Tony made a move, he may have done it to early though. He betrayed 3 people who will be offended. The three girls in the alliance. Tony and Woo are tight, but Tony will look to take Woo out soon as well as he is a threat. I actually thing Spencer is looking good at this point. He's playing smart, he knows he's in a weak position and has the idol secretly in his pocket to use when in trouble. Tony could have just put a target on his back. There's now the 3 girls from his alliance of 6 who know he flipped, or they could blame Woo, but those three weren't let in on it and they will remember that. So there's those 3, plus the minority 3, then Tony and Woo. Tony may very well have put himself from a very strong slot to a very weak slot. He doesn't control the minority 3 like he thinks he does, Spencer does.
This is the picture i was talking about. It shows 2 brawn, 2 brain, and 2 beauty torches. Not sure if it is 100% true but here it is .http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/topic/112866/Final-6-Torch-Pic#.U1GoIcaWTwI
Tony, I doubt I could be on a deserted beach (Cast and crew) for more than a couple of days with him. I'd have to quietly take him fishing and come back alone... He just wears you out. He is like Hantz and Rob in the way that he's the focal point of the show. Likeable??? Oh my Alberto....
So are we down to the final six? I kind of zipped through the dvr of the show last night after the Bluejackets-Pens game. I think Spencer is toast now and really am starting to think that Tony will be winning this season. That immunity idol is massive. So "reality show" and filming/editing question: Tony builds his secret hide-out near the water but there is a camera person with him who I assume isn't as well hidden. How could the other two walking NOT see this or at the very least, be at risk of seeing this?
Jeff addressed that in his weekly blog, basically they film EVERYTHING with up to 5 cameras in camp, so you never know if they are filming you because something is happening or because they are just filming everything, he also mentioned the camera guys are masters of just not being noticed. Pointed out the scene a few weeks ago when EVERYONE was looking for the idol along the river, you never saw a camera in the background. The new idol, I don't like it. To much power. No risk. You simply bring it every time. If you are ever voted out, you play it and you are safe. No risk, no danger, it's a free pass. They may have left it out, but does it have the same restriction as others, you can only use it until the final 4, or 5? Would have been a ballsy move by Spencer to give the idol. Jefra had her chance, she's #5 now. She could have played "double agent", told the other 3 who the vote was for, let Spencer protect that person with the idol in a 4-4 tie, then make it 4-3 with her in #4 slot with multiple votes to figure out how to go further. Personally I'd be be wanting to take her to the end.
That makes sense. Too much sense for Jeffra, unfortunately. In its absence, I'm thinking that Spencer would have been foolish to give Jeremiah the idol, as even in the actual case, they still would have been down one afterwards-- and he had to weigh that against the possibility that it was he who was at risk instead of Jeremiah. Risk/benefit pretty much favored playing it for himself and hoping to find or win another.
The more Tony talks, the less I like him. He seems to think he has to explain every little thing to everyone as he is the only one who understands. He was an arrogant ass after winning the advantage. For the auction, they need to shake it up, everyone knows a clue or help is coming, so they wait, well some do. I'd love to see them auction off 2-3 good meals, then say "we're done". Last night you could have eaten like a king for low money. Once I saw how it was going, I would have gone that way, grabbed a couple of food items for strength, then hope. Despite hating Tony, he is sitting good if he's smart enough. They are going to come at him hard now, but they also know he has one idol, they don't know of the other. Tony is guaranteed safe through one vote. He just pulls the new idol out after being voted off. At best it's 4-2 now, but it also looks like Woo is ready to flip, but he'd be dumb to. Tony is next to useless in challenges, so he will need the idol. They will come at him hard next week, my guess is the two girls join with Spencer and Tasha and split the votes on Tony/Woo, this should force BOTH idols out. Tony can protect Woo and himself, but that may be a mistake as it would then go 3-2 against him. His only hope very may well be to sacrifice Woo, play his immunity idol, then the following week play the secret idol, guaranteeing him top 4, plus he may be the sole vote to take out whoever he wants. Taking Jefra out was a mistake, I'd want her in the final 3 with me.
They really need to make the idols a bit harder to find. It's almost as if they are falling out of Tony's a$$ or something. Also, why aren't these people watching him like hawks when he goes on his little walks? I'm not sure if it's due to editing, but this group of players has seemed awfully complacent.
I agree reluctantly-- seems to me the real problem is the situation we have now: Tony doesn't ever have to play an idol until he knows he's been voted off-- which is intense, but there are plenty of situations in "Survivor" where you have to get someone twice just to get them once. But now he can go into a council unsure, not play the idol till he knows, and still be safe next time even if he has to play it-- and there's not really enough time to get rid of him even though he's made mistakes out the wazzoo. In effect he can choose the next two people voted out-- and there are only six left. He's guaranteed final four, and if they don't vote for him next time, he's guaranteed final three. I don't necessarily think it is too powerful for the game-- but I think it has to be introduced earlier or convert any other idol in possession so that it can only be played for someone else, or both. This is too close to invulnerability too late in the game. It seems now almost as though only the jury can prevent Tony from winning.
