Didn't you hear? Everyone loves her and feistiness in real life.

I actually thought he emphasized the cultural bit to try to soften the rest of it, but...I can't remember his exact line, but he hammered home how insane she is for not realizing that people didn't like her or weren't happy to be around her...which is pretty brutal.

I also thought it was ill advised for Denise to be engaging in that conversation as much as she did.

Isn't the most bizarre thing about Penner putting off the potential alliance with Skupin and Lisa that it's his best option? What is he waiting for?

She also assumed everyone on the island liked her.

Shes about to have a meltdown, although im not entirely sure self reflection is something she is capable of.

Abi just gotta remind everyone how hated she is and she can get the 100k with 1 vote from Artis.

I dont think theres a final 3 that will get her second place, as no one is going to sweep.

When to use an idol, especially in Malcolm's spot, would make for an interesting EV calculation....One that James in Survivor China obviously didn't do correctly. But like if you assign Mike a 5% chance of flipping, based on your read, and maybe 1% from anyone else, do you play it? Sort of a risk of ruin thing going on too. You would also have to factor in things like % chance of winning challenges, number of chances to use the idol before it becomes worthless, etc.

Weird episode. Abi is a good character, though, even if I find her incredibly unlikable.

I don't get what Penner is doing out there. If you want to turn the F3/F4 deal down, fine...but don't tell them that, and then definitely don't keep them in the game after you turn it down. This was probably Penner's shot to win the game, and he blew it. He could have blindsided one of the twosomes and ridden with Carter, Abi, and Pete to F5/F4. Instead, he seems to be taking a bizarre, Sandra-esque "one vote at a time" approach, which is bad since he's a target and Sandra isn't. I think it's ultimately going to cost him (and maybe as soon as next week).

I love Malcolm, but I don't get why he wants to saddle up with Skupin and Lisa. Is his plan to take out Lisa at F4? Is he planning to pick up the straggler's vote at F5? Either way, it doesn't seem smart. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since he seems extremely rational and is a superfan, but in a 2+2 world where we think he can crush anyone but possibly Lisa and Denise, why would he ever want to get to F4 with both of them? Even with the odd way the twosomes are set up, isn't his ideal F5 one with himself, Denise, Penner, Carter, and Abi?

Never. If you can't trust people to not blindside you at F8, you're screwed moving forward.

I was, however, surprised that Malcolm didn't suggest that Denise be one of the people voting for Pete. In theory, if you're the one they're coming after, you want your most trusted allies voting for Pete so you know you have the Pete votes locked up. If an Abi vote flips, at least you have some sort of weird backdoor shot to dodge the revote.

Well, you're partly right in that I don't think she's going home next week. With three 2-person alliances left, it doesn't make any sense for them to send Abi home next.

They also are the same people who wanted to send Abi home over Pete. I've pretty much given up trying to figure out what their reasoning is behind these actions. one thing I'm trying to figure out is why they portrayed Denise to be so opinionated about Abi, as it seemed she was driving the discussion of her. I realize she has been very blunt and direct at past tribal councils but she hasn't come off as attacking as was the case at the last one.

I would imagine he feels pretty invulnerable going up against them at immunity challenges (although Skupin has been turning it on lately). If a final four was him, Denise, Skupin and Lisa, she would definitely be the first to lose an immunity challenge. I think he also feels he would win an FTC over Skupin or Denise so is happy to take either one. I honestly think they all just want to get rid of Abi because she is so annoying, but will all scramble to get her jury vote once it is determined they are voting her off.

I'm still really curious about the position of Denise with all of these people because she hasn't been getting a good edit but is locked in with Malcolm completely.

This is the first season in a while where I'm actually looking forward to challenges. Penner, Malcolm, Carter, Skupin and Denise all have turned out to be challenge beasts and are athletic. Well, maybe not Penner but he can still perform. It makes them way more exciting than when one person dominates.

Abi one of the worst of all time in terms of game play. Seeing someone act like that and be so ignorant is pretty amazing. Hopefully she learns something from this, and isn't such a crappy human being in the future.

* Oh wow, didn't realize she's 32. Wow.

Penner has been a great character this season. I was pretty indifferent when I heard he was returning, but I'm glad he's on the show now. He shouldn't have waffled so much when talking with Lisa/Skupin about what to do after Pete/Abi are gone.

The scene with Pete going to Skupin asking for his vote made me wonder if they encourage the contestants to do a little acting when it's really obvious who's getting voted out that night. The Malcom going home narrative seemed a little forced to me.

Still fully aboard TEAM MALCOM/DENISE. those two so much, and hope one of them wins.

They put Skupin's vote on Abi. The point was moot.

Really dissapointed in Penner for this episode. Only a week ago he was on the bottom of his alliance and they were all willing to vote him out. He doesn't have a solid alliance with anyone and there's still 8 players left.

If someone comes up to you at this point of the game to solidify your alliance, you have to tell them what they want to hear even if you don't intend to follow through with it. By him turning them down it's like telling them "thanks, but I've got other ideas and you two are not in my future plans. I'll have to vote you guys off at some point." Completely idiotic, this is not something I would expect from someone like Penner who has played this game 4 TIMES.

I don't get why anyone wouldn't want to allign with Lisa and Skupin. Lisa has already proven that she's the most loyal person in the world and would have your back. I may not want to sit in the end with her because you can't win but nothing wrong with going all the way with her and Skupin and then try to vote her off at the end.

Penner dropped the ball. You should never shut down someone like that when they approach you with any alliance opportunity in Survivor. Tell them what they want to hear, even if you're against it.

Abi should have voted Pete and kept the idol.

