Survivor - Twistin’ the Knife
Got nothin’ for ya.
Not that the above line means anything in particular, it’s just my favorite Jeff Probst line, even more than “I’ll tally the votes,” or any of the other number of things he says. It almost seems like Jeff really enjoys saying that to people too. Like he just likes to turn that knife just a little more. Not only are you not getting that reward, you’re not getting anything else either.
Jeff didn’t have to twist that knife any more for Coach, Debbie, and Sierra. They knew the score when Taj, Stephen, and JT were going on the reward, Erinn was going to Exile, and they were stuck behind. That was a mistake on Stephen’s part, though. He took his closest alliance and showed his cards. He should have left someone back at camp to keep Coach and Debbie at bay, and taken Sierra to keep her loyalties from swaying, or at least so that he didn’t have to doubt her loyalties. Had he done that, he wouldn’t have had the doubts over Sierra, and he’d still have her in their alliance, while knocking Coach down to only having himself.
That brings up Erinn’s vote. What was with her voting for Stephen? She knew no one else was voting for him … didn’t she? Did no one fill her in so she guessed? Or was there no way she was going to vote for Sierra, and she was pissed off at Stephen for voting her out, so showed him her displeasure? Was she twisting the knife on him? Again, he only has himself to thank for that mess.
Survivor - The Real Beauty of This Blindside
I love a good blindside on Survivor. There’s just some sick part of me that enjoys some poor bastard grinning ear to ear thinking he has it all wrapped up, then has his eyes widened more and more with every single vote that Jeff shows. Of course it’s even more enjoyable when there’s an un-played immunity idol in the pocket of the person that’s blindsided or if they play a fake immunity idol only to be told by Jeff it’s a worthless piece of junk. But no matter what, the true joy is watching their face change throughout the reading of the votes.
With this blindside of Tyson, there’s an added benefit. Sure, he was an arrogant bastard that probably deserved everything he got. Hey, I laughed along with all his jokes, I admit it, but he liked to twist that knife just a bit too much. And they were completely right to get rid of him now. He had a two week streak winning immunity and he only stood to win more.
Yet, the added benefit of this blindside, the real beauty of it, iw that it will also affect Coach in a couple of different ways. Coach thought he had this whole thing figured out. He honestly thinks he’s B.M.O.C. He thinks he’s the strongest, most well-liked, smartest player in the game. And oh yes, he also thinks he was once kidnapped by dwarves that are indigenous to Peru. But above all, he’s The Dragon Slayer.
All of that alone has to give us pleasure watching him suffer through this, but even more than that, next week, we get to watch Coach scramble. After all the things he said last night, above all else was what a great southern gentleman JT was. He knew he would be honoring his word and knew that the moment he first looked in his eyes. Yet, JT double-crossed him the first chance he got. Coach sat there and gave us this story about feeling sorry for Sierra, yet he still wrote her name down.
So far, we’ve only watched the confident Coach. His choice to leave every week left. He definitely made an error thinking that if he just got rid of Brendan he had the game wrapped up. Sure, everyone followed him in getting rid of Brendan last week, but that’s because it benefited them. They weren’t going to follow him and get rid of Sierra this week. It wasn’t beneficial to them at this point. Getting rid of a very strong player was beneficial.
Even better would be if they don’t bother to try to vote Coach out for because they don’t really see him as a true threat in the game He’s be devastated. In fact, I see it that way. Since it’s supposed to be the the season for the blindside, I see Steven or JT having to worry and scramble at a point very soon. If Coach isn’t too devastated, he might be able to something rolling in that direction.
Photo courtesy of cbs.com
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Survivor - So Many Possibilities
JT really made the best choice once it came to writing down a name, although it doesn’t seem he knows the full extent of why that is. Joe needs to be really worried now, as once they merge, he has to realize he needs to forget about bringing Eryn into their alliance. He’s not going to go into the merge in a good spot, as just having someone that’s on the outs with the other tribe is not going to be enough.
Yet before any of that even happened, Stephen made a really interesting choice. He could have told JT the Idol wasn’t Taj’s and that it was his, saying that he’d found it after his time on Exile. It would have strengthened the bond between him and JT, and he could have totally cut Taj out tonight. However, she was already barking down his back wanting to bring JT in and wanting to trust him. If Taj and JT would have ever talked, Stephen could have blown both his alliances, so he chose to be honest about everything. Not completely honest enough, though, to admit the whole alliance with the other two on Timbira.
Stephen is now in a great spot. He’s in good with both Taj and JT for being honest and being the link between them, and he knows with Taj, he keeps his secret alliance with Brendan and Sierra. He and Taj can choose to either bring JT into the alliance with the others at the merge, or choose not to, keeping that separate. He has a lot of choices with that, and by bringing JT in, he’s become the pivotal person in the alliance.
Survivor: Tocantins – Preview for March 5
This is sure shaping up to be a really interesting season on Survivor. That whole thing with the two people going to exile from opposing tribes is setting in motion some really interesting strategies. According to the below preview, a new alliance will be formed this week, and I have to think it’s the cross-alliance one that Taj and Brendan are forming. And of course, we’re going to get more “Coach, Coach Coach.”