Game Changers: Episode 4

Well, most people called this one correctly, with JT being the next to go. There was still the added suspense of him having found an immunity idol at the beginning of the episode... but I think JT may have locked up being one of the dumbest winners in Survivor history when he admitted he left the idol back at camp the night he was sent home.

The Teams:

Michal & Ben "Try Harder" - 60 points

1. Tai (25 pts)
2. [Caleb (-3 pts)]
3. Sarah (15 pts)
4. Troyzan (13 pts)
5. Brad (10 pts)

Doug & Bri "Original Manbun" - 45 points

1. [Malcolm (5 pts)]
2. Zeke (15 pts)
3. Aubry (7 pts)
4. Jeff (7 pts)
5. Sierra (11 pts)

Baggadocious "Legends of the Fall" - 38 points

1. [JT (11 pts)]
2. [Tony (-4]
3. Ozzy (16 pts)
4. Sandra (6 pts)
5. Debbie (9 pts)

MoonBee "Steel Magnolias" - 33 points

1. Michaela (7 pts)
2. Cirie (13 pts)
3. Andrea (15 pts)
4. [Ciera ( -5 pts)]
5. Hali (3 pts)

Power Rankings:

1. Try Harder: I don't think Brad could have handled the Debbie explosion any better than he did. He is definitely a tribe leader for them, but the question will be how will he do with the upcoming tribal mix-up? Fingers crossed he doesn't end up in a minority with Debbie on the new tribe! The tribal swap could also be rough for Tai who is a perennial target. Hopefully he finds his next immunity idol soon before he might have to leave that camp. Sarah & Troyzan will probably be okay no matter the results of the swap.

2. Original Manbun: Sierra is proving to be quite a challenge beast, and seems like a crafty strategist as well. Zeke & Varner seem to be doing just fine right now as well, though Varner is playing the role of beta male pretty convincingly & I'm not sure if he'll ever be prepared to make moves on his own. Aubry on the other hand is constantly on the wrong side of the votes. I don't know what's going on but it seems like a) no one trusts her, and/or b) she's just straight-up playing a bad game this go-round.


3. Steel Magnolias: Hali is on the board! She finally seems to be gaining some traction, both within her alliance & on the scoreboard. We'll see how she fares in a new tribe. Andrea was unsurprisingly devastated by the early departure of Malcolm, her love interest from the last time they were on Survivor together. Michaela is the big story though. She did nothing to impress and really just made herself seem like a giant brat in tribal council. But she does now find herself under the wing of The Queen, which is a pretty good spot to be.

4. Legends of the Fall: This team has trimmed its fat, now it needs to trim its gristle. Maybe it's just me, but I forgot how completely psychotic Debbie is! It was simultaneously uncomfortable, chilling, and scary watching her reject reality so completely. It's too bad that Sandra ended up on this team. She very well could win this whole game again, but it won't help Baggadocious win this season with how bad the rest of this team is doing.


Douche of the Week:
Debbie. Her strong flavor of batshit crazy had some not-so-subtle hints of douchery as well. 

Saudade

Today I feel like something is missing from my life. After much reflection, I have narrowed the sense of saudade down to either: 1) Game of Thrones, or 2) a bag of chips.

Blog-worthy? Perhaps not. But I still felt like sharing.

Game Changers: Episode 3

So the one thing that's clear after the last 2 episodes is that there is going to have to be a significant point lead by one of the teams before we can make any confident claims in the power rankings. This season is totally living up to the reputation of its cast. There are moves, then counter-moves, and then counter-counter-moves. People are playing for the long game & the obvious threats are going down quickly.

