >>>>>>> with a challenge where everyone could compete?

I wondered about that too. I assumed she perhaps had a leg injury >>>>>> which prevented her from pushing with her legs.-a Maybe she injured >>>>>> it during that long standing challenge the episode before.-a-a The >>>>>> fact they didn't elaborate was weird.-a Let's see if she can do
remaining physical challenges.

If she was injured during a challenge you'd think they would make a >>>>> big deal about it. Or do the Aussies not acknowledge injuries
incurred playing the game?

No they acknowledge injuries and they normally explain when a player
has to sit out a challenge or even be removed from the game.-a The
only thing I can guess is that maybe it was something very personal
or embarrassing for Lisa like menstrual cramps or bleeding or
something like that.-a Or maybe it was just an editing choice not to
include the explanation.

Maybe she'll address it in an exit interview.

BTW, something you may not realize about JLP is that he has a
medical degree and actually worked as an ER physician for a few
years before he turned to acting.-a That background often helps him
to explain medical injuries to the audience, and that just makes it
doubly weird that he chose or was told not to elaborate on Lisa's
problem.

I did not know that about him. I agree it's weird that they just
glossed over Lisa's condition when it might have been the first time
something like that as ever happened.

--I'm not surprised Parv won the IC. With her Pilates and yoga
background she would be hard to beat. Will she honor her deal
with Kass or did she play Kass? I was very impressed that Cirie >>>>>>> lasted ~54 minutes.

She says she will honor it but who knows?-a Players who renege on >>>>>> promises lose credibility with the jury (remember Dreamz?), so it >>>>>> would be hard for her to talk around it if another endurance
challenge comes up.-a By the way, if I had been Kass in that
situation, I might have said, sure, I'll take that offer. But you >>>>>> drop off first and I will promise you I will let you win the next >>>>>> one.-a Wonder if Parv would have agreed to that?

Parv never would have agreed to that. She knows the target on her
is way too big to throw away immunity.

I remember Dreamz. He was like the original Rome who screwed over
Yau Man.

--I have a feeling Sarah is going to be Kirby's downfall. Like
you mentioned before, Sarah's to emotional to be a reliable partner. >>>>>>>

Sarah's brand is unpredictability, so it's hard to guess what will >>>>>> happen.-a I kind of think Janine and Luke will try to manipulate
and control her.

Janine comes across as a manipulator. For the most part, the
Australian tribe is pretty unlikable.

I think Sarah is very personable and she was well-liked on her
season, though she is coming across this time as really indecisive.
Luke and Shonee also came across as very likeable on their previous
seasons, and I know they are both popular with Australian viewers.
As I mentioned, Luke is a jokester a bit like Tyson and loves
playing to the camera. We don't see it as much this season because
everyone knows her, but Shonee is always very playful and
flirtatious with new players, much like a young Parvati. But I'll
grant you Janine is very tough and no-nonsense and so is Kirby.-a I
happen to like Kirby as a player because I saw what she could do on
her one previous season, but there is no question she and Janine
both have a hard edge.

Shonee does seem nice. I was taken a back a bit when she said she
took out George so he wouldn't join the 100 day club which she's part
of. I find Sarah hard to read but I've only seen her for four episodes.

Shonee was just being snarky.-a She and George have a love-hate
relationship, and I think the 100-day comment was just playing to the
cameras.

That makes sense. You need to make good TV so you get asked back.

--It took me until last episode to realize that they're doing
next to no confessionals. I like seeing more strategic footage
that allows me to better judge what's going on. American reality >>>>>>> TV too often tries to lead viewers with misleading confessionals. >>>>>>>

Australia definitely has its own unique editing and packaging
style for the episodes.-a I never thought about the confessional
count before but you may be right about that. It could also be
that because these players have all played before that they assume >>>>>> viewers already know most of them.-a-a Course that doesn't explain >>>>>> the lack of confessionals for Tommi and Kass, who I suspect very
few people ever saw before.

I had no idea Finland has it's own version of Survivor nor Quebec.
With good editing, the producers should be able to tell us good
stories about the current season without having to resort too much
to the past. They've done a very good job of that with Parv. The
mentions by Parv of the Black Widow Brigade and Kass asking her
about it, makes me think something similar is going to happen this
season. Except this time I can see Parv being taken out by her own
people. Kass seems pretty familiar with her history and I can see
Cirie wanting to take out Parv as revenge for Fans vs. Favorites.

I agree they should be able to tell every character's story.-a The
problem with Tommi may literally be that there's no there there.-a If >>>> he's not giving them good confessionals and isn't interacting much
with the other players (which seems to be the case), I think he will
remain a mystery.

The reference to the Black Widow Brigade is interesting, but whether
it really foreshadows anything is unclear.-a-a If Tommi is really next >>>> to go, then Luke is the only remaining male in the game.-a-a He has
one idol which he will have to use at some point.-a Once he uses it,
then it's certainly possible the women can collectively take him
out, but then everyone remaining will be a potential Black Widow and
they will have to turn on themselves.-a Should be interesting.

Does Survivor Australia tend to have a lot of advantages? What about
Reward Challenges? I'm just wondering if Luke could luck out and
"win" a power.

Yes, they do have advantages, like the Knowledge is Power thing that
Parv won.-a And they also have Reward challenges, though they haven't
seemed to be doing them this season for some reason.-a They do a lot of
the same things the US version does, but just to a lesser degree.

I'm surprised with a season like this that they don't have nonstop RCs.
Not necessarily for food but to gain advantages. Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard these guys mention food once.

Yeah, I wondered about that too. Granted, it's a short season and they literally haven't been playing that many days together yet, so maybe
it's just too soon for them to be that hungry. Still, the lack of
reward challenges is weird and I almost thought they were perhaps doing
them and not showing them. But that doesn't work because at the
pre-merge ICs, JLP would say something like "World getting their first
look at the new Aussie tribe - so-and-so voted out", which he wouldn't
say if they'd already done an RC. There must just be plenty of food
available to everyone on the island because it seems like every time I
see Kirby talking to someone, she seems to be chewing on something.

I see you've posted on Episode 5. I'll look for it and try to watch it
later today.

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