I agree with what you said, Kos. He can't really pull off voting for someone else, but it shows the power he had in the game. He had the ability to go any way he wanted without really being at risk ever.

He played such an impressive game.

i know you edited the post, but I look at it this way.

Rob, Butch, Matt all gonna vote one way. Jenna and Heidi going to vote one way. Cristy can vote for Heidi and then its 4-2. When Cristy doesn't commit, Rob can't make the risk of a tie. I feel like this is exactly what Kos said lol.

And, yes, Cesternino is the biggest Hero on this board I think.

Cwisty, lol.

Blah, recommend an audible and going with Amazon over AS first since I'm only an episode in?



thx for the link

I'd definitely go for Amazon before All-Stars. All-Stars tends to be a fairly polarizing season: in my experience people either love it or hate it.

Kos: I've heard his reasoning, but I don't see why an emotional player like Christy would betray two people who had been friendly to her (Butch + Rob) to join up with two girls whom she hates (and who hate her) when the best she can do by doing that is force a tie. She knows that Jenna and Heidi will take each other to F2 anyway, so it's not as if she gains anything if the girls win the tiebreaker anyway.

It didn't make any sense for Christy to vote with the girls, none. But, she wouldn't agree to vote with the boys. She was playing the middle, and if they keep her & lose the tiebreaker, then Rob is in the minority at F5 (or worse, gone). He ended up in a bad spot because of a stupid player. **** happens.

yeah i guess watching the episode, it just seemed really clear to me (in large part due to confessionals that obviously rob was not privy to) that she wasnt planning to flip, which made me kinda not think about the idea that there was a potential tie he wanted to avoid.

I don't like amazon. Not a pretty season scenery wise. Amazon looked ugly. Needed more water.

The fire was pretty good scenery imo

Just started watching Amazon. Is this Dave guy serious?? "Booyahhhh" "Bitching". So on tilt watching this f'ing tool. Dear god I hope he doesn't last much longer. (on espisode 5 btw)

Cesternino asked her if she was voting with the guys, and she said, "I haven't decided." And that might look non-committal from our POV, but to him, it looks like, "I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm going with the girls." You're also evaluating Cwisty as if she was actually thinking more than 30 seconds in advance. In reality, I don't think she had any clue what was going on. She's one of the most brain-dead people they've ever had on the show.

So I just got around to watching season 2 for the first time (last one I hadn’t seen), how was there any controversy over Tina winning? I mean Colby was physically dominant but from merge on Tina was running the show I’m pretty sure. Taking out Amber and especially Jerri was huge for Tina’s position and end-game and just took options away from Colby. Tina played pretty close to the best game possible for her. She’s not going to win many final immunity challenges so she needs to get to a final 3 where she’s likely to be taken to the finals. Both Colby and Keith seemed ready to take her. She probably made a small mistake pre-merge not trying to get rid of Amber or Mitchell on the second vote but that’s the only mistake I see. If Colby takes any of Jerri, Amber or Keith to the final 2 with him he wins. I’m rambling but Colby made several mistakes including 1 huge one and Tina played nearly flawlessly so very deserving winner in my opinion.

I had heard so many bad things about how the season that I was never really interested in watching it. How the people were just on it to get famous and not caring or playing strategically, but after watching it I don’t think that criticism was warranted. Everyone was just playing to keep the tribe strong pre-merge and try to get in the majority of the tribe post-merge. While almost everyone was playing on level 1, I definitely think people were playing to win. Also due to everyone thinking it was all #’s, it was fun to watch some just awful social games (Kimmi, Jerry, Keith, Alicia, Nick, Jeff, Mike).

Would have been interesting if Mike didn’t fall into the fire and they went into the merge 6-4. Apparently Mike had agreed to join with Rodger/Elisabeth, and I imagine Nick would have sided with Alicia/Jeff. Whoever was left at final 7 wouldn’t have been in a bad spot, or maybe we could have seen fireworks at final 9.

Top 5 Players that season (based on their $EV if stuck in any season with any players):
1. Tina
2. Colby
3. Elisabeth
4. Jeff
5. Mike

I was going to do a top strategic thinkers list for the season but it’s too difficult to separate or differentiate from 2-10.

I have to watch S2 again from the merge on. But Colby should of taken Keith to the end.

Colby knew what he was doing though, it's not as if he was trying to make the most +EV play and ended up levelling himself. Ditto with Ian.

