The seasons with returning castaways are always SO much more entertaining - their scheming & strategy is at just such a higher level than n00bs. So I have some pretty high expectations going into this season, and so far I have not been disappointed.
The season really kicked off with a classic Survivor Draft at Murphy's. Sadly, Bri, Bag, and Andrea had to miss it, but their presence was still felt through texting & class Bagdrea drafting gaffs.
Final stables are listed below, but overall I think it's safe to say that three of these teams are really solid. With so many stellar castaways in the competition, it was difficult to pick a bad team... especially with Bag doing such a good job to nabbing all those dreggy players early!
The draft concluded with an epic amount of prop betting, so much so that they have warranted their own page in the Survivor spreadsheet (linked to the right of this post). I'll comment about these bets in here occasionally, but feel free to check it out for the most comprehensive list of side bets! And don't let the bets stop now just because the draft is over -- it's a long season full of opportunities to wager some after dinner beverages. :)
Rule changes for the pool this season were minimal, and not worth mentioning. The big change in the show itself is that idols are now hidden WITHIN challenges rather than around camp. Which is awesome in so many ways, but best summarized by Doug: "having the audience know where it is really builds the anticipation." It definitely makes the challenges more exciting, suspenseful, and meaningful! My only concern is that they'll overdo it & the producers will end up putting too many idols into play. Hopefully not though.
The Teams:
Team names are temporary for now. Remember that you need to send me your official name via comments within the next two blog postings or you will be docked points AND be forced to keep your temp name!
Michal & Ben - "The glass ceiling": 25 points
- Tasha (5 pts)
- Kelley (5 pts)
- Stephen (5 pts)
- Kimmi (5 pts)
- Kass (5 pts)
Bagdrea - "Bagdrea is not going to win": 10 points
- Jeremy (5 pts)
- Jeff (0 pts)
- Monica (5 pts)
- Kelly (0 pts)
- Abi-Maria (0 pts)
Doug & Bri - "After-dinner beverage": 10 points
- Spencer (0 pts)
- Joe (5 pts)
- Shirin (0 pts)
- Terry (0 pts)
- Ciera (5 pts)
MoonBee - "Sans smarmy lech": 5 points
- [Vytas (-5 pts)]
- Woo (0 pts)
- Keith (5 pts)
- Savage (5 pts)
- Peih Gee (0 pts)
Power Rankings:
1. "The glass ceiling": Despite Stephen's extremely unimpressive start to the season, this episode really could not have gone better for our team. We had 4 people on the winning tribe, and our other tribe member, Kelley found a hidden immunity idol in the first episode! Kelley is looking to be a beast this season, and I'm thinking she's an early favorite to go the distance this season. Kimmi, Tasha & Kass all laid low, but it's only one episode, you can't expect everyone to find an idol in the first episode. All of them seem to be in pretty stable positions right now though, which is great.
2. "After-dinner beverage": There is still a lot of concern about Joe being an early target for elimination, but apart from that this team is looking solid. Spencer is playing a great game so far, keeping all channels open socially, but also being a strong physical competitor. Shirin is super insightful, but potentially will still come off too strong for some people - that woman is a FAST talker! Terry & Ciera aren't really worth writing home about yet, but again, it's still very early.
3."Sans smarmy lech": Vytas was the #1 overall draft pick, the player with the most prop bets made about, and the first player voted out. It was both a stunning & absolutely delightful thing to watch him get voted out... so long as you weren't MoonBee. Still, despite losing Vytas, this team is really strong. I love Woo, Keith & Peih Gee. I am quite ambivalent about Savage, but he did exceed expectation in this episode, so I'll try to reserve my judgment. Will starting off with a slimmer team be too much of a deficit to overcome this season? With 5 players on each team, I don't think so.
