I think Garrett and Spencer obviously messed up by just not getting rid of Kass next but after that screw-up I think he played it just about as well as he could. Seems like Kass was pretty determined to not get strongarmed by the guys no matter what as you can tell when you keep the psychopath rice thrower instead.

I'm never surprised at stupid decisions made, even by smart people on this show. That's the part that we armchair strategists simply can't understand, the part where they're starving, sleep deprived and generally out of their element for days on end, although some are curiously well groomed. It's what made the show original and still makes for such cray cray moments, where somewhat civilized people dump rice, bury underwear, shoes, so on. Surprised we haven't yet seen a deuce dropped in someone's mouth while they slept yet.

pretty hilarious how she survives with one of the WOAT tribe immunity performance coupled with burning the rice of the entire tribe..

Lmao. I'm using my one time for a deuce in the mouth.

SS3

one disadvantage is being likable (bryce): Philly is the best. Has degree in teaching, but his heart is more...working in the community. Wears down the hard ass at risk kids with his persistent love. (Are these clothes straight from the 80's?) Would like to use the million to make his mom's life better and to start a foundation to try to provide at risk kids with outlets to do things that will prevent them from becoming bad asses. Hopes someone doesn't piss him off and cause him to go off on them.

my strategy is like popcorn (lindsay): Here for the challenge/adventure. "I'm a woman, so I love to play games...socially." Played sports, is very competitive. Thinks her jobs have prepared her to lie and be pleasant to people when they annoy her. (I see that was challenged when she interacted with malnuTrishan.) Pet peeve: people who you can't fart in front of. Farting is natural. Her strategy is like popcorn in the microwave. (I suspect her strategy is more like popcorn that has been consumed.) Ran away to join the circus. It didn't work out. Her two sisters are perfect. She is the rebellious one. "I might have a trash mouth, but at the same time I would never try to intentionally hurt someone's feelings."

i wouldn't say I'm a pageant girl (the pageant girl): Likes working with kids addicted to prescription drugs. Has been a long time fan of Survivor. Feels like there is a lot more to her than the Miss Kentucky pageant...yada yada...a bunch of bs about Miss KY. Loves to hunt and fish. Killed a ten point buck by herself. Loves to frog gig and get muddy...four wheel. 21 years old diagnosed with cervical cancer. Extensive treatment, but avoided hysterectomy. Her dad was a drug addict. She was a broke kid. She doesn't dwell on it. Set high goals for yourself.

one disadvantage is being likable (jeremiah): Dobson has four stop lights. E'erbody knows e'erbody and waves. His dad raised him to hunt and fish. He's a supervisor at Reece Machine. Has modeled for Abercrombie and Ralph Lauren, Macy's, etc. There is a whole lot more to him than being a model. He's a good hard working country guy. "I want to win a million and the fan favorite just like JT done." One thing that could hurt him is being so likable and treating everybody so nice. It was how he was raised. He could run into a villain and that guy might want him out because he's too nice. (Well, at least he knows what to expect.)

No strike out without swinging (alexis): (Actually, you can go down without swinging...and it's a candy assed way to go. Don't do it.) 1 year left at Northwestern University. Studying psychology and business. Out here to play the game. Has plenty of friends at home. Has multiple personalities that she whips out at the appropriate times. Flirting is about making people feel good about themselves. You can flirt with guys and girls...get your girl flirt on. People are extra nice to you, let you to the front of the line and so forth. Her dad is the number one fan of the show. Has almost a clinical view of participating...like it's a big experiment. Would like to pay mom and dad back for her schooling and everything they've done for her. Most frustrating thing is people on the bottom of the alliance not making their move. She trusts her skills enough that she can convince the other bottom of the alliance to make a move with her if she finds herself on the bottom. Plans to play a hard game. Yeah, Dad. He coached her not to strike out without swinging. Atta boy.

I'm all in (Tasha): These bows really annoy me. "I'm perfectly suited for this game." Dad is such a hard worker. He instilled the importance of education in her. Fan for 13 years. Has a dynamic personality. Can be sweet one minute and stab you in the back the next. Plays in some sort of adult kick ball league. Not a complainer...always with a smile...an encourager. Gets people to talk. Can morph into different people. Very self-aware. Practices defensive driving and living...thinking 3 or 4 steps ahead. "I'm a leader." Disciplined, focused, and consistent. Gonna have to suppress her desire to J'Tia the tribe and boss them around. Made challenges to practice in her back yard to get ready for the show. Was a cheerleader since 5th grade...capt. of the St. Louis Rams cheerleading squad for 6 years. Has a super bowl ring. Now pinnacle of achievement is going on Survivor. I sit on my couch and say 'you idiot, why did you do that'...now people are going to say that about me.

