Monday, April 27, 2015

Episode 10 - Going once... Going Twice... Gone

(Nice substitute, substitute blogging in my substitute blogging absence, Thomas. Thanks for helping out and good analysis the past 2 weeks.)

Episode 10 started with an event that we look forward to every Survivor season. Will they do it this season? Will they have bad items for purchase? Will someone make out like a bandit? Will someone hold out for something amazing, only to be shut down with nothing but a worthless pile of $20s? Will the editors gloss over the details to fast forward to some player drama? 

The answer to that last question is a great big "YES". Damn you, producers and editors! Here is what I took away from the auction and how I scored it. I determined all items purchased were "good" items. I did not give any negative auction points. 

  • Will's purchase originally seemed like a negative item, but had a reward when he got back to camp, so I scored it as a "good" item. Let me know if anyone disagrees. 
  • Then Shirin bought some chicken and waffles
  • Jenn bought a bowl of colorful sugar water that assumedly had some booze in it
  • Sierra bought and consumed some kind of kabobs in less than a few seconds
  • Rodney got a steak to continue to fuel his DoS antics
Then came the family letters. I gave everyone points for these (except Will). Good Survivor knowledge by Shirin to get everyone to keep the bid low. Douchebag move by Mike, but more on that later.  

Finally, the advantage item. I only gave Dan the "good" item points since he was the only one that got the item. 

There must have been some more to the auction that we didn't see. Tyler wasn't shown buying anything but the loved one letter. Yet, he wasn't involved in the advantage item stone draw. Did he still have $480 left that he was hoping to use on something after the advantage item? Had he bought something else earlier in the auction? I guess we'll never know and I can only score what I knew for sure. So all players at least bought something and no negative points. 

Some scrambling went down at camp as surprisingly Mike was with Jenn and Shirin on the outs compared to the other 6. Mike wins immunity giving Minusamillion a point boost. The "6" did split their votes between Jenn and Shirin, but Shirin and Mike both voted Jenn as well, sending Jenn home. Mike and Shirin didn't want to leave the option on the table for the rest of the group to vote either her or Jenn out, which is probably a great play by Shirin to stay in the game that wasn't shown. All pool teams now have 2 players a piece left to earn them points. 
  

The Teams and Points:
(Parentheses indicate order players were picked) 

AndBag: "Maximillion" - 29 points
  1. [Max (2) - 3 pts] - out 3rd 
  2. Carolyn (7) - 13 pts 
  3. [Lindsey (10) - -1 pts] - out 2nd 
  4. Mike (15) - 14 pts 

Michal & Ben: "Jennicide" - 79 points

  1. Shirin (4) - 17 pts 
  2. [Jenn (5) - 41 pts] out 8th
  3. [Joaquin (11) - 8 pts] out 4th 
  4. Dan (14) - 13 pts 

Moon & Melissa: "Livin' On A Prayer" - 80 points

  1. [Joe (1) - 42 pts] out 7th
  2. [Kelly (8) - 9 pts] out 5th 
  3. Will (12) - 13 pts 
  4. Sierra (13) - 16 pts

    Doug & Bri: "Jacked for a Reason, Bro" - 49 points

    1. Tyler (3) - 21 pts 
    2. [Hali (6) - 20 pts] out 6th 
    3. Rodney (9) - 13 pts 
    4. [Nina (16) - -5 pts] out 1st


      Doug's Power Rankings:

      Still anyone's game. 
      1. Jennicide - A huge point lead and 2 scrappy players fighting to win give this team the edge. Dan's new advantage should help a little too. Although, it does seem like it is a slightly tough "advantage" to use correctly and the previews for next week show Dan in some hot water over having the advantage (and not hiding it somewhere other than his bag!). I predict at least Dan or Shirin in the final 3.  
      2. 3. and 4. The next 3 teams are all very close. Every 5 minutes I change my mind on their chances. Maximillion has the most potential to earn points and have a winner amongst the ranks, but also has the largest deficit to make up. Livin' On A Prayer has a huge point lead, but I don't see a lot of points going Will or Sierra's way and I don't see either of them winning. Jacked For A Reason resides in the middle in both of the categories. 
      I definitely want to hear other points of view on the rankings. 


      Douche of the Week:

      Two worthy candidates this week. Mike for the move at the auction and almost not putting his money down. Will for his blow up and unnecessarily personal attack on Shirin. I'm going with Will this week. Both acts were worthy, but Mike's decisions and actions stayed within the game. Will's went deeper and was unnecessary for the purposes of the game, thus he was a bigger douche in my opinion. It's kinda nice to have a new option besides Rodney and Dan.    

      6 comments:

      Bag said...

      Mike for DoW.

      He basically had three choices in that pivotal moment... 1) go with the flow and take letters from home, leave fate to rock drawing, 2) turn on the deal and solidify getting the advantage, 3) fake like he's going to betray everyone then renege. #1 is the clear best play in a game where everyone left decides whether you win or not and a betrayal of this sort would almost certainly leave him very few votes in the end. But even in #2, at least he is trying to play the game. The worst option, by far, is #3 because people lose respect for you AND you don't get the advantage.

      The massive collapse by Mike this episode makes things even more interesting. I have no idea who is going to win.

      Anonymous said...

      I vote Will for DoW. Not very nice, however annoying Shirin is.

      Melissa said...

      I agree, Will for DoW. Also, I miss Joe. Our team doesn't have a chance without him:(

      GnightMoon said...

      This is the most competitive season in the history of the pool. I gave up on every team in the pool at least once this season (Greenbergs immediately after the draft), and now we're all in the mix. It's neck-and-neck-and-neck-and-neck.

      Your rule interpretations look good to me, Doug.

      Will is DoW.

      My power rankings have proven wildly inaccurate and inconsistent but here they are:

      1. Jennicide - the blue collar tribe of this pool: they have no standout performers, but they've gotten it done as a group.

      2. Maximillion - they may need both of their players to get to final tribal to overcome the points deficit.

      3. Jacked For A Reason, Bro - they're all-in on Tyler, who could definitely win it all...as could several other players, but not Rodney.

      4. Livin' On A Prayer - nothing to see here because once Jennicide passes us, we'll have a tough time catching up...unless of course, they lose another member...

      Michal Greenberg said...

      Will for DoW. Will's actions this episode went well beyond douchey but since we don't have a "meaner/worse than being a douche" category to vote on, I'll have to give him this one instead.

      It is extremely close this season! So much fun to watch. Call me crazy, but I get the feeling now that Shirin is going to make the finals. Carolyn & Tyler are the faves to win right now, IMO, but with the points deficit on Minusamillion, I think they're out of contention. So I think Jacked for a Reason leads right now in the pool.

      TheGraveWolf said...

      I don't feel like Jennicide is in first place. Jacked for a Reason is probably the top dog at this point. But, like everyone else, I think it's really close and have no idea who will end up on top.

      I think the power rankings will become much clearer after tonight's episode.

      Like Doug, I was psyched to see an auction but also disappointed that they skipped over items.

      Miike's attempted move was so douchey and the cover up was worse.

      Will was too mean for me to consider him the DoW. He was obviously offended because his integrity was called into question and overreacted. Instead of apologizing at TC he only made it worse. Those things he said were awful. Mike was a douche. Will was something worse.