Am I the only one who feels sorry for Shambo? She seems like a decent enough person who just has absolutely terrible social skills. She should realize she's being set up by the guys (in fact, all the girls on Galu should realize it's no coincidence that all the guys voted Shambo for leader). The guys don't try to hide their open disrespect for her and the girls treat her like they're all back in High School. She doesn't have a chance of winning, but the part of me that roots for the underdog hopes she's the last member of Galu standing.

^^
No, I think most of the guys (and girls) on Galu are far bigger *******s than Russel, even though he's playing the villain this season. I don't especially like Shambo, but imo it's downright shameful how she's treated by the other people in the game, and I hope she'll eventually kick Erik's, Dave's and Brett's asses.

^^^^

agreed, Russell shouldn't be cast as survivor's biggest villain. He's actually redeemed himself after the very first episode. I'm all giddy about the previews and I just can't wait to see Russell work his magic and run rampant. However the previews could be a misdirection, but I don't think so. The Galu tribe are clearly idiotic.

just curious, why does russel sabotage his team (burn socks, empty canteens, etc.) and then complain about them losing? what was he expecting?

also, i agree with most sympathy statements for shambo. In reality though, whenever i look at her, i always think of jeff saying "you would have to be a complete moron to not catch fish with this fishing gear!" and then shambo not catching any fish lol.

btw, what was up with that girl talking about her holy bible study/motorcycle group? seemed a little weird... and i wasn't really sure, but russel was making all that church stuff up, right?

yeah, if you rewatch it, you'll notice he quickly changes the subject once she mentions she studied theology. classic deflection tell.

man, i jus saw last night's episode and this is really turning out to be one of the best seasons of survivor ever.

i mean, we all know how christians support each other, so when russell played that card to get her trust, it was pretty much genius. i couldnt help but smirk alot when he used the line, i can spot a fellow christian a mile a way or whatever he said, he's so in with her.

i know this is a ways away but oh man, the reunion show is gonna be insane. they are going to be playing clips back of all his lies and everyone's shock of how much russell owned them, it will be such a great show. russell could even win it and would even be more epic.

so amazing how good this season has turned out imo.

What's genius about Russell's interaction with her was he probably got the info from Shambo that she was a christian. Notice he said his father was a preacher before she mentions she's christian or studied theology.

Kos, pretty good breakdown of what you think could happen. could definitely play out that way. +1 to Natalie rockin in the bikini.... damn.

i don't have too much to say over these two eps actually... Probst seemed to think voting Liz was a blindside but I was confident Jaison wasn't going. he is total cannon fodder while Liz could easily jump ship to another alliance. Jaison just seems totally content with doing absolutely nothing for himself in terms of survival strategy, essentially just letting the cards fall as they may. he shouldn't be hard to get rid of, plus he's physically deteriorating.

probst is a terrorist. he thinks everything is a blindside. his talking is often inapproriate (as in it impacts the game). his angling at tribal tilts me. i want to punch him in the face at least twice an episode. but my oh my his dimples! jkjk

I love Jeff calling people out.

Yeah, I'm still not convinced Russell is anything more than the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind, but he played that very well. They didn't show her verbally committing to an alliance with him, but he seems to have done everything he could to earn her trust.

As I was watching, I didn't know if he'd earlier overheard her say that she was a jesus freak and came up with his story, or if he just blindly threw out the son of a preacher line and struck gold. Either way, he played it perfectly afterward. When it looked like she was going to start praying and get the holy ghost, he quickly changed the subject. If she'd mentioned that she was into Harleys, he would have said he could spot a fellow hog-rider (or whatever the hell they call themselves) a mile away. If she said she was into food he would have said he could spot a fellow gourmand a mile away. The poor girl is way overmatched.

I wonder how they'll score the challenge when you have to demonstrate how well you know your fellow survivors. Does everybody just get credit for a correct answer when it comes to Russell?

Jeff: "How many children does Russell have? Let's see... we have answers of 'one,' 'four,' 'six, but they all died in a freak electrical storm,' 'none, he's saving himself for marriage,' and 'zero because he's transgender.' You are all correct!"

anyone else bored ****less by this season?

I think that makes one of us.

It would be boring for sure without Russell.

Well, the only people who treat Shambo worse than the Galu men is the Galu women so pulling her in to use as a pawn was a good move by the boys, but kind of a no-brainer. I'm at least glad they are giving some thought to the women banding together and picking them off. I don't know what Dave's problem is though. During the challenge, Shambo seemed to just be trying to yell some encouragement, and even if it was annoying, you'd think he could just ignore it instead of being a total ass. Seriously, he was treating her how teenagers treat their mothers. Very weird coming from a grown man.

Dominic: 'ish'. Last couple episodes haven't knocked my socks off and burned them, but it's still entertaining enough. I don't think there has been near as much funny as Coach or even Randy brought. I don't enjoy cheering for a Russell the way I did for a JT or a Yul--you don't HAVE to be a lying manipulative ass to win this game, but he's 'making an arguement It's interesting to watch what he comes up with.

the problem is i have no handle on anyone but Russell. Okay, maybe Shambo. Couldn't even name 3 others.

I'm with you - very lame, uncompetitive challenges and some pretty undramatic votes. Hated the first couple of episodes where there was no reward challenge. Russell was great week 1 and 2, but he's tailed off some since then.

Glad to see merge come now rather than watching another week of Foa Foa losses. Intrigue should pick up quite a bit now, especially if Russell can drive a wedge into the men's alliance.

+1

Eh, pre-merge usually is boring because it's mostly predictable. Early post-merge stuff is the best because it's when the real strategy comes into play. I really wish they'd do a season without tribes, where they started "at the merge" and just let everyone play an individual game.

I don't think that would be very suspenseful. I mean, if there are 16 people or whatever left and 1 gets voted out, the chance of having to leave is so low that everybody could feel quite safe.

Screw suspense. It allows for more strategy and takes a bit of the luck factor out of the game. It would also lead to a ridiculous amount of epic blindsides, which is what CBS loves to see. I think it'd be fun to watch.

that and the old people wouldn't automatically be the first couple out of the game

This would be an awesome idea. They should probably start with 16 instead of 20, but it would work out fine either way.

I guess 3 people could win immunity first, and then the number goes down as the amount of players go down. I guess they could do 2-person team challenges then as well.

I've been away from this thread for a while. I've got two thoughts:
1. Anyone think making Shambo leader was a bad move? They had her pulled in without needing to go the extra mile. This just revealed their hand to the girls of Galu (made Monica aware she was on the chopping block when she thought it was surely Shambo). If she ever figures out how much of a pawn she is, she's likely to completely turn on them?

2. Was Jaison's self-defeat good strategy that made Liz think that Jaison was the easy pick, thus preventing her from scrambling to try to make a move? Or has he simply given up?

Whether or not it was a Jaison masterplan for tribal he seems to have given up in the challenges.