When they made them harder to find, for the most part they weren't found were they? That would be better than this, I agree, because even when not found people worry that they might have been found... But what about making them so they have to be both found and activated? You need to survive the next tribal council before using, or you have to win a challenge, or finish in the top two in a challenge, or solve a puzzle on the idol, or something like that? Or you can only use one on someone else's behalf?
Too many idols in general. Maybe wait until the merge and then just 1 idol. The only reason I could see myself flip-flopping on the power idol is that it WAS introduced several episodes earlier but was not found until more recently. I still think it is too powerful though. Tony is smart. really smart. but I do hate how he needs to talk down to everyone or explain every action. When he does play the power idol, he is also going to be able to flush out who is trying to backstab him. The last few weeks are going to be great.
Yes, those are all things the show should of considered. For me, this super idol has put a black mark on an otherwise great season.
And as long as I'm throwing out ideas, here's a modest effort to solve the producer's/networks major problem? I think we've discussed this before, and I think there is a majority here (if not consensus) who feel that a season works better overall if there is an entirely new cast? There's just too much advantage to someone going through it all the second or third time around even with the target on the back thing-- and too much irritation to seeing some schticks all over again. Screws up the dynamic that has made the game fascinating. But from the presentation end, all-new casts involve putting the show out there for several weeks with no name recognition, and hoping that enough of your audience will stick with it long enough to develop loyalty all over again. It is like doing a first season of another show over and over again. It is obviously a great temptation to bring familiar faces back for another go round in order to draw back the audience from the very beginning of the season. What about this? A survivor season with two-- or if three-tribed, three-- returnees who are not playing for the million. The returnees are guaranteed enough of a paycheck to make it worth their while-- 50000? 100000?-- but work for "Survivor" and are there to mentor their tribe. They live in camp, they compete in challenges, but everyone knows they are not able to win the million. If they win an individual challenge, they can confer the immunity. If they find a hidden idol, they must give it away. And, in my vision of it, they get to vote. Their competition is with each other for a bonus or bonuses; you could give extra pay for having the ultimate winner in your tribe, for having the bigger tribe at a merge, maybe some other stuff-- but whatever the incentive, the returnees' motivation should be to keep their tribe as strong as possible. Their council votes would presumably go to whomever they think is most useless. This would act as disincentive to the seemingly increasing tendency for weaker players on a weak tribe to vote off their stronger players-- because tribes as a whole would know that there is already one vote going to a weaker player, and extra possibility that their target may have a hidden idol. It would also maybe create extra incentive to not be any weaker then you must-- slackers would not be as easily able to get other slackers to protect them by gunning for someone else. The whole value of "slacker but swing vote" might be greatly diminished. I wouldn't necessarily think that you'd want to bring back winners (or villains or favorites) (though Hatch would be a tempting choice) but more people who finished high but not so high that another 38 days for good money isn't attractive. I'm thinking along the lines of Matthew who was runner up in Amazon, the runner up to Kim the bridal shop person, the guy who got beat when the kid went back on his word, that sort of contestant. At any rate, there's the latest in my never-ending series of Survivor-variation proposals...
Rumors have it that Tony is out at F4. I hope not but that's what's been floating around. With and all girl final 2.
Right-- I'd have been clearer to have said "much earlier." Early enough that there's a realistic chance that it would be played before now. I'd actually favor it expiring at the merge. Or you could make the auction advantage be the information that it has been found, what it does, and who has it. If the person having it buys the advantage they still have to explain it to someone, they just get to choose who. That way, at least, someone else knows and has to decide between trying to flush it out or trying to work with the person who has it. And the person who has it has to try to suss whether he is being followed or played on that.
A simple twist of he can only use it to save someone else would be interesting. He can't tell anyone he has it, can't share it, but it protects someone else at the last second. add that it's only good until final 5. What round do idols typically go away, if I remember right you can use them to get to final 5 but that's it. If so, Tony is screwed after that. Even if he brings Woo along.
Someone wrote on twitter last night that they go away in two rounds. You need to win/earn your way into the final tribal (of 3) instead of using an idol. So if that's the case, he could use them on himself if he wanted over the next two episodes.
I've liked Spencer since the beginning (and believe I said so since the beginning of the thread) but don't think he has much of a shot. I thought Tasha made a major error during the auction by not going in with Tony and Spencer on the "clue." Luckily for her though, she is so good at the individual challenges and won that.
Maybe it's just me, but I prefer not to have this sort of future spoiler in the discussion thread. I avoid such things elsewhere to heighten my enjoyment of the show.
Ok. True. But even someone with half a brain could figure out Tony is guaranteed final 4 with his 2 idols.
FWIW, the reliability of "Survivor" rumors has been somewhere around 20% over its life. I'm convinced they themselves plant false ones to pull the teeth of any correct ones...