|
Post by Hawk Attack on Oct 5, 2020 18:56:19 GMT -5
I just got to the Kelley blindside, which seems like the original "Wentworth...will not count," with Russell negating a whopping seven votes with his second idol that he found without a clue (which I think was unprecedented at this point). At first, I thought Galu screwed up by not splitting the vote, even though multiple members of the tribe brought it up as an option. But I realized that since they voted out Erik, they only had seven votes, while Foa Foa had four. So in order to split the votes, they actually have to guess right about where Russell would play the idol. And they would also leave themselves open to Shambo (who they didn't trust) just telling Foa Foa who the votes are on. What I think the other six should have done is told Shambo they were voting for Russell but actually vote for Jaison or Mick. Those were the two people that Russell was very unlikely to play the idol on, and they could deal with Russell in the next few votes. The Kelly dreads blindside literally made me gasp out loud. She was the ONLY one I didn't want voted out of that tribe. Her reaction was my exact reaction.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 5, 2020 21:30:07 GMT -5
I just got to the Kelley blindside, which seems like the original "Wentworth...will not count," with Russell negating a whopping seven votes with his second idol that he found without a clue (which I think was unprecedented at this point). At first, I thought Galu screwed up by not splitting the vote, even though multiple members of the tribe brought it up as an option. But I realized that since they voted out Erik, they only had seven votes, while Foa Foa had four. So in order to split the votes, they actually have to guess right about where Russell would play the idol. And they would also leave themselves open to Shambo (who they didn't trust) just telling Foa Foa who the votes are on. What I think the other six should have done is told Shambo they were voting for Russell but actually vote for Jaison or Mick. Those were the two people that Russell was very unlikely to play the idol on, and they could deal with Russell in the next few votes. The Kelly dreads blindside literally made me gasp out loud. She was the ONLY one I didn't want voted out of that tribe. Her reaction was my exact reaction. Interesting. I honestly don't even know if I knew her name before this episode. That's how little of an impression she had an me. Judging by all of the "original Purple Kelly" jokes I saw on Reddit, it appears I am not alone.
|
|
|
Post by Hawk Attack on Oct 5, 2020 22:23:23 GMT -5
The Kelly dreads blindside literally made me gasp out loud. She was the ONLY one I didn't want voted out of that tribe. Her reaction was my exact reaction. Interesting. I honestly don't even know if I knew her name before this episode. That's how little of an impression she had an me. Judging by all of the "original Purple Kelly" jokes I saw on Reddit, it appears I am not alone. During the pre-tribal gaming I remember hearing Russell mention her name once and immediately clicking that was who was going home, and then she was never mentioned again until the big reveal despite having obvious bigger targets in front of her. It was one of those “oh sh*t” clever editing moments that really struck me. Plus I found her very attractive. So she was on my radar since the beginning of the season.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2020 22:24:58 GMT -5
The Kelly dreads blindside literally made me gasp out loud. She was the ONLY one I didn't want voted out of that tribe. Her reaction was my exact reaction. Interesting. I honestly don't even know if I knew her name before this episode. That's how little of an impression she had an me. Judging by all of the "original Purple Kelly" jokes I saw on Reddit, it appears I am not alone. fun fact: this kelly isnt the actual purple kelly. the OG purple kelly was in Nicaragua
|
|
|
Post by Hawk Attack on Oct 5, 2020 22:30:07 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 5, 2020 22:44:00 GMT -5
Interesting. I honestly don't even know if I knew her name before this episode. That's how little of an impression she had an me. Judging by all of the "original Purple Kelly" jokes I saw on Reddit, it appears I am not alone. fun fact: this kelly isnt the actual purple kelly. the OG purple kelly was in Nicaragua I'm aware. That's what people were joking about (i.e. Samoa Kelly was so invisible that she could be mistaken for Purple Kelly, who is actually far more memorable because CBS tried to erase her).
