Okay, so she takes him 15% of the time instead of 1% with Matt. However, Matt wins the final immunity challenge way more than 14% of the time (he's probably the favorite at ~40%), so that pretty much seals it imo.

Think about it from Matt's perspective. Either you think you can beat Jenna, in which case you take her if you win; or you think you'd lose to both of them, in which case you have no great incentive to win the FIC at all. This is probably a bad example because Jenna probably still beats Butch (she gets Heidi/Alex/Deena for sure, Butch gets Christy/Matt for sure, and Rob and Dave are swing votes), but it illustrates the point that Rob, as a poor challenge competitor, needed to give a stronger challenge competitor an incentive to take him. For instance, in a Christy/Matt/Rob F3, Rob almost certainly wins: he can probably get Christy to take him, Matt takes him for sure (and has a reason to win the FIC) and he beats either of them.

I was just randomly reading the season summary for Nicaragua on wikipedia, and one thing that struck me as odd was how interesting and exciting the season sounded in writing. It was full of alliances being formed and broken and people flip-flopping left and right. However, this season was actually very boring to watch (I thought).

So what really was the problem with Nicaragua? I think it is because of Sash. I think that since he had that whole fiasco with bribing Jane the editors were forced to downplay his role in the game and edit the show to make him seem like a scumbag (which he is if Jane was telling the truth), where as if that didn't happen Sash would have probably gotten a few votes in the end (maybe still not enough to win), and they could have edited the show differently to make it seem like a big Sash vs Fabio showdown, instead of forcing the Fabio/Chase showdown.

The Chase-as-a-villain storyline was clearly forced pretty strongly in the final few episodes to try to drum up excitement (like the ridiculous editing of Brett in Samoa the final few episodes), when it really just seemed like Chase was indecisive and naive, rather than some kind of villain.

I'm sure this has been talked about before on here, but it just seems to me like Nicaragua could have probably been one of the better seasons, but because of the Sash/bribery fiasco the editors were forced to go a different route that made the season not very good overall.

edit: one example of this was in the reunion show Brenda stated that she tried to get Sash voted off on her boot episode, but that didn't make the show. Had the Sash/Jane situation not happened, they would have most certainly shown that to make Sash a more compelling character and to make that episode more interesting. However, if they did show it it would make Sash look good, rather than look like scum for turning his back on Brenda (which the actual episode did).

Chase didn't really get edited as a "villain". Sash was a villain, Chase was a "bad player"

i think its cause we didnt have many people to root for. it was edited in a really odd way. trying to foreshadow the quitting. naonka got a lot of the screen time early and then just quit. its kind of a unsatisfying way for that story arch to end. marty got a lot of screen time and he wasnt great. sash had no personality and was a main player. chase wasnt real interesting to watch either.

So I'm starting Ep 12 of Vanuatu -- so they are down to final 6 -- and was wondering... have people here talked about what a badass Twila was this season? I feel like she has played a really strong game so far, despite definitely having some Russell-itis where I feel like she's drawing kinda slim to get a jury majority. But I dunno, maybe that's not even true. Like she would have at least 3 definite no votes, but depending on who she brings could sweep the other 4 votes. Pretty wild though, starting out this season I would never have thought that the player who would have impressed me the most would be the random southern tomboy highway construction worker whose tribe immediately disliked her.

Don't read this unless you know who wins...

I don't. Torture!

Also think Chris should be given an enormous amount of respect for making it all the way to FTC with a ponytail. Although I have to assume that's like an automatic one-vote deduction.

I know their is a massive kos / kart war going on in the ri thread, but I don't want to be apart of that.

Rewatching Pearl Islands now and just past the merge. How does anyone think Sandra played well?

At final 8, fair play, Burton, Tijuana and Darrah are one group (to vote out Rupert) and Rupert, Sandra and Krista are another, with Lil as a swing vote. Lil ends up voting for Rupert, so Sandras vote doesn't end up nattering, but she throws her vote on FairPlay while the other two in her group vote Burton. God damn horrible.

At final 7, she actually works Tijuana well to apparently flip T and D to vote out Burton, but FairPlay senses something is up, and talks Sandra and Krista into voting out Tijuana instead. WTF?

That's as far as I am into the rematch, can't wait to see her butcher it some more down the home stretch. Her "anyone but me" has clearly worked for her, but anyone who thinks she employes any long term strategy is fin crazy.

I am curious that if you could make an All Star cast who would it be? 10 males and 10 females... anyone that has played the game...

Unfortunately Matt leveled him and threw the challenge. Rob C trained him too well

I went for all people who haven't played twice yet with a focus on people who did well (Edit: including all past winners who haven't played twice) that I want to see if it was a fluke or not:


Edit: Also tried as much as possible to represent every non-all-star season, hence people like Kelly.

Repost from RI thread. Off-topic reminder to everyone, tonight is the premier of Celebrity Apprentice with Hatch!! Can't wait!

I like kart's list for that criteria

would probably makes those changes:
Taj instead of Kenny
Brenda instead of Christa
Rafe instead of Danni
John over Natalie
Colleen instead of Kelly
Deena over Erik



but people I'd most like to see play another time would look like this:
Men:
Rob M.
Rob C.
Hatch
Fairplay
Yau-Man
Todd
Coach
Lex
Yul
Terry

Women:
Parvati
Cirie
Corinne
Brenda
Twila
Sandra
Kathy
Courtney
Steph
Eliza


make it Men vs. Women just to see how crazy the male tribe would be

seriously? a 4 timer and a 3 timer? you really want to see them continue to be cast?

In the end Chris reminded me so much of Brian from Thailand. Just kind of a shady dude who, I dunno, befriended and made alliances with everyone, and then managed to convince enough people that his "feelings" were genuine that they gave him the million. Actually also reminds me of Sash I guess, except Sash did it unsuccessfully (well, less successfully than the others).

I'm pretty sure I'd be thrilled to see Rob M on every season. For me he's the most entertaining player to ever play.

I have never understood the people who moan about this.
to me those are the most interesting and entertaining and I don't mind seeing any of them back over new players or second timers.

I didn't include players like Rupert, Colby, Jerri, James or Amanda.


parvati and cirie are 3 timers as well btw

I don't necessarily need Stephenie back a 4th time.
just no name really sprung out to me that I definitely want to see back for the women's tribe that isn't on the list already.

Yul
Hatch
Heidik
Yau-Man/Earl
Stephen
Cesternino
Fairplay
Rafe
Todd
Lex

Brenda
Parvati
Cirie
Deena
Kathy
Vecepia
Tina
Corinne
Twila
Sandra

If I were basing my list on Ken's criteria I'd include John Carroll.

Just remembered that I picked Francesqua and Phillip to win RI, how unfortunate ;/

next season should be Coach vs Philip

I'm pleased to see how many people have twila on their list

I don't know about shady, but I guess it depends on your definition in the context of the game. For me, it's what I like about Chris: he clearly didn't give a **** about anyone, but he was able to fake it enough that they still voted for him. I'm still kinda curious if he beats Scout, as I think you could make the argument that several people change their votes (in both directions) if she's at FTC. I really think Chris is underrated, though, and I think he'd be pretty successful if they ever brought him back (which they won't).

I thought Twila had an awesome FTC btw, and Chris Sash'd it up, so I was actually surprised that Twila lost.