Cambodia: Draft & Episode 1

Former Survivor castaways have returned... and so has the mighty Survivor Pool!

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

1. Tasha (5 pts)
2. Kelley (5 pts)
3. Stephen (5 pts)
4. Kimmi (5 pts)
5. Kass (5 pts)

Bagdrea - "Bagdrea is not going to win": 10 points

1. Jeremy (5 pts)
2. Jeff (0 pts)
3. Monica (5 pts)
4. Kelly (0 pts)
5. Abi-Maria (0 pts)

Doug & Bri - "After-dinner beverage": 10 points

1. Spencer (0 pts)
2. Joe (5 pts)
3. Shirin (0 pts)
4. Terry (0 pts)
5. Ciera (5 pts)

MoonBee - "Sans smarmy lech": 5 points

1. [Vytas (-5 pts)]
2. Woo (0 pts)
3. Keith (5 pts)
4. Savage (5 pts)
5. 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.

Episode 13 - Another one bites the dust

The last alliance has now officially imploded. Everyone is playing their own individual game now. Even with Mike still being a target. Carolyn and Dan both played the last "advantages" that were left. I'm guessing there are no more hidden immunity idols. Safety can only be found in immunity challenge wins.

With Dan out, Jennicide has to sit idly by and watch a potential pool winner pass them. There should be enough points for this to happen. Jury points alone are up to 16, 17, 18 (if a final 2), so LOAP and Maximillion, each with 2 players left, should pass Jennicide (as long as no negative points are applied). 

The 2-horse pool race most likely won't be close either. I can't see a situation that either Mike or Carolyn don't make the final. And either should win over any of the other 3. The only way Will and Sierra might earn challenge points is if someone else "shares" with them. Rodney's only points will most likely be DoW points. And Jacked for a Reason is too far behind for a lucky Rodney win to matter. 

A final race between Mike and Carolyn should be great to watch. I don't know who will pull it off and I hope they both make the final. I'd like to see their arguments to the jury. The pool winner seems much more clear. Quite the comeback for Maximillion with the 7th and 14th picks of the draft! 

      

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

AndBag: "Maximillion" - 83 points

1. [Max (2) - 3 pts] - out 3rd 
2. Carolyn (7) - 41 pts 
3. [Lindsey (10) - -1 pts] - out 2nd 
4. Mike (15) - 40 pts 

Michal & Ben: "Jennicide" - 109 points

1. [Shirin (4) - 30 pts] - out 9th 
2. [Jenn (5) - 41 pts] out 8th
3. [Joaquin (11) - 8 pts] out 4th 
4. [Dan (14) - 30 pts] out 11th

Moon & Melissa: "Livin' On A Prayer" - 83 points

1. [Joe (1) - 42 pts] out 7th
2. [Kelly (8) - 9 pts] out 5th 
3. Will (12) - 15 pts 
4. Sierra (13) - 17 pts

Doug & Bri: "Jacked for a Reason, Bro" - 65 points

1. [Tyler (3) - 37 pts] out 10th
2. [Hali (6) - 20 pts] out 6th 
3. Rodney (9) - 13 pts 
4. [Nina (16) - -5 pts] out 1st

Doug's Power Rankings:

This is the most clear the ranking has been the whole season.  

1. Maximillion 
2. Livin' On A Prayer 
3. Jennicide 
4. Jacked For A Reason

Douche of the Week:

Rodney again. He's still bitching about not getting

rewards instead of just trying to win a reward. 

Episode 12 - 0.0000% chance...

Well, Rodney summed it up nicely and provided the title for this post. Jacked for a Reason is donzo. Drawing dead. GG. Losing Tyler was a fatal blow. Everyone else is still going strong though.

Mike caused quite the ruckus last episode. The teams tried to ignore it through the reward challenge. And were distracted by Rodney's whining about not getting squat on his b-day. But ultimately, Carolyn is deciding people's fate, and just like she denied Rodney's b-day reward request, she denied Jacked for a Reason a chance to finish in the pack for this season's pool. The alliance major had to finally cannibalize itself. 

Tyler was too much of a threat. He wasn't disliked by anyone. He was smart strategically. He couldn't quite win immunity, and as soon as the rest of the alliance needed to pick one of their own, he was a juicy choice. 

Carolyn, meanwhile, is deftly making decisions and including just those that she needs at the time. Now no one even knows that she still has an idol, and she is a swing vote to pretty much all the remaining players. Oh, and she is winning immunity challenges. Pretty impressive. Who will she take to the end with her though? 

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

AndBag: "Maximillion" - 63 points

1. [Max (2) - 3 pts] - out 3rd 
2. Carolyn (7) - 29 pts 
3. [Lindsey (10) - -1 pts] - out 2nd 
4. Mike (15) - 32 pts 

Michal & Ben: "Jennicide" - 94 points

1. [Shirin (4) - 30 pts] - out 9th 
2. [Jenn (5) - 41 pts] out 8th
3. [Joaquin (11) - 8 pts] out 4th 
4. Dan (14) - 15 pts 

Moon & Melissa: "Livin' On A Prayer" - 81 points

1. [Joe (1) - 42 pts] out 7th
2. [Kelly (8) - 9 pts] out 5th 
3. Will (12) - 13 pts 
4. Sierra (13) - 17 pts

Doug & Bri: "Jacked for a Reason, Bro" - 65 points

1. [Tyler (3) - 37 pts] out 10th
2. [Hali (6) - 20 pts] out 6th 
3. Rodney (9) - 13 pts 
4. [Nina (16) - -5 pts] out 1st

Doug's Power Rankings:

This Survivor season's power rankings are about as reliable as Doug (me) posting up the blog promptly after an episode. 

