I agree. The person smashing should not get immunity and that would at least make the decision between what group you alienate rather than just saving yourself.

Or alternatively, both of the 2 people not playing should get immunity regardless of what happens.

Is this right? I got the impression they would totally switch positions with the other person.

I'm not sure. That would be very dumb if that was the case and obviously no one would give up Applebee's + immunity for no immunity + unknown power.

I assumed it meant if they go to exile, they keep their immunity, unless for whatever reason they decide to smash thereby altering the results of the challenge and foregoing their immunity.

Unlike the rest of the twist?

Ha. If they're going to do a twist at least make the person make a decision. There's zero decision to be made if the decider is just deciding between immunity or no immunity for themselves.

Given it was essentially automatic, they could've foregone the whole exile thing and after the challenge Probst says "well here's the twist. winners, you aren't immune, losers you are immune"

They had to give up immunity also. Jeff says "No buff, no food, no immunity, no shelter", and then says "Do one of the five of you want to give up everything you just earned to be sure that you're in charge of the power"

Ha ridiculous

The twist that was bad is still bad. Way to talk it through, gang.

Isn't Romeo delusional that there are people in his life that don't know he's gay? That can't be right, can it?

Mike is too straight forward. Daniel was spot on about Mike approaching the game as having a Survivor family. (Recall Chanelle said Daniel was 'playing the game' with the comment, which I thought said more about Chanelle than Daniel.) How long will Mike be able to skate by making all these real connections with people when there are so many sneaky bastards shimmying about? Surely Mike is a bigger actual threat than Jonathan.

Early on in the episode, I was really liking Hai's game because he's open to potential allies and willing to adapt. Then, midway through I started wondering if being so adamant about being willing to die for Lydia was a good idea. Like, he wrangled this whole alliance which was a show of strength. And then, was possibly being too rigid about not wanting to let Lydia go. Then, he surprised me by voting Lydia out. I'm really liking this guy. I think one of the big keys to being good at the game is to be adaptable. Now, whether it was an ultimate good idea remains to be seen.

I really thought Jonathan was going to be at extreme risk and should have gone for the power grab, but I can understand why he didn't. You're told you've earned safety and meal, but can trade that for some indeterminant power. If you're Hercules and need to fuel your body, it's a tough spot.

I thought Drea was going to die during the challenge, but then she seemed fine when she totally soul read what the power was going to be.

Tori with the stellar game play this episode. Her logic for sending Rocks off to get a mysterious power was that she doesn't trust him. Then, she tries to guilt trip him for doing the no brainer and saving himself by saying they were trying to help him by sending him to get the power. She's really precious.

Man, the awkwardness of everybody trying to dodge Chanelle while she continues to try to jam her foot in the door.

Romeo is so powerful in the game, he's wooing Tori. That's a good spot. Worked out well for Swati. I'm unclear on how Romeo got left out of the loop by Hai and Omar. He seems like someone they might want to align with.

I was very surprised that Chanelle (was is her?) called out the hour glass twist. It is a very large departure from everything Survivor has done before, right? They gave more hints this time around, but still no one of the winning team clearly expected something even close to this.

I wonder if there's a possibility she had contact with a 41 contestant somehow. I doubt it, her calling it out just made my brain itch.

I'm only really enjoying Hai and Jonathan this season, there's a lot of entertaining contestants, but the average is really meh. It kinda feels like both Hai and Jonathan wont make it very deep, either. Omar and Rocksroy are OK too, I guess.

Also, was I the only one who thought the mini-clash between Drea and Maryanne at tribal was weird? Drea must be really annoyed with Maryanne . I wonder if she's going to be dragged as a goat or if people will eventually get sick of her.

Thought it was Drea?

To defend my previous take, I think there was a bigger decision for Erika. In Rocksroy's case, he's outside the numbers, and his #1 enemy is safe while he's vulnerable. There was no case for him to not smash it this season.

The problem with twists like this is the players all clearly feel pressure whether from Probst, production, or themselves to "play the game" and take chances, so there's usually little doubt they're going to take a chance. They need to make the consequences more dire so people think twice; eg, in the beware advantage, you do not lose your vote, but until the idol is activated every tribal will start with Jeff saying "Player X has an unactivated advantage."

Eventually?

People like Maryanne are great to have in your life in measured doses. 24/7 for weeks would be a lot to take.

It was Drea

Season is really starting to grow on me as it heats up. I've hated Mike since day 1, but even he's growing on me now. No strategic thought whatsoever, but he is just so good socially and seems to win people over immediately. I love how hard Hai plays. Maryanne reminds me of the blonde who dated Hayden. No filter whatsoever, just young naive and says what she's thinking. Chanelle is so clueless all the time.
Can't imagine she has any shot at winning. Kinda fun how everyone seems to be playing too.

Totally agree on your second paragraph which is something I flagged at the time.

It's classic Survivor 'big move-itus' mentality. You've been quarantined for weeks, camera crew on you, you know you're on tv having your own segment, you're the hero in your own story, 9 times out of 10 you want to be asked back to play a second time and all the while having Jeff Probst bang on every 5 seconds that to win Survivor you have to make BIG MOVES (you don't, its never ever been the case)

We saw this mentality in all its glory on the Boston Rob/Sandra season where total noobs were risking their vote (or whatever it was) to take on Boston Rob in a fire building contest

I hope those parts were heavily edited somehow, because that was just awful. As soon as Chanelle pops up, just ask her who's she's thinking of, and then pretend you're warming up to that idea. Instead they went with the "we were all just talking about how great you are... Alright off to find crabs!"

Also don't understand the love for Tori ITT. She's such an awful human being and her gameplay is absolutely atrocious.

Omar/Jonathan/Hai are the only likeable people left for me. Romeo is fine I guess.

I only remember one person saying they thought Tori was good, and I just scratched my head and moved on. My comments about her were with obligatory eyerolls if it wasn't clear.

I like the three you mentioned and Romeo is okay. I'm reserving judgement on Lyndsay. I like Mike a lot, but I don't think he's particularly good at the game because he's too straight forward and rigid.

You're completely right. For some reason I had it in my head people here liked Tori, think I heard it somewhere else. Your sarcasm was clear though and gave me a chuckle fwiw :-).

The Romeo coming-out story was definitely odd. I assumed this guy was happily out & about, given how he's a beauty pageant coach and isn't exactly oozing masculinity. I was respecting him for not giving a damn what other people thought about him, so that moment didn't really touch me at all.

Tori easily the most delusional and unlikable.

I think the only way the hourglass twist can possibly work, is if there is some chance of a negative outcome for the person smashing it. Otherwise as others have said, it is a 100% foregone conclusion that a person is going to make the choice that allows them to gain/keep immunity. Like maybe if you smash it you're now immune, but you lose your vote for the next 2 TCs or something. At least that might make someone pause, if they were confident they would be safe anyway. Or maybe some sort of 50/50 where they MIGHT gain immunity if they smash it, but might not.

My bigger problem with the whole thing is that it makes the entire immunity challenge pointless. And that was a HARD challenge, probably the toughest one they've had all season. All that physical effort to win immunity, for nothing. It's really so stupid only Probst could have thought of it.

Also I had to laugh when Jeff was listing the 3 ways they tweaked the hourglass twist this season and #1 was "first off, the food is from Applebee's" - as if that is a legitimate tweak that changes the outcome.

I love Tori

Why don't you marry her?

I'm too shy to ask her out