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 5, 2020 22:50:45 GMT -5
Interesting. I honestly don't even know if I knew her name before this episode. That's how little of an impression she had an me. Judging by all of the "original Purple Kelly" jokes I saw on Reddit, it appears I am not alone. Plus I found her very attractive. So she was on my radar since the beginning of the season. Fair enough. I remember being devastated when Candace got voted out second in Tocantins, so I get it. As an aside, Candace also had my favorite rites of passage ever, which she used to trash Coach instead of reflecting on what she learned or whatever.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 9, 2020 18:56:57 GMT -5
I have finished Samoa, which I thought was a good season. I understand why some people didn't care for it because it was so centered on Russell, so if someone doesn't like him as a character, it makes sense that they wouldn't like the season. I do enjoy Russell as a character, however. I would say that right up through the Kelly blindside, it was really difficult to believe how Russell could possibly lose to Natalie, as he was utterly dominant. However, over the rest of the game, I noticed that he made a lot of the same mistakes that he made in Heroes v. Villains, and that was what ultimately doomed his game.
One mistake he made in both seasons was being so antagonistic toward the other tribe that it was absolutely essential that he completely Pagong them, or else all their former tribe mates would vote for them to win. Brett was one immunity challenge away from winning the game, and either Colby or Rupert would have won HvV had they made it to the end. Russell compounded this problem by stupidly making short-term deals with the opposing tribe and almost immediately backstabbing them when it was convenient for them to do so. Like instead of just being straightforward with Brett that he was going to vote him out if he didn't win final immunity, Russell promised to take him to the end and then broke that promise immediately. This was just one example.
As near as I could tell, Russell also made no attempt whatsoever to work with or have even a friendly relationship with any of the Galu (except Shambo, who flipped early), just like he never tried to work with the Heroes. He only went to the other side if he needed them for the next vote, and he would make whatever promises he needed to, only to discard them as quickly as possible. Because he never tried to have any kind of relationship with the other side, that left a void for someone else to fill, which Natalie did in Samoa and Sandra did in HvV. It shouldn't be a surprise that they voted en masse for the person who was either trying to work with them in the case of Sandra or was at least friendly to them in the case of Natalie. Survivor is a social game first and foremost.
As for Natalie's game, it may not have been the best ever, but it was one of the better ones in its archetype (in large part because she actually won the game). She allied herself with the strongest strategic player and let him take the heat while having the best relationships with the jury. I think Mick and Jaison tried to do something similar, but the jury clearly viewed Mick as Russell's lackey (and I think Jaison would have suffered the same fate) in a more hostile way than they viewed Natalie. I also think Natalie did very well at final tribal in the face of some fairly tough questions. She repeatedly stated that she noticed that the aggressive females got voted out early, so she couldn't afford to play that way with Russell, and that was good enough for the jury. She also made a good move to help convince Laura et al. to vote off Erik, which set off the sequence of events that led to Galu disintegrating.
Overall, I thought the cast was reasonably strong, as was the story of the season. The post-merge was especially good, and I didn't think it ran out of steam after the Foa Foa 4 took control the way Cook Islands did after the Aitu 4 got the numbers. I also thought there were some inventive challenges, and I thought the leader twist was interesting, especially because the designated leader wasn't the actual leader for the most part, aside from Russell Swan before his medical evacuation. Mick was the official leader of Foa Foa, but Russell was clearly the leader the entire time. And after the medical evacuation, Shambo was installed as the ostensible leader, but Erik thought he was running the show (in fact, Laura was the leader until she got voted out).
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 9, 2020 19:03:40 GMT -5
I have updated my ongoing season rankings as follows:
Tier 1 1. Winners at War 2. Pearl Islands 3. Cagayan 4. Heroes v. Villains Tier 2 5. David v. Goliath 6. Cambodia 7. China 8. Tocantins Tier 3 9. Philippines 10. Blood v. Water 11. Millennials v. Gen X 12. Panama 13. Samoa 14. Kaoh Rong 15. Vanuatu 16. Amazon 17. Cook Islands Tier 4 18. Game Changers 19. Micronesia 20. San Juan del Sur 21. Guatemala Tier 5 22. Palau 23. Marquesas
I moved Kaoh Rong up a few spots after some consideration, and I put Samoa in the middle of tier 3.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 10, 2020 12:25:13 GMT -5
One last thing about Samoa. According to the jury (see the below clip with Laura), they were actually going to vote for Mick going into Final Tribal Council, but he couldn't sell them on what he had done to deserve the win. In contrast, Natalie wowed them by giving a speech in which she laid out her strategy and went down the jury one by one, mentioning names of family members and other personal information that really showed that she had been playing a social game and had worked hard to get to know them all. I'm very annoyed that the editors chose to omit this, as it would have made Natalie's win a lot more obvious. But with that in mind, I think Natalie's FTC performance has to be considered among the all-time best, while Mick's was among the worst.