Hard to organise but I think best case scenario for Malcolm was get most trusted allies to be in the "Pete vote" part of the split and for he to be apart of the "Abi vote" group and then switch his vote to Pete - but organising/post-vote there might be some unrest due to lack of trust so it may actually be better to just run it. It was unlikely to ever be a flip given F8 and the flipper would be the minority in the minority alliance.

Although the post-reward challenge tribe splits are better then what they were doing in recent seasons, they need to get back to the individual reward challenges with the winner picking ~2 to accompany them. Great identify of the pecking order for the people on the bottom of the majority alliance.

1. cook islands
2. fvf
3. current season
4. ???

I don't think they wanted to send abi home over Pete. The plan was to split the votes and if abi does not play idol to send her home on re-vote. They have to do that since the only way there is a tie is when abi does not play idol. If they send Pete home on revote, then abi still has the idol.

i think denise lost a key jury vote there. Everyone on the show knows malcom is a huge threat so thats almost like saying if he gets to the end ill vote for him cuz he made it deep as a huge threat as opposed to a denise/lisa who can be seen (from the jury's pov) as just coasting to the end. I think if malcom makes f3 he crushes everytime. only worry is how well spoken denise is. lisa will break/melt down, give a sob speech about how her life will change and how empowered she became through the decisions she has made in this game.

also penner blew it hardcore today. flip with carter or stay and make f4 deal. what he ended up doing was worst possible. even though skupin doesnt seem hard to sway away from that f4...

RC is still bitching around on Ponderosa.
Her Ponderosa social game is horrible and probably up there with the WOAT.

I cannot wait for Abi to get there to really get that party started. There could be blood

Maybe Penner already has a deal with Malcom and Denise, and Malcom was bluffing Skupin and Lisa?

False. Malcolm isn't God. He doesn't know who is scrambling and who isn't. The edit made it seem like Mike could be gunning for him, but Malcolm still needs to add up the chance of going out from a flipper.

dumb deal for penner imo. does he think he can beat them? how tight is he with carter? like if penner did want to align with pete/abi could he have brought carter along so at least they are the 4-3 maj next week, instead of just penner flipping and then being in a 3-4 minority.

i look forward to hearing some of penner's rationale on RHAP when he's booted either next ep or the one after.

also can someone post who voted for abi/pete last ep?

i know skupin voted abi, but not sure of the rest.

If Abi knew that the vote was being split and thought that the Malcom plan wouldn't work, she could have voted for Pete & saved the idol for next week.

ya that's been discussed...but she is one of the, if not the, worst players ever in the game.

she did know the vote was being split. probably 95% confidence. i mean if the alliance of 6 doesn't split and votes all pete, abi would be smart to use her idol for pete. she never would, but that's what she should do, so the alliance of 6 runs into that problem if they don't split.

then it's 5 vs 2, and rather than guaranteeing yourself a final 5, 2 of those people should flip and join abi/pete for a 4-3 majority to not only guarantee themselves final 4, but also with much weaker ftc competition.

not sure how much she thought the malcolm plan would work. i think if i was in her shoes i wouldn't have been too confident.

who wins an FTC between abi and hantz?

SS2 Results + Week 11 picks in bold

Antneye down so only 4 left.

ALIVE: (This week's Picks in bold)
gary: artis, Lisa, Dawson, Katie, Denise, Abi-Maria, Carter, Pete, Penner, Skupin
kaija: swan, Dawson, Artis, Lisa, Denise, Carter, Abi-Maria, Skupin, Malcolm
ajv174: rc, artis, Skupin, Pete, Abi-Maria, Jeff Kent, Carter, Malcolm, Penner
didace: swan, Katie, Abi, skupin, Pete, Carter, Artis, Penner, Malcolm

ELIMINATED:
16 - cleary89: lisa, X
16 - thejem: swan, X
16 - dedmau5: lisa, X
16 - ditch digger: lisa, X
16 - pokerbobo: swan, Lisa, X
15 - dukesucks: lisa, Abi, Russell
13 - caldarooni: lisa, Dana, Skupin - failed to make a pick
13 - jay311: Lisa, Artis, Katie - failed to make a pick
11 - zomg: swan, Artis, Lisa, Dawson
11 - spike: lisa, Katie, Artis, Dawson
8 - sorrow: Angie, Russell, Abi-Maria, Lisa
8 - kansasct: swan, Skupin, Abi-Maria, Carter
8 - marknfw: jeff kent, Lisa, RC, Artis
6 - house : swan, Jeff, Penner, Lisa, Carter, RC
6 - soncy : carter, Katie, Dawson, Artis, Abi-Maria, RC
5 - antneye: penner, Russell. Lisa, Malcolm, Denise, Abi, Artis, Carter, Pete


Eliminated Week #3:
Cleary89, dedmau5, ditch digger, thejem - All failed to make a pick

Eliminated Week #4
dukesucks: lisa, Abi, Russell
pokerbobo - failed to make a pick

Eliminated Week #5
zomg: swan, Artis, Lisa, Dawson
spike: lisa, Katie, Artis, Dawson
caldarooni: lisa, Dana, Skupin - failed to make a pick
jay311: Lisa, Artis, Katie - failed to make a pick

Eliminated Week #6
sorrow: Angie, Russell, Abi-Maria, Lisa - failed to make a pick
kansasct: swan, Skupin, Abi-Maria, Carter - failed to make a pick
marknfw: jeff kent, Lisa, RC, Artis - failed to make a pick

Eliminated Week #7
house : swan, Jeff, Penner, Lisa, Carter, RC
soncy : carter, Katie, Dawson, Artis, Abi-Maria, RC

Eliminated Week #8
None

Eliminated Week #9
None

Eliminated Week #10
antneye: penner, Russell. Lisa, Malcolm, Denise, Abi, Artis, Carter, Pete