My favorite part of this episode was that Probst was willing to put in the time to really try and understand the mystery that is Phillip. The fight itself was so bizarre I couldn't understand what was happening at first. Afterwards I was happy to write it off as another aspect of Phil's lunacy. But Probst isn't content with pigeonholing a player. He's going to work at them to really try and figure out what makes them tick. I felt like I learned something about Phillip from this last episode, and I think that a lot of the other castaways did too. Thank you Probst!
I was sad to see Craggy Julie get sent to Redemption Island, but am thrilled that she doesn't have to go back to camp and return Phillip's swim trunks! It was great to see Phillip's secret agent eye totally miss the ball on who took them too. I think that question mark after his profession should get a little bigger in the next episode. The real question is, though, will the rest of the tribe chip in new clothes to hide the saggy-bottomed panties? Or will Phillip wear his fuscia bloomers proudly, the way a 1/32nd part-Cherokee should?
The Standings
Team #Winning!: Moon - 72 pts
1. Boston Rob (36 pts)
[2. David (23 pts)]
[3. Krista (13 pts)]
Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 70 pts
1. Grant (26 pts)
2. Rooster (18 pts)
3. Andrea (26 pts)
Team Saggy Bottom Panties: Me - 64 pts
1. Phillip (18 pts)
2. Ashley (20 pts)
3. Natalie (26 pts)
Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 41 pts
1. Mike (16 pts)
2. Matt (10 pts)
[3. Stephanie (15)]
Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 36 pts
[1. Evil Russell (10 pts)]
[2. Sarita (11 pts)]
3. Julie (15 pts)
Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 23 pts
[1. Francesca (0 pts)]
[2. Kristina (10 pts)]
3. Steve (13 pts)
Power Rankings
1. Team Cockydoodlebug - Doug/Bri's team seems to be fading into the background. Are they giving up? Do any of them have an end game? Against my better judgment I'm still ranking them as first since they're the team most able to earn points in bulk. I don't see any of them making it to the top three, but if they take most of the challenges while they're still around that might not matter. And who knows? Maybe Grant & Andrea have a few tricks up their torn-away sleeves. Quantity over quality in this case.
2. Saggy Bottom Panties - My entire team didn't make it to the 2nd round of the elimination challenge, whihc was quite embarrassing. On the plus side, I still have my entire team in the game to embarrass me, which is pretty impressive. Ashley said that she would rather die than keep Phillip in the game. So we may be looking at a murder-suicide coming up soon down here in Saggy Bottom Pantyland, but even so I can still count on getting Jury points.
3. Team #Winning! - We're entering what is probably Rob's most dangerous time in the game, and he's Moon's only remaining player. Once Ometepe starts turning against itself, the elimination target should turn back on him. It's his game to lose though. Moon earned major points this week through David getting jury points and Rob's win, but I think that points will start coming fewer and farther between for team #Winning!
4. Team Fabioesque - Unfortunately, Team Fabioesque remains sequestered on Redemption Island. But they're earning points twice as quickly as they used to! Slow and steady probably won't win this race, but I'm really enjoying the R.I. twist of this season. Watching Matt struggle through an emotional breakdown while having his faith rocked stands in stark contrast to the manipulation and backstabbing back at camp. The two storylines playing out in conjunction with each other is beautiful to watch.
5. Evil Crushell - Uh oh. Courtney may beat Bag in the "first to get eliminated" race! Although she'll likely end up with more points overall. I'll miss Julie in the game, and I'm definitely rooting for her on R.I. She played smart and she played with heart, and I hope that whatever the next challenge is will play to these strengths.
6. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Gotta give props to Steve after this last episode. The poor guy took the full brunt of Phillip at his best, and then handled himself in as gentlemanly a manner as one could hope. Hopefully he keeps eating tons of rice; he's so skinny it's painful to watch him!
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9 comments:
I don't really understand the "quantity over quality" argument. Your team has three live players as well and is only six points back. I think you're the favorite at this point.
You and Doug are both guaranteed at least 30 points at the minimum. 2nd place is worth 30 points and 3rd place is worth 20 points. So whichever team you think has a better chance of having multiple players make the final 3 should probably be ranked in 1st.
Kinda weird...I scrolled back through the last 3-4 weeks of updates and the scores consistently suggest a three horse race... just like Thomas has been saying. And saying. Just saying. ;)
I am finally caught up from my work travel weeks.
I can't believe how in-line Rob has kept his minions, and how well that has been for both Pickett and my team scores. I do think that Phillip and Natalie are in the best place to go to the final 3, so I'm hoping a few people start to wander away from the buddy system before it's too late.
Let them eat fish!
In the offseason we may need to look at modifying the points given for second and third place. These coattail riders are driving me crazy. I mean honestly it is ridiculous that you may win this pool with a team of Philip, Ashley, & Natalie. Say those names again. Shudder.
Let's go over some highlights - your own descriptions of your team so far this season:
"A laughingstock" - 2/18. Also said "I'm not going to kid myself about it: I don't have a chance this season."
"One of them is Philip, and the others are Boston Rob minions who appear to have no brains of their own. I'm not loving my team & have decided to cheer against them from now on." - 3/7
"My team was sad before because of Phillip but now I've learned that my two female players also have bad personalities!" - 3/21
"With their powers combined this may be the most despicable team ever!" - 3/21
"The intellect of my team combined probably equals that of a 7th grader's, and they are all physically weak too." - 3/24
"Lazy, crazy, and disgusting." - 4/1
Does that sound like a team worthy of winning a pool? Of course not. Which means the pool is broken.