|
|
bluepenquin
Hall of Fame
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png)
4-Time VolleyTalk Poster of the Year (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk 1st Team (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016)
Posts: 12,588
|
Post by bluepenquin on Oct 12, 2020 13:59:31 GMT -5
I finally finished Marquesas, thankfully. I have no issue with Vecepia winning, though I think Tammy had one of the worst jury speeches I have ever seen. In particular, she seemed to think that Nelah should have been perfectly happy to meekly accept sixth place instead of trying to actually win. She and the rest of the Rotu 4 have no one to blame but themselves after their blatant display of arrogance in the coconut chop challenge. With that said, I have updated my ongoing rankings as follows: Tier 11. Winners at War 2. Pearl Islands 3. Cagayan 4. Heroes v. Villains Tier 25. Cambodia 6. China 7. Tocantins Tier 38. Philippines 9. Vanuatu 10. Cook Islands 11. Kaoh Rong Tier 412. Game Changers 13. Micronesia Tier 514. Palau 15. Marquesas This season has prompted me to create a fifth tier, which I figured was inevitable at some point. The difference between tier 4 and tier 5 is that while I didn't particularly care for the tier 4 seasons, they at least had some enjoyable elements, while I didn't enjoy much of anything about the tier 5 seasons. For example, Game Changers at least was fairly enjoyable pre-merge with Tony and especially Sandra. And Micronesia had one of the best episodes in the history of the show when Erik made perhaps the dumbest move in Survivor history, and I did like at least a few members of the cast. Edit: I'm watching the reunion, and I don't know why they didn't have Rosie O'Donnell do more of these. She's better than Jeff at this. Just finished Marquesas for the 1st time since it first aired. This is an example of how I don't like the way the social game played in determining the winner. Paschal was going to vote for Neleh and Sean was going to vote for Vecepia because of their personal relationships - and both were very complementary towards the person they didn't vote for. But the rest is a mess. John, Tammy, and Robert all vote for Vecepia giving her the win. All 3 were burned by Neleh who broke their alliance and all 3 were extremely bitter towards both finalist. They voted against the person that broke their word. Kathy voted for Neleh, because she felt Vecepia broke her word. This whole idea of 'integrity' ruined the voting for these season. That said, I though Vecepia deserved the win. I though Vecepia played a solid game. She started early on voting with the majority when her alliance was going to get voted out (Sean and Boston Rob didn't do this). This allowed her to stay in the game longer (much like Danni in her season). This also allowed for a soft landing spot for Neleh and Paschal to make the key move at 9. Then she made some great moves at the end. She agrees to the alliance with Kathy at 4. Then, knowing that she probably loses to Kathy at FTC and having to find a way to 'break' her alliance, she sets up an alliance with Neleh that allows her to make the finals while not winning the final challenge. In effect, she made her alliance with Kathy nil and void since it becomes Neleh's choice to take Vecepia to the finals. Otherwise, she doesn't win. I enjoyed Boston Rob - his game play in that first season was very similar to what took him to the finals a couple times - particularly cutting off Hunter early, which was very unusual at that time. Boston Rob, and then later Cirie, where among the first to realize that just having the strongest players for challenges isn't necessarily the best strategy. I though Sean was very interesting. And then back to the beginning - I don't like how the players thought that playing Survivor was suppose to be played 'honorably' with no lies or deception. And then taking that bitterness to the jury. This to me is the reason Survivor got much better as a game of strategy.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 12, 2020 17:30:59 GMT -5