The Teams:

Michal & Ben "Try Harder" - 47 points

1. Tai (22 pts)
2. [Caleb (-3 pts)]
3. Sarah (11 pts)
4. Troyzan (10 pts)
5. Brad (7 pts)

Doug & Bri "Original Manbun" - 36 points

1. [Malcolm (5 pts)]
2. Zeke (11 pts)
3. Aubrey (6 pts)
4. Jeff (6 pts)
5. Sierra (8 pts)

Baggadocious "Legends of the Fall" - 32 points

1. JT (13 pts)
2. [Tony (-4]
3. Ozzy (12 pts)
4. Sandra (5 pts)
5. Debbie (6 pts)

MoonBee "Steel Magnolias" - 22 points

1. Michaela (6 pts)
2. Cirie (10 pts)
3. Andrea (11 pts)
4. [Ciera ( -5 pts)]
5. Hali (0 pts)

Power Rankings:

1. Try Harder: Tai proved his high draft selection was merited with his 11^th hour idol find. Well played by him to share his find with his alliance. This crafty gardener should also do well in individual challenges, should he make the merge… and in this season nothing is guaranteed. Our top prospect at this point is looking like Brad Culpepper. He’s lost the testosterone & ego replaced them with a keen eye for outdoor decorating & a strong social game.

2. Original Manbun: Devastation! The team namesake is gone, and with his exit they’ve also lost their primary point earner. There are still some major players on this team, though, and they are down but not out. Sierra is the most impressive of the “barely remembers” who returned this season, and likely to pick up points on the way.

3.Legends of the Fall: JT is now 2 for 3 in making giant blunders on Survivor. More & more it’s becoming clear that the season he won was due primarily to his alliance with Stephen. It’s unlikely he’ll make it far. I wouldn’t be surprised if his team loses the next player – though I think it’s more likely to be Sandra than JT. Maybe that tribe will lose on purpose with the intention of taking out JT, but will turn on Sandra instead.

4.Steel Magnolias: This is the only team that’s out of the running early. How is it possible that Hali hasn’t earned any points!?! Michaela is great, but is just out of her element in a game this fast-paced. Cirie is their best bet to go far, but won’t earn major points along the way. And Andrea won’t do well as she’s too obviously fake – even Troyzan caught on!


Douche of the Week:
JT for sure.

Game Changes: Episode 2

Not a lot of time for commentary on this week's blog. See below for updated scores, power rankings, and opinion. Also the spreadsheet link should now be correct. Cheers!


The Teams:

Doug & Bri "Original Manbun" - 30 points

1. Malcolm (5 pts)
2. Zeke (9 pts)
3. Aubrey (5 pts)
4. Jeff (5 pts)
5. Sierra (6 pts)

Baggadocious "Legends of the Fall" - 27 points

1. JT (11 pts)
2. [Tony (-4 pts)]
3. Ozzy (9 pts)
4. Sandra (5 pts)
5. Debbie (6 pts)

Michal & Ben "Try Harder" - 26 points

1. Tai (6 pts)
2. [Caleb (-3 pts)]
3. Sarah (9 pts)
4. Troyzan (8 pts)
5. Brad (6 pts)

MoonBee "Steel Magnolias" - 17 points

1. Michaela (5 pts)
2. Cirie (8 pts)
3. Andrea (9 pts)
4. [Ciera (-5 pts)]
5. Hali (0 pts)

Power Rankings:

1. Original Manbun:  I don't think this episode could have gone better for this team if they'd scripted it themselves. The shift in tribes worked out great for this team, they crushed the challenge, and they earned massive sympathy points for not killing & eating a mom & baby goat. That was a super intense few minutes - Ben & I were about to hate that tribe hard if they'd decided to eat that baby!

2. Try Harder: Hopefully sacrificing Caleb will keep Tai around for longer, but I'm not convinced this was a great decision. Now Tai looks like he'll backstab anyone to get farther in the game, which isn't a huge trust-building situation. Thank goodness Troyzan got that idol! I thought he was going to wuss out & leave it behind in the challenge. And Brad is proving to be much more soft-spoken & easier to work with than anyone could have expected. Our dreg picks are looking stronger than our top tier for the moment.

4. Legends of the Fall: JT & Ozzy are both interested in making moves, though JT's move of abandoning his tribe on a fishing trip was clearly too obvious for this smarty-pants season. Still, I respect their decisions so far & they're much more in control than I expected they would be. Sandra is still a walking target, though... she's crafty & resourceful, but if she goes, it'll be tough to bounce back from being down 2 players this early.

3.Steel Magnolias: As Ben noted in comments from last week, this team will struggle to earn challenge points over the course of the season. Michaela should do well, but the others will be low producers. I'm interested to see how Cirie's new situation plays out, she has to be in a better spot than she was before. We shall see!