I'm a cool cop (Sarah): "Right now I'm assigned to the undercover narcotics unit." Not anymore. Not a hard assed cop that doesn't cut anybody a break, but will be a hard ass when she needs to be. Has good people skills. Interview and interrogation are her duties. Pays close attention to detail. Can sometimes get wound tight...hard to bite her tongue if she is really annoyed....will have to work on that. She has trained MMA. Has had 5 fights...two pro fights. Has cutting weight experience. She's a hard worker. Here for the milly. Losing challenges will be tough. Not a fan of losing. Would be competitive in a boiling water contest. Will let people approach her alliance wise if possible. "Nobody knows me, so I have very little power right now. By day 39, I will have the game in my hand."

Kind of all over the place thoughts:

Gman's personality or persona for lack of better word reminds me a great deal of Albert's. I think both those guys are going to have a hard time being seen as even remotely genuine by the masses. Even when they are very likely sincere, they both still come off like they are full of it. I also think both have pretty low self-awareness regarding the way others view them, at least as it pertains to a game like Survivor.

I also started to worry pretty early on that Gman just likes to hear himself talk too much for this game. He needed to listen a bit more and speak a bit less. He was a facebook guy living in a twitter world.

With all that out of the way...the open forum was a huge fail because it alienated Tasha. As others have noted, just pull Tasha aside assure her she's still firmly in their final 3. Do the same with Kass. Try to plant a bit of divide between the two if possible so they double back and out you. It shouldn't be that difficult. I do think Garrett handled everything prior to the first tribal well except he and Spencer should have filled Kass in. They really lost her in that moment, it seems to me. This still may be a challenge because of the negatives I see/saw in Garrett mentioned above, but it has to be done.

Sarah seems to be the best player of the bunch thus far, but I worry that time bomb Tony will act irrationally in such a way that screws over both himself and possibly Sarah. I am a bit surprised Cliff is so well positioned, but Tony a big problem for him as well, obviously.

I think LJ drew such a perfect tribe, but that 3way alliance that came out of nowhere to me, is a bit concerning. I still like LJ and feel like in this particular tribe/cast his win equity is pretty damn high.

Spencer is a great character, probably indeed the most likely returnee. I feel awful he got stuck with the group he did, though now i hope he can hitch his wagon to Tasha. She's probably a better sound board for him then Gman was anyhow, but they are nowhere near the natural friends and Tasha is not in the least a good shield for him like Gman was.

I get why Morgan annoys some ITT, but she actually handled the weaklink thing pretty damn well, and she has gotten herself in a nice spot.

Oh btw....

And yet Brains had a huge lead in the last challenge and screwed it up on the puzzle. If J'Tia doesn't screw that up everything changes.

WU TANG WU TANG WU TANG
i like brice too though others won't agree
and she's not my type at all but morgan is ridiiiiculous

Yeah beauty was terrible on the physical part of the 2nd challenge, however overall I'd expect brains to be a big underdog in almost any strength or endurance-based challenge, even before Garrett went home.

The 3 attributes are not exclusive, a strong person can be good at puzzles, a good-looking person can be strong... but a physically weak person is always going to be weak. I just don't see high IQ as much of a benefit in this game.

It's pretty cool that LJ was able to back up his pre game statement of being a puzzle beast. Both him and Sarah were able to adapt to the leadership role pretty easily. On the brains and beauty tribes I feel like Alexis/Jefra and Tony/Trish are going to be the ones in trouble if they go to tribal. But in all likelihood Brains will probably be going to tribal the next 2 times.

They weren't just beating beauty, they had a sizable lead over brawn in what was largely a strength/endurance challenge.

Even their problem in the first challenge wasn't strength as much as lack of coordination. But oh did Probst love ripping them in the play-by-play.

When it comes to the children, Woo-Tang is for the children. Cliffy's good, but Woo-Tang is the best!

J'Tia had to have thrown that challenge; no way two consecutive individuals blow past her before she can get a second piece fit. The rice dump looked suspiciously small for 180+ person-days supply. Did they hide the rest of it? Did Garrett eat the rest of it?

David working some hardcore historical revisionism on RHAP

They don't give them rice for the whole 30 days. At least when they merge, the show gives them more rice. Oh and to Seabeast's comment, I think clearly Brice had the strongest episode. On Brawn we really didn't see how the tribe was positioned but because Woo-Tang exists and everyone seems to like Uncle Cliffy. I think that tribe will be at least initially run through them. As it would take everyone else coming together in order to thwart that alliance. (a possibility sure)

Brice on the other hand was shown to be a astute observer, providing people within his tribe with what they were looking for. He also did a strong job of locking down three people and really I can't imagine with that alliance he won't be able to get one of the other girls to join as well. TBH I think LJ should be in great danger of going home when they go to their first tribal.