The idea was that we didn't simply want whoever picked the Sole Survivor to win the pool. But there really isn't any glory in a third place finish on Survivor. Second does get some actual cash, so I guess that deserves a few points. It makes sense to reward more points for winning challenges, to give them to those who actually accomplish something rather than those who suck so much the strong players bring them to the end knowing nobody will vote for them.
ARGH!! I’d just written an incredibly long response to Moon’s comment, and the website pooped out on me just as I hit “publish.” This is my recreation of those comments, though sadly they aren’t nearly as eloquent as my first batch:
Moon, just because you don’t believe that coattail riding is a legitimate strategy in Survivor – which it is – doesn’t mean that our pool is “broken.” You seem to think that only strong, alpha leaders deserve to win this game, which means that you’re missing the entire point of the game. The point is that ANYONE can win, and that there are many ways to do that.
I still think that my team is lazy, crazy and disgusting. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think they deserve to win. I think they took a rough situation – lacking brains, social skills, and athleticism – and used the tools they do have to their advantage. Instead of trying to make themselves masterful tacticians, which would have been an epic failure, they decided to be invaluable resources to others by being loyal, lazy, and obnoxious. (Some of that is because Phillip can’t help himself, but I think that a lot of what he’s doing now is on purpose.)
I also think it’s interesting that you’re commenting with the assumption that Boston Rob is going to win this season. Would you feel the same way about reducing 2nd & 3rd place points if Matt won and Rob got 2nd? Wouldn’t you feel like Rob deserved more points for that? Also, I’m pretty sure that everyone starts winning money once make the jury, which is why we started awarding more points at the jury to begin with.
Not all humans are created equal, but all humans have a chance to win Survivor. If everyone went into the game trying to do the alpha male strategy it’d be a really boring show. It’s the variety of personalities & strategies – all of which are legitimate – that make the show and our pool great.
Hahahaha!! Oh man, the evolution of Saggy Bottom Panties is hilarious to behold. Nice recap Thomas.
As a casual watcher and non member of the pool I will take a crack at the question posed by Moon:
Does that sound like a team worthy of winning a pool?
ABSOLUTELY.
Your definition of worth is 'broken', at least in regard to it's definition on the game Survivor. If we went by your definition of worth (strong, intelligent, challenge beasts)we would still find a surprising number of non-worthy Survivor winners.
You seem to be giving a lot of weight, I would say too much, to the 'outwit' and 'outplay' aspects of the game but much less to the third leg of the Survivor trinity - 'outlast'.
Michal has given a few examples of the ways in which some of her team members have made themselves 'worth' something in the context of the game. Given the history of Survivor, I would argue that not only are these strategies (coat tail riding, social dysfunction, non threatening challenge behavior)completely valid ways in which to advance but they have proven time and again to be effective actions to reach the end.
I would even go so far as to say it DOESN'T make sense to give more points for challenges (at least physical ones, which over 50% seem to be) as physicality isn't really something you can produce more of. Players who were physically dominant, like Ozzy and Yul, came into the game that way. It seems pointless to reward players for being physically stronger than other players in a game that makes no mention of physical strength as a criteria for winning.
New Topic:
As a viewer, the worth of team Saggy is incalculable! When I say the names, Phillip, Ashley, and Natalie (mostly Phillip) I too shudder. I shudder with delight! Without Phillip and Granpappy Jessum I don't know if I would even still be watching this season.
I remembered seeing some info on prize payouts from Wikipedia.
Here's the excerpt:
*Every player receives a prize for participating on Survivor depending on how long he or she lasts in the game. In most seasons, the runner-up receives $100,000, and third place wins $85,000. Sonja Christopher, the first player voted off in Survivor: Borneo, received $2,500.[14] The prize was increased for Survivor: All-Stars. The known prizes for Survivor: All-Stars were as follows: 2nd = $250,000; 3rd = $125,000; 4th = $100,000. Tina Wesson, the first player voted off in Survivor: All-Stars, received $25,000. In Survivor: Fiji, the first season with tied runners-up, the two runners-up received US$100,000 each, and Yau-Man Chan received US$60,000 for his 4th place finish.[15] The prizes for other seasons with more than sixteen contestants are unknown.
All players also receive an additional $10,000 for their appearance on the reunion show.[16]*
Good luck to the my favorite Crag this week on Redemption Island. Crag pound. Does anyone remember that show on Nickelodeon called Guts? The final obstacle was this mountain contestants had to run up called 'The Aggro Crag'?
You guys raised some good counterarguments. So after a lengthy discussion this afternoon with Wolf & Bag, I think we came to the conclusion that players should receive points for votes in the finale rather than their place. So a third place finisher who got zero votes to be Sole Survivor would get no more points than any random jury member. Deep down that was the only thing bothering me, that there shouldn't be any more reward for a zero-vote-getting third place coattail rider than the poor sap who got voted out 8th because she was viewed as a threat.
wow, best survivor blog thread EVVVVERRRR!!!!
oh yeah, and p.s. - fabio from last season is perfect case in point. he played the dumbo/coattail rider character to a T, and came out victorious.....
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