4. "Bagdrea is not going to win": Jeremy is solid. Jeff is the biggest threat for either a quit or medevac situation this season & is definitely freaking himself out quite a bit - after just 1 episode! This guy is in desperate need of some Joe-ga. Drafting Monica in the third round is only eclipsed in terrible draft pick choices by when Bag drafted the infamous Drewche #1 overall a few seasons ago. Kelly had a pretty terrible 1st episode & definitely has a lot of learning to do if she thinks that building a shelter is going to help her stay in this game. And then there is Abi-Maria. I don't think much needs to be said about her, except that the bet Bag & Doug have about whether she will leave the show with negative or positive points is going to be an exciting one to follow!
Douche of the Week:
Gotta go with Vytas, the smarmy lech. Under no circumstances is asking a woman how her body is feeling not super creepy when you've only known the person for one day.
7 comments:
I think our team is strong but I am regretting not taking Spencer with our first pick. I think he will go far. I underestimated how high these other teams would be on the men in this season. I think taking Spencer and then Kelley was the way to go. Tasha was probably never in danger of getting picked early. Bagdrea - was she on your radar? The other player I regret not getting, especially because of all his early airtime in the first episode, is Keith. He's a fun guy to have on your team.
The rankings are fairly interchangeable at this point but are based on episode 1 air time, normal survivor stuff (idols, strength, mentality), and my own personal biases.
Individual Power Rankings:
1 - Kelley
2 - Spencer
3 - Keith
4 - Shirin
5 - Jeremy
6 - Joe
7 - Savage
8 - Jeff
9 - Tasha
10 - Woo
11 - Kimmi
12 - Peih Gee
13 - Monica
14 - Ciera
15 - Kass
16 - Terry
17 - Kelly W
18 - Stephen
19 - Abi Maria
I'm so glad we didn't have the #1 pick this season; otherwise, I would be probably be riding the sad-bus in Moon/Bee's place with a Vytus pick. Thanks for eliminating that chance, Moon/Bee! I did not see that coming. I'm still worried about an early Joe exit, but hopefully he's making some solid alliances.
Really liked the idol in a challenge switch-up. We'll see how it continues to play out, but the first incident was fun to watch.
I'll go Jeff for my DOW. His freaking out and complaining in interviews is going to get old fast. Being an old guy is only an excuse for so long.
Oh man! this season is going to be INTENSE! Thanks for not giving us TOO much shit about Vytas' early departure. There were definitely words said to the TV last night as we were watching him dig his own grave. He was a bit too slimy for day 1.
OH WELL... kudos to the Greenbergs and all of your various new fortunes. When would you like dinner?
I second the Vytas as DoW. Yes because he was slimy but also because he just cost us a chunk of change :(
As much as I want to give DoW to Vytas for his anti #joega penile thrusts and heavy handed interaction with female tribemates, I am compelled to cast my vote for Abi Maria. She appears to have learned NOTHING from her last time on Survivor and I also want to cast a more general DoW for all the idiots who voted to put her back on the air. In a season full of superstars she stands out like a Brazilian wax at a yeti convention... in a bad way.
Ruh-roh.
Like Melissa said, thanks for going easy on us. Picking the first bustout #1 overall makes for an easy target, but instead you chose the more-deserving Bagdrea for your barbs, even ranking their team below ours! Love it.
I do think you could have opened with Spencer/Kelley/Tasha, the latter of whom was not on our early-round radar. Great start for The Glass Ceiling, but I like After Dinner Beverage best early on. More players who could win it all.
Agree with Wolfy's analysis and pick of Abi-Maria for DoW. The over/under on weeks I wouldn't pick an eligible Kass for DoW was only 1.5, so good on her.
I'm with Ben about the "home viewers" who picked Abi to come back! Really? I'd like to know if that's true or Survivor just needed another crazy person to add drama.
I might also give DOW to the camera person/director who thought the best view when interviewing Abi was of the underside of her thighs!
Geez - glad I wasn't there at the dinner this time! Pickle for DoW.
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