I finally finished Marquesas, thankfully. I have no issue with Vecepia winning, though I think Tammy had one of the worst jury speeches I have ever seen. In particular, she seemed to think that Nelah should have been perfectly happy to meekly accept sixth place instead of trying to actually win. She and the rest of the Rotu 4 have no one to blame but themselves after their blatant display of arrogance in the coconut chop challenge. With that said, I have updated my ongoing rankings as follows: Tier 11. Winners at War 2. Pearl Islands 3. Cagayan 4. Heroes v. Villains Tier 25. Cambodia 6. China 7. Tocantins Tier 38. Philippines 9. Vanuatu 10. Cook Islands 11. Kaoh Rong Tier 412. Game Changers 13. Micronesia Tier 514. Palau 15. Marquesas This season has prompted me to create a fifth tier, which I figured was inevitable at some point. The difference between tier 4 and tier 5 is that while I didn't particularly care for the tier 4 seasons, they at least had some enjoyable elements, while I didn't enjoy much of anything about the tier 5 seasons. For example, Game Changers at least was fairly enjoyable pre-merge with Tony and especially Sandra. And Micronesia had one of the best episodes in the history of the show when Erik made perhaps the dumbest move in Survivor history, and I did like at least a few members of the cast. Edit: I'm watching the reunion, and I don't know why they didn't have Rosie O'Donnell do more of these. She's better than Jeff at this. Just finished Marquesas for the 1st time since it first aired. This is an example of how I don't like the way the social game played in determining the winner. Paschal was going to vote for Neleh and Sean was going to vote for Vecepia because of their personal relationships - and both were very complementary towards the person they didn't vote for. But the rest is a mess. John, Tammy, and Robert all vote for Vecepia giving her the win. All 3 were burned by Neleh who broke their alliance and all 3 were extremely bitter towards both finalist. They voted against the person that broke their word. Kathy voted for Neleh, because she felt Vecepia broke her word. This whole idea of 'integrity' ruined the voting for these season. That said, I though Vecepia deserved the win. I though Vecepia played a solid game. She started early on voting with the majority when her alliance was going to get voted out (Sean and Boston Rob didn't do this). This allowed her to stay in the game longer (much like Danni in her season). This also allowed for a soft landing spot for Neleh and Paschal to make the key move at 9. Then she made some great moves at the end. She agrees to the alliance with Kathy at 4. Then, knowing that she probably loses to Kathy at FTC and having to find a way to 'break' her alliance, she sets up an alliance with Neleh that allows her to make the finals while not winning the final challenge. In effect, she made her alliance with Kathy nil and void since it becomes Neleh's choice to take Vecepia to the finals. Otherwise, she doesn't win. I enjoyed Boston Rob - his game play in that first season was very similar to what took him to the finals a couple times - particularly cutting off Hunter early, which was very unusual at that time. Boston Rob, and then later Cirie, where among the first to realize that just having the strongest players for challenges isn't necessarily the best strategy. I though Sean was very interesting. And then back to the beginning - I don't like how the players thought that playing Survivor was suppose to be played 'honorably' with no lies or deception. And then taking that bitterness to the jury. This to me is the reason Survivor got much better as a game of strategy. Yeah, I have no issue with Vecepia winning, though I'd have been fine with Neleh winning also. I'm skeptical that Vecepia would have actually honored her deal with Kathy if she had won the final immunity challenge, as what she did was tantamount to voting Kathy out herself (clearly, Kathy viewed it this way). I think the Rotu 4 had no one to blame but themselves for making the pecking order so obvious. I don't think there's been a jury I have ever disagreed with in toto, but if there was one, it would probably be Marquesas. I still think Neleh could have won with a better Final Tribal Council performance. She should have apologized to the Rotu 4 for flipping on them but explained that they left her no choice. A better player (e.g. Todd Herzog) could have pulled this off.