Watching All-Stars now. The 3 tribes thing kinda blows, especially when one of them has a member that had no business being out there in the first place and quits a week into it. Tribes are just so thin, should make for an interesting post merge situation with 3 potential alliances (or an advantage to the tribes without numbers going into the merge, as the other two should just band together and retake numbers?).

The controversy wasn't in her winning, but that Colby made a really bad play taking her instead of Keith, which would have made him a near lock for the million. It's often referred to as the $900,000 mistake, and the first major one in the history of the show.

And he had been painted all season as a likable hero and challenge monster, essentially edited that he was going to win. And it seemed like even more lemon juice in the cut when Tina was asked afterward what she attributed her win to and she said, "Luck." FWIW I like Tina a lot and think she played just fine and don't begrudge her the win at all. And Colby seemed genuinely stoked when she won, so it's all good.

Yeah, f the haters, I think Australia was a pretty good season. I haven't seen any season since its first airing, so maybe it doesn't hold up compared to recent seasons, but for its time, was a great follow up to season 1.

there are a couple of twists before IM starts

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.

I'm through 4 episodes now, and I've now added whatever season Big Tom is on to 2nd on the list of remaining ones (after Amazon) to watch. Dude's hilarious.

Based on everyone's opinion of the guy on this board and how he was immediately voted out when his tribe went to tribal, I'm going to guess Rob C in Amazon plays absurd.

Cesternino is amazing. Has arguable the funniest confessionals too.

Didn't Colby himself say that he knew that his chances against Tina were less than against Keith?
He hated Keith and he didn't even want to give him a 2% chance for the million bucks. So he chose Tina even though it would be harder for him to win.

That's what's so great about Survivor. People don't make the most +EV decision for themselves. They make decisions based on their emotions. Especially in the earlier season. Like the guy in season 1 who was voting alphabetically lol

That would be epic. But, they are both alpha males and I don't see how that alliance would last for long. Would be fun to watch.

Also just finished $2 with the wife...and I still can't put myself in Colby's shoes to give up the SURE win to take the "more deserving" competitor to the final 2 with you. But, as others have said, he seemed genuinely happy with his decision and the result.

My thoughts

* For those who really enjoy the editing, this was pretty weird. This season was 1 million % all about Colby. Maybe there just wasn't another story to tell, but it was ALL about him, and to then have him fall short was just weird.
* Production value went up DRAMATICALLY. They realized after $1 that they had something big on their hand, and upped the ante big time.
* I really liked the challenges this season. Two that stood out on my mind were the introduction of the "stand on a pole for 10+ hours" and also the "build a fire, then fill a leaking bucket on the other side with water".
* As much as I enjoyed the challenges, the FIC was the WOAT. A Q&A about your fallen comrades, especially random BS from their casting sheets, is just such fail. Hand on the idol, or stand on a pole. Those should be the only two FIC EVER.
* I HATE HATE HATE the vote tiebreaker that came into play twice in this season. I'm not a fan of having a tie vote come down to previous votes, and it played a HUGE role in this season.
* Holy **** - I forgot how harsh the elements were in this one. Having to give up shelter because they poorly rationed their food, and then to have a flood wipe out your camp a couple days later? Brutal!
* Mike falling in the fire was a real game changer, obviously. If he doesn't fall in the fire, and Kucha wins the last tribal immunity challenge, we don't remember Tina AT ALL, and Colby would have needed an even bigger immunity run than he had to have a chance.

Off to $3 AFRICA - which I remember very little about, except the winner. I'm hoping that it brings about a little actual game play, as the first two seasons were along tribal lines almost the entire way. Don't remember if $3 starts to shake it up or not!

Love the notes man. I'm really excited to go back and watch all the early seasons that I missed. I watched s1 and s2 when they first aired, but not since, so I recall nothing about them. Colby is prolly my favorite player of all time too (although it might be because the last season I watched live was his, as you said it was all about him, he was a beast, and then when I first started watching again (HvV) he was on it again.

agree with above -- they definitely need to get back to tougher FIC. not saying that they aren't usually difficult (balancing stuff was Samoa and Nicaragua, I've forgotten what HvV was... oh, the blindfolded maze, I think, without checking). but they really need to get those epic tests of will back. make them absolutely drive their bodies to the end. stand on a pole for 15 hours, into the middle of the night with no food, no help.

Agreed. While I understand that they like to mix it up, a battle of will in the FIC is so much better than (as described earlier) a height measuring contest, a balance test (both balancing on a pole as well as the dishes in China), or a maze.