Considering how valuable LJ is, I think it is more likely that Brice will move the target to either Jefra or Alexis and then scoop up the remaining girl to form a three person alliance with him and Morgan. I think they are just using Jeremiah as a method to prevent LJ gunning for Morgan and that they will both be completely fine cutting both Jeremiah and LJ when needed.

For Brawn I think the Uncle Cliffy fan club (Sarah, Woo and Lindsey) will be the majority but may face trouble from Tony and his idol and spy shack.

I'm not sure Spencer is going to have to try to throw challenges. Only reason they had such a lead before J'Tia imploded on the puzzle was because gman dragged the baskets and their team to land. Now he isn't around to carry the weight in the physical portion of challenges. Plus they have no rice and no fishing equipment, so unless there is an abundance of fruit and coconuts readily available, they will be completely out of energy by the next challenge anyway. Have we ever seen a weaker team with fewer resources attempt to compete?

Spencer is going to have trouble if he gets merged into any other team if he can't shut up about being smart. He has to realize that a guy like Garrett proves (sorry gman) that this is AS MUCH about labelling people "smart" or "strong" as it is about actually BEING smart or strong.

In fact there are strong people on each of the tribes, there are smart people on each of the tribes, and there are beautiful people on each of the tribes - it would be reasonable to consider this is MORE about labelling and the impact that has than the actual personal traits of the group members.

Yeah, if that story he tried to feed Garrett after the fact was true, it would have been so much better to lead with that story as to why he was picking him instead of pointing out what a huge threat he seemed and that he was thinking about day 39 instead of day 1-3. (Honestly, if I'm on the brains tribe and we have no shelter built and immunity challenges to compete in, I'm actually kind of pissed if David is really trying to get rid of our biggest guy on day one.)

I'm not sure I agree with Rob that David should have just picked Kass as she seemed like a natural ally for him, but it would have been more difficult to align with her if he had picked her for that task. Although, picking her in a diplomatic way and being apologetic about it, might have left him the ability to later tell her he thought that the person he picked might get some sort of advantage in the game...and that's why he picked her.

I felt David really handled the 'picking of the weakest' very poorly. He was much too confrontational in picking Garrett, AND what he said, should send a warning flag to not only Garrett, but every other physical male player in the field. I'm sure he would have done better if given some time to think about it, but in the moment he did a very bad job.

I think Brice and Hootie both handled their spots pretty well. They have both greatly exceeded my expectations coming into the game (not that hard as my expectations were pretty low). I'm not sure how locked down Jeremiah is, but if he is locked down, I would think it's more by Hootie's hooties than by Brice (even though credit to Brice for recognizing that Brice was caught in the gravitational pull of Morgan's boobs). I still require more information on where Jeremiah's loyalties lie. He and LJ worked hard together and that's bonding. Jeremiah claims he is a hard working country boy who is looking for love. I'd say his loyalties are probably divided. Though perhaps the fact that they aired the coming together of that threesome is the tell.

I'm with you that I'm not as high on LJ's spot as others have been. Again, largely because they've shown a possible counter movement coming together against him, while his shots have been more his own thoughts on the game being shared in confessional instead of actually building relationships with others and scheming in that format. I would think he'd be safe initially because he'll do a bulk of the work at camp, and the possibility of winning extra advantages at challenges is damaged without him.

The podcast was a preview of the season. We hadn't even seen any episodes when it was taped. The discussion is hypothetical.

His loyalties being divided is the reason entirely why I believe LJ will be the first one to be booted on that tribe. By voting out LJ first it firmly cements Jeremiah with them and makes it impossible for a counter alliance to be established against Brice and company going forward. Similar to on One World when Kim got Troyzan to commit fully to her alliance by voting out Jonas at the merge.

Well, the thing about being 'smart' is there are a lot of different types of intelligence. This web page outlines nine types of intelligence:

http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Pr...telligence.htm

2+2 and Spencer acts like number 3 is the be all and end all form of intelligence, when in practicality, many of the other forms of intelligence are probably more useful in survivor...particularly number 5.

Hmmm, maybe. There's still ? in the air. Are they all going to hold up mentally under the elements--Jefra looking pretty hang dog in the previews? How much will they care about winning challenges? Will Brice feel comfortable enough to let LJ hang around while whittling away his weaker allies?

I assume Brains will get decimated and both tribes will absorb someone simply because that was how things went in the past. If they care at all about being competitive in the challenges and feel comfortable with their numbers, I could see them possibly letting LJ slide for a vote or two.

I really need to see a bit more out of Jefra and Alexis, and even, LJ. I think it's at least possible that Brice feels comfortable enough about his position that he doesn't have to take out LJ right away