|
|
|
Post by Hawk Attack on Oct 12, 2020 18:59:27 GMT -5
Just finished Marquesas for the 1st time since it first aired. This is an example of how I don't like the way the social game played in determining the winner. Paschal was going to vote for Neleh and Sean was going to vote for Vecepia because of their personal relationships - and both were very complementary towards the person they didn't vote for. But the rest is a mess. John, Tammy, and Robert all vote for Vecepia giving her the win. All 3 were burned by Neleh who broke their alliance and all 3 were extremely bitter towards both finalist. They voted against the person that broke their word. Kathy voted for Neleh, because she felt Vecepia broke her word. This whole idea of 'integrity' ruined the voting for these season. That said, I though Vecepia deserved the win. I though Vecepia played a solid game. She started early on voting with the majority when her alliance was going to get voted out (Sean and Boston Rob didn't do this). This allowed her to stay in the game longer (much like Danni in her season). This also allowed for a soft landing spot for Neleh and Paschal to make the key move at 9. Then she made some great moves at the end. She agrees to the alliance with Kathy at 4. Then, knowing that she probably loses to Kathy at FTC and having to find a way to 'break' her alliance, she sets up an alliance with Neleh that allows her to make the finals while not winning the final challenge. In effect, she made her alliance with Kathy nil and void since it becomes Neleh's choice to take Vecepia to the finals. Otherwise, she doesn't win. I enjoyed Boston Rob - his game play in that first season was very similar to what took him to the finals a couple times - particularly cutting off Hunter early, which was very unusual at that time. Boston Rob, and then later Cirie, where among the first to realize that just having the strongest players for challenges isn't necessarily the best strategy. I though Sean was very interesting. And then back to the beginning - I don't like how the players thought that playing Survivor was suppose to be played 'honorably' with no lies or deception. And then taking that bitterness to the jury. This to me is the reason Survivor got much better as a game of strategy. Yeah, I have no issue with Vecepia winning, though I'd have been fine with Neleh winning also. I'm skeptical that Vecepia would have actually honored her deal with Kathy if she had won the final immunity challenge, as what she did was tantamount to voting Kathy out herself (clearly, Kathy viewed it this way). I think the Rotu 4 had no one to blame but themselves for making the pecking order so obvious. I don't think there's been a jury I have ever disagreed with in toto, but if there was one, it would probably be Marquesas. I still think Neleh could have won with a better Final Tribal Council performance. She should have apologized to the Rotu 4 for flipping on them but explained that they left her no choice. A better player (e.g. Todd Herzog) could have pulled this off. I'd like to see Neleh back for a Second Chance season. She was sooo young in Marquesas and she's still active in the community. Kelly Goldsmith & Neleh are the next old school players who I think would say yes and would like to see back.
|
|
bluepenquin
Hall of Fame
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png)
4-Time VolleyTalk Poster of the Year (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk 1st Team (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016)
Posts: 12,588
|
Post by bluepenquin on Oct 12, 2020 20:50:09 GMT -5
Just finished Marquesas for the 1st time since it first aired. This is an example of how I don't like the way the social game played in determining the winner. Paschal was going to vote for Neleh and Sean was going to vote for Vecepia because of their personal relationships - and both were very complementary towards the person they didn't vote for. But the rest is a mess. John, Tammy, and Robert all vote for Vecepia giving her the win. All 3 were burned by Neleh who broke their alliance and all 3 were extremely bitter towards both finalist. They voted against the person that broke their word. Kathy voted for Neleh, because she felt Vecepia broke her word. This whole idea of 'integrity' ruined the voting for these season. That said, I though Vecepia deserved the win. I though Vecepia played a solid game. She started early on voting with the majority when her alliance was going to get voted out (Sean and Boston Rob didn't do this). This allowed her to stay in the game longer (much like Danni in her season). This also allowed for a soft landing spot for Neleh and Paschal to make the key move at 9. Then she made some great moves at the end. She agrees to the alliance with Kathy at 4. Then, knowing that she probably loses to Kathy at FTC and having to find a way to 'break' her alliance, she sets up an alliance with Neleh that allows her to make the finals while not winning the final challenge. In effect, she made her alliance with Kathy nil and void since it becomes Neleh's choice to take Vecepia to the finals. Otherwise, she doesn't win. I enjoyed Boston Rob - his game play in that first season was very similar to what took him to the finals a couple times - particularly cutting off Hunter early, which was very unusual at that time. Boston Rob, and then later Cirie, where among the first to realize that just having the strongest players for challenges isn't necessarily the best strategy. I though Sean was very interesting. And then back to the beginning - I don't like how the players thought that playing Survivor was suppose to be played 'honorably' with no lies or deception. And then taking that bitterness to the jury. This to me is the reason Survivor got much better as a game of strategy. Yeah, I have no issue with Vecepia winning, though I'd have been fine with Neleh winning also. I'm skeptical that Vecepia would have actually honored her deal with Kathy if she had won the final immunity challenge, as what she did was tantamount to