I just read a story on TMZ about a contestant being dis-invited from the final taping and appearance fee removed. Is that discussion outside the scope of this thread?

To be fair, Gabby is kind of a dud. But perhaps not irredeemable. If you cry a lot and are an emotional drain on everyone in the early going, but you get your $#!% together towards the end, I feel like we might be able to forgive some of early annoyances. I mean, if she made some moves down the stretch here and got enough votes to win, I'd have to give her some respect despite how I generally find her.

Christian is obviously a help to her game, but she's was spot on about the Goliaths expecting them to sit quietly by while they made all the decisions. She had a problem with that and said so. When Carl wanted to shuffle her off to the side, she had a problem with that as well. He's gone. When I contrast her ability to identify threats to her having influence in the direction of the game to say, Mike's, ability to do the same, she comes out way ahead.

Gabby’s HR interview is perfectly written. I love her now. Go gabby. She probably loses in f3 like her type is supposed to

I dont think there's a problem with it. The article is from May, and the complaint is that they revealed they'd been cast before the show revealed it (which obviously isn't any kind of spoiler now).

Alec gets no reunion show and no reunion show check for being a naughty boy pre-cast reveal. Not that big a deal. Thinking about, the show has been either very lucky or very diligent that they haven't had a major contestant problem between taping and airing (not that haven't had some issues post show-Skupin).

Gabby gets a bit of bad rap for the tears, if she can get herself to the end (not dragged) by taking out her allies and sitting with Goliaths then she'd be a worthy winner. She's last of the David's for me, but ahead of the Goliaths.

she's so eloquent

What if he was in the final?

It's quite possible that Gabby's crying isn't any kind of emotional drain on the other contestants. Like perhaps they are not at all annoyed about having to expend their own emotional energy trying to bolster her spirits. Or maybe even they derive enjoyment from helping her get herself back on track and stable again. If that's the case, her crying jags shouldn't be a hindrance for her in the game. But if people are 1) questioning her stability and therefore suitability as an alliance member they can count on, or 2) just irritated that they have to expend their energy on keeping her stable, then her crying is a problem. It's a flaw in her social game. It's nothing to be incensed about, but it can still be a knock against a person's game. I can't help but think of Dawn Meehan who, if I remember correctly, played a pretty solid game her second time around. But her opponents were put off by her crying and it hurt her in the jury phase. If taken to excess, I think the crying can be seen as a selfish indulgence out there. The game is hard...for everyone.

idk, it seems like the vast majority of gabby's crying is either in confessionals or in 'private' to christian. not in front of large groups. besides that one time at tribal when she was defending elizabeth for fighting til the end -- but in that instance it was clearly beneficial for her perception imo

so i really think its overplayed because we are seeing it at home, and i doubt her tribemates are seeing much of it (other than christian and possibly allison, but its definitely helping with them)

furthermore, i could even argue it increases her chances of winning based on the edit. if she was just gonna be a random 7th place boot, i doubt we would be seeing this much of her crying. but if she wins, it would form more of a triumphant arc for her

so i dont think it makes sense for any viewer to say she has less chance of winning because she cries

i also think dawn meehan was a totally different situation, where people felt she was *not* genuine, and was even hypocritical iirc. i could be remembering her wrong, but im thinking like Scout, when someone plays up their integrity but then also plays the game, juries don't like that. but gabby's crying has typically been game-related; she has never suggested some type of ethics or morality or a line that she can't cross. so if, for example, she does backstab christian at some point. i dont think it would be met with nearly the same amount of viciousness from the jury as someone like dawn got. i think people would respect it quite a lot

jeez i just talked myself into thinking gabby can win this game. she probably won't, but it won't be because of her crying IMO

Since the film was already in the can, not something CBS had to worry about. Hopefully anyone getting final type money will never be that stupid.

Why did Carl think the group needed to keep Gabby out of the loop to vote out Allison? He kept saying the only person who was going to be bothered if they voted out Allison was going to be Gabby. Was he merely concerned about exactly what happened, or trying to avoid what he felt was unnecessary drama?

Why were Davie and Nick and Angelina apparently willing to go along with keeping Gabby out of the decision?

Wasn't there like a 'thing' when Gabby came up on the discussion of voting out...I think it was Alec, who seemed like a given. I'm not sure why there has to be a mini meltdown over Carl telling Dan's little blond number they want to vote off Alec which seemed to be common knowledge at the time. I don't know. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. Which is entirely possible. I can't even remember blondie's name and then have to sexistly reference her to Dan. Pretty sure my female card has to be revoked.

Theyd already left her out of the John vote so it wasnt a novel thing. Gabby wasnt a part of carl’s plans.

Carl said Gabby would be the only one who wouldn’t like the plan to vote Allison out just because Gabby is close with Allison.

Im not sure about Davie and Nick. I’m still perplexed that Christian and Nick didn’t have a mason dixon conversation before the vote, so I don’t know what’s going on with them. But they probably just figured Gabby is Christian’s domain, so they didn’t worry about it.

I think Gabby had plenty of reason to be concerned upon seeing Carl talking game with Kara. You don’t want to see someone who is supposedly in your alliance telling the other side how they’re voting. The meltdown was more just about how horrible gameplay it was from Carl, plus the fact that these plans were happening without Gabby. But even with that, the ‘meltdown’ happened later, when she was alone with a Christian and calling Carl the godfather.

Carl isn’t the best representative of the jury anyways. It’s no secret he and Gabby didn’t get along, and she probably wouldn’t get his vote no matter what she does. I think she’d probably have the best chance of getting Goliath votes out of any David besides Christian though

I loved the ladies saying “bing” on his way out

here’s my predictions, which I feel relatively confident in. based largely on the edit, but also gameplay

finale (top 5): Christian, Gabby, Nick, Mike, Angelina

winner: Nick

that would leave Davie, Kara, and Allison as the next three boots in whatever order. if finale is top 6 instead of top 5, I’d say Allison makes it

I think Nick would want to keep his old tribe alive of Mike and Angelina to give him options at f5. Then he would likely want to go to f3 with both of them for an easy win

Kara is so fine

this is an epic episode in an epic season

I’m predicting

If you were not spoiled kudos to you. You called it pretty close.

This season is in the running for GOAT if it doesn’t tank at the finish line.

wow

5 votes for Christian (cancelled): Nick Gabby Alison Davie Kara
1 vote for Alison: Christian
2 votes for Gabby: Mike Angelina

not quite, I thought Davie was voting Allison instead of Gabby. it seemed like he was helping Christian and concerned about the David Numbers, but I guess it makes sense for him to cut Gabby and reel Christian in

oh damn. did not realize that was angelina’s Vote. wow

what is Davie thinking telling Christian he’s the target, knowing he has an idol, and still voting for him?!

Last week was so idiotic of Christian to get out Carl before Alison and create a 4-4 deadlock again. As things stand the 4 remaining Goliaths can now work together to pick off the remaining Davids and it's actually in all their best interests to do just that and go to the f4 with each other.