Douche of the Week:
Is it just me or is no one particularly douchey this season? Should we shelve the DOW this season? Tony was going to be a contender but now he's gone & Ben's got his Varner DOW lock in place, but overall it's a weak field when it comes to douchiness.

If I have to vote, it'll be JT for DOW for his weird fishing scheme. And then my other vote is to discontinue DOW until next season.

Game Changes: Draft & Ep 1

All Stars are back! This "Game Changers" season title really makes you question why they picked that name, when the likes of Hali have been included. But all the same, with that shining exception, this is a beastly season. We've already seen two giants of the game slug it out, and I expect we'll see more of that in nearly every episode this season.

I like the new rule that you can't have evenly split votes. That technique was getting pretty boring, and this is a crafty group that will be able to come up with creative work-arounds.

For the record, I'm so happy Ciera went home first. She's such a toxic personality, and I do not enjoy seeing her get screen time. I don't care that she voted her own mother out... that doesn't bother me considering what the situation actually was, people just like using that sound bite. But I don't like the way she plays the game. With her & Tony gone, this will be a far more controlled environment, and I think we'll really get to see people outwit each other in a masterful fashion.


Draft Order:

1. Michaela
2. Malcolm
3. Tai
4. JT
5. Tony
6. Caleb
7. Zeke
8. Cirie
9. Aubrey
10. Ozzy
11. Andrea
12. Sarah
13. Troyzan
14. Ciera
15. Sandra
16. Jeff
17. Debbie
18. Brad
19. Hali
20. Sierra

The Teams:

Michal & Ben "Try Harder" - 18 points

1. Tai (6 pts)
2. Caleb (0 pts)
3. Sarah (6 pts)
4. Troyzan (0 pts)
5. Brad (6 pts)

Baggadocious "Legends of the Fall" - 14 points

1. JT (6 pts)
2. [Tony (-4 pts)]
3. Ozzy (6 pts)
4. Sandra (0 pts)
5. Debbie (6 pts)

Doug & Bri "Original Manbun" - 12 points

1. Malcolm (0 pts)
2. Zeke (6 pts)
3. Aubrey (0 pts)
4. Jeff (0 pts)
5. Sierra (6 pts)

MoonBee "Steel Magnolias" - 6 points

1. Michaela (0 pts)
2. Cirie (5 pts)
3. Andrea (6 pts)
4. [Ciera (-5 pts)]
5. Hali (0 pts)

Power Rankings:

1. Original Manbun:  Malcolm & Zeke are both looking pretty good right now. Aubrey could be in a tough spot if they weren't about to switch up tribes next episode... so I guess I'll say that she's probably still in pretty good shape. Being in the minority right before a tribal switch-up usually ends up being a good thing. I think Jeff is going to go home soon. He was SO useless in that last challenge, I just don't see people tolerating that for much longer. I don't expect much from Sierra either, but she's fairly unobjectionable, so she could go far & earn decent points along the way.

2. Try Harder: The first episode went about as good as it could have for our team. None of our players stuck their necks out too far, we earned a lot of points, and most of them seem to be using sound strategy. This team has enough physicality to earn points along the way too. It's still SUPER early though, and with a tribe mix-up on the horizon (my guess is a split into 3 tribes of 6) no one is truly safe.

3.Steel Magnolias: Cirie is in trouble early. You know it's bad when even Debbie isn't really willing to work with you. Hali seems like a waste of space, and Ciera is gone (woot!), which means that Cirie needs to bounce back quickly, or this team is depending entirely on Michaela & Andrea. And even if Cirie makes it to the finals, I'm just not sure that this team has the ability to rake in big points once it gets down to individual challenges.

4. Legends of the Fall: Bag & Andrea bucked the accepted wisdom of drafting past winners, and this looks like a risk that won't pay off in the end. Especially if Sandra keeps pronouncing herself the queen to everyone. That tribe was happy to go with it for now, but that's gonna get old real fast. JT - or, as he'll be referred to from now on, Fat JT - and Ozzy are getting chummy but they'll be easy targets. I really hope that Sandra & Cirie end up on the same tribe next episode & join forces. That would be spectacular to watch!!


Douche of the Week:
Hali, just because she doesn't deserve to be on this season.