voting Kathy out herself (clearly, Kathy viewed it this way). I think the Rotu 4 had no one to blame but themselves for making the pecking order so obvious. I don't think there's been a jury I have ever disagreed with in toto, but if there was one, it would probably be Marquesas. I still think Neleh could have won with a better Final Tribal Council performance. She should have apologized to the Rotu 4 for flipping on them but explained that they left her no choice. A better player (e.g. Todd Herzog) could have pulled this off. Vecepia may have broken her alliance with Kathy, but the way she did it was an out. And it is possible it could have made a difference with one of the 3 (not counting Sean) votes. Technically she didn't break the alliance the way she did it - and she said as much the next day. So, in my mind, she was thinking correctly. Yes, Kathie viewed it that way - and she lost her vote. But this was a better path then taking Kathie to the finals. I did wonder if she would have been better off not making a deal with Neleh and then just not winning the final challenge. She should have known that Neleh was not going to take Kathie to the finals and this could have gotten her Kathie's vote. That was an added risk, but may have gotten her an important jury vote. Agree about the Rotu 4. After this - it was called (in my household) the 'pecking order challenge'. It was a clear opportunity for people within an alliance to see where they stacked up. In real time - it was a horrible and arrogant mistake - but I believe it wasn't so obvious before this season. After this season - it is really stupid to do this and it still happened from time to time. I just chalk this up to learning the game from prior seasons. I mean, Tammy was like outraged that Neleh wouldn't just accept her place at finishing 6th? Vecepia was better at FTC, she was older and a more experienced speaker - and this was huge. Another under the radar social game advantage for Vecepia. She wins a late challenge when it was about knowledge about the other players. She went out of her way to personally know as much as possible about each player. She took a lot of notes and forged real relationships. She wins that challenge because of it - and if she had lost, she finishes 4th. Having those personal relationships appeared to have no impact on jury votes - but it was huge in getter her to the final 2. BTW, at the time, I thought she was a weak player, but I was pretty happy to see a black person win.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 12, 2020 23:45:26 GMT -5
Yeah, I have no issue with Vecepia winning, though I'd have been fine with Neleh winning also. I'm skeptical that Vecepia would have actually honored her deal with Kathy if she had won the final immunity challenge, as what she did was tantamount to voting Kathy out herself (clearly, Kathy viewed it this way). I think the Rotu 4 had no one to blame but themselves for making the pecking order so obvious. I don't think there's been a jury I have ever disagreed with in toto, but if there was one, it would probably be Marquesas. I still think Neleh could have won with a better Final Tribal Council performance. She should have apologized to the Rotu 4 for flipping on them but explained that they left her no choice. A better player (e.g. Todd Herzog) could have pulled this off. Vecepia may have broken her alliance with Kathy, but the way she did it was an out. And it is possible it could have made a difference with one of the 3 (not counting Sean) votes. Technically she didn't break the alliance the way she did it - and she said as much the next day. So, in my mind, she was thinking correctly. Yes, Kathie viewed it that way - and she lost her vote. But this was a better path then taking Kathie to the finals. I did wonder if she would have been better off not making a deal with Neleh and then just not winning the final challenge. She should have known that Neleh was not going to take Kathie to the finals and this could have gotten her Kathie's vote. That was an added risk, but may have gotten her an important jury vote. Agree about the Rotu 4. After this - it was called (in my household) the 'pecking order challenge'. It was a clear opportunity for people within an alliance to see where they stacked up. In real time - it was a horrible and arrogant mistake - but I believe it wasn't so obvious before this season. After this season - it is really stupid to do this and it still happened from time to time. I just chalk this up to learning the game from prior seasons. I mean, Tammy was like outraged that Neleh wouldn't just accept her place at finishing 6th? Vecepia was better at FTC, she was older and a more experienced speaker - and this was huge. Another under the radar social game advantage for Vecepia. She wins a late challenge when it was about knowledge about the other players. She went out of her way to personally know as much as possible about each player. She took a lot of notes and forged real relationships. She wins that challenge because of it - and if she had lost, she finishes 4th. Having those personal relationships appeared to have no impact on jury votes - but it was huge in getter her to the final 2. BTW, at the time, I thought she was a weak player, but I was pretty happy to see a black person win. I don't have a problem with Vecepia breaking her promise to Kathy, though I do think she probably should have just thrown the challenge, which may have prevented Kathy from voting against her. I don't think she really had great relationships with the jury (except for Sean of course). What she did was bring a journal as her luxury item and then use it to write down everything she learned about the other players (see the third entry in the below video). Since she knew that this challenge had always been used at the final four in the first few seasons, this was pretty brilliant on her part. And I completely agree about Tammy's over-the-top reaction to Neleh. I very much enjoyed Rosie O'Donnell awarding her the "Sue Hawk Award" for worst jury speech.
|
|