Yes, everyone goes to Tribal and everyone votes.

If she doesn't smash and goes deep in the game she certainly gets asked back.

The real question is, will there be another smash opportunity later in the game?

Very likely. Probably multiple.

Producer fancy play syndrome

I think she smashes.

She seems like a passive person who fears being seen as such. So, in her head smashing probably equals big move (feeding her need to be seen as aggressive) + being safe at next tribal (addressing her worst fear as a passive person - not being safe)

Sydney? Would smash

I really wish Survivor would get rid of advantages altogether and only have hidden immunity idols. Idols introduce a layer of strategy that really adds to the game so they are great, but all these other advantages just take skill out of the game too much.

Funny thing is you would think that the producers know that fans are just sick of them, but they keep trying new things. Like, your fan base already is well established and more gimmicks aren't likely to bring in new people. Focus more on gameplay, which is what people are really there for.

Maybe they do like them. It might be that fans like us who are entertained by strategy and good gameplay are in the minority. I don't know, I'm not on other forums for Survivor.

My take is that Survivor is throwing everything in this season. Really having a ball with the advantages.
They know there will be a good amount of hate.
Then in future seasons, they tone it back and say “look, we heard the audience. We wont do another season 41” but they will only cut back on the advantages slightly. And then they will drown in praise for “listening to the audience”

Seems like Probst just gets off on this stuff. Feels like he wants everyone to have their own unique advantages and chaos to ensue.

Xander getting absolutely shafted in these challenges. Just dragging some of the worst teams of all time to the finish line.

eh...I think it's good they try new things. As the game matures and everyone's seen all the episodes, the gameplay tends to homogenize a bit; for example, remember when they would have auctions and sell off advantages - once everyone had seen it, the auction became boring because everyone just sat waiting for the advantage, then maxbid.

The producers have certainly shown that they'll put stuff in or take stuff out if it doesn't work or aren't popular. Remember fire tokens, which they thought was gonna be the next big thing before they turned out to be kind of nothing? Haven't heard a word about them since.

I do agree it seems like they've put a little too many all at once into it this year with the journeys and the beware advantages and the exile power and so on. On the flip side, the cross-tribe journeys have led to some interesting pre-merge interactions that might have created a lot more potential alliances or potential feared alliances that could make the merge game more interesting.

I do kind of like the Probst confessionals where he tells us the players have no idea what's about to come; they should expand on that a bit. You often hear players talk about "well the merge is probably coming soon and we should think about X or Y in anticipation of it". Would be kind of neat to have Probst pop up and say "little do they realize as they're making this decision that..."

They literally just did fire tokens the season before this (it only feels like a long time ago bc of the pandemic) and the way Probst has talked about them in interviews, he thinks they were a big hit and can't wait to incorporate them more. The fact that they're not in this season doesn't mean anything for their future use.

I'm not against new rules and twists, just that there is a line I don't like to see crossed where it interferes with good gameplay and just adds an element of luck. I think we'd all like to see the better players do better than worse players, and the more elements are added that are heavier on luck than skill, the less likely that that'll happen. We've seen far too many good players get screwed over the years because of some dumb rule change bullshit. It's not good for the game, and it's not good for the show.

Try one or two things per season. Not one or two things per episode

Yeah I don't mind a few twists, but a "time travel" twist that essentially undoes an Immunity Challenge is a bridge too far for me.

I say if you're gonna have a time travel twist, go all the way. If she smashes the glass, they all end up back on the boat including the eliminated contestants. The show starts over. Then someone gets the hourglass again. Repeat. The season never ends. It's a Kafka-esque nightmare from which no one escapes, including the audience.

How mad are you if youre the dude who got his idol nullified. A bs twist that didnt even stick around

Would be fun to have a season without any advantages and just watch people spend 39 days trying to find non-existing HII.

One advantage I'd like to see for future seasons is for every player to start with a hidden condition no one else knows about and if they achieve the goal, they get something. Conditions could be stuff like "get exactly two votes in tribal council, hide the flint without getting caught, have player X still be in game after day 15...")

Definitely would like the first, would hate the second. Everyone would end up telling their alliance mates about them and it would all become about achieving their goals rather than actual game play.

HII definitely have their place and have been a vital part of game play, but keep it simply at that.

Yeah, I was trying to think about a variation on HIIs that I thought was a net positive, and the only one that came to mind was where you had to put two halves together to get the idol to work. But yeah, count me among those who think this season has way too many and it's making me sour on the entire concept.

I'd find it interesting to see a HII that you can only play for someone else - never yourself. You kind of become powerful in that you're a valued ally for people, but you're also a target for having power. Could also lead to lots of scenarios like the Ricard/Shan dynamic of "I'll give it to you but you have to play it for me."

I guess the steal an idol has to be played at tribal? Otherwise why didn’t she just take it when he had it in his hand in the jungle?

Loooool

ahahahahahahahaha

I totally saw all of that coming, but I imagine a lot of people ITT did as well. Obviously with Xander and Evvie having all the info about Liana's power, they were going to make a fake idol.

I was thinking the incredibly boss move would be for Liana to ask Tiffany if she had an idol, but that's probably a bit too FPS, since Evvie could also have it