1. Maximillion - Catching up in points fast with Carolyn winning immunity and Mike correctly playing his idol. Arguably they have the TWO favorites to win. 
2. Jennicide - No change from last week. 
3. Livin' On A Prayer - Sierra won 2 points, but Will lost them right back. The only thing that might bump this team to 2nd is that the jury points increase each week. 
4. Jacked For A Reason - Rodney... 

Douche of the Week:

Rodney gets my vote for his b-day temper tantrum. 

Other news: 

We get to vote for returning contestants for next season - http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/second-chance/

(you have to sign up for an account, lame)

Episode 11 - Who doesn't like cheeseburgers?

Soooo, this post is going up a little late. Sorry about that. Life... 

I'll do better this week. The blog for tonight's episode will go up by Thursday night (tomorrow) so get your comments in quick on this one.  

I'm keeping this episode's blog to the good stuff, but here's a quick recap since most of you watched the episode a full week ago. 

We start of with Dan claiming that he has some plans brewing and is going to be making moves. Will and Shirin are still beefing. The reward challenge divides up the teams. It's insignificant to the pool because each pool team has a tribe member on each reward challenge team. Tyler, Dan, Carolyn, and Will win the reward by taking their time and not powering through the barrel / plank / balance challenge. They win cheeseburgers and a ride on a boat. Rodney still hasn't been on the winning side of a reward. 

Sierra tells everyone back at camp that Tyler is going to win. Rodney says that he is running the show and Tyler is not a threat. 

The immunity challenge is a weight/endurance challenge with 25% of a person's weight spooled onto a rope that they have to keep spooled. I found it interesting that they based the weight off the contestant's beginning weight and not their day-of weight. Slight advantage to those that haven't lost a ton of weight (and probably came in more fit overall). Jeff surprises the tribe by announcing that there will be a male and female winner. Seems fine if there were even gender numbers left, but it's 5 male and only 3 female. Better odds for the ladies. Producer influence or pre-set coincidence? 

In a huge step forward for Maxahalfmillion, Carolyn and Mike both win adding 12 quick points to AndBag's total. Sierra was first out, so she earned a negative point. Rodney's dedication to the gym didn't pay off for this one. 

Shirin does her best to scramble back at camp but seems to be the target regardless. Tyler ends up reading Dan's extra vote advantage and shares with Carolyn. Note to any of us that could eventually end up on the show: hide your clues away from camp and not in your bag!  Tyler revels in the fact that Dan seems very loyal. 

Tribal: Hali was definitely hungover for this one. The no-collars must be partying it up at Ponderosa. Dan tries to poorly compare being adopted to domestic abuse and Will won't apologize for being mean to Shirin last episode. 

Then (what I thought was a GREAT PLAY, and I hope to hear your thoughts on it), in a last ditch effort to save Shirin, Mike reveals, before the vote, that he has an idol and will be playing it for Shirin. This is key, because he says that Shirin will vote for Tyler, and he will vote for one of the remaining 5, to be unnamed. 1st, this calls Tyler out as a threat and gives potential opportunity to remove said threat. 2nd, it puts everyone else that doesn't vote for Tyler on blast for potentially going home. 3rd, if he had convinced everyone, or mostly everyone, to not vote Shirin, and still didn't play his idol for her, him and Shirin are both in the game still and he has an idol. 

They vote with these results:

tyler -> dan 

shirin -> tyler

dan -> shirin

mike -> tyler (lied b/c he said he would vote for someone else)

will -> dan

caroline -> shirin

sierra -> shirin

rodney -> shirin

  
Shirin loses out and has to go home, but Mike still wins because now he has caused quite the shake up for this strong 6. The only downfall is that he had to reveal his idol to do it, but it seems well worth it. Tyler and Will will be in some very hot water over their "Dan" votes. Mike should be able to at least explore some new alliance cracks. He has his idol (but can he play it correctly?) and he has been crushing the immunities. 

This move, at this point in the season, with a lack of a clear favorite, would cause me to vote Mike the winner if he can make it to the end. Still lots to happen, but I applaud this move. Nicely done, Mike. Way to never give up and cause as much trouble as possible when you're on the outs.  

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

AndBag: "Maximillion" - 43 points

1. [Max (2) - 3 pts] - out 3rd 
2. Carolyn (7) - 21 pts 
3. [Lindsey (10) - -1 pts] - out 2nd 
4. Mike (15) - 20 pts 

Michal & Ben: "Jennicide" - 94 points

1. [Shirin (4) - 30 pts] - out 9th 
2. [Jenn (5) - 41 pts] out 8th
3. [Joaquin (11) - 8 pts] out 4th 
4. Dan (14) - 15 pts 

Moon & Melissa: "Livin' On A Prayer" - 81 points

1. [Joe (1) - 42 pts] out 7th
2. [Kelly (8) - 9 pts] out 5th 
3. Will (12) - 15 pts 
4. Sierra (13) - 15 pts

Doug & Bri: "Jacked for a Reason, Bro" - 51 points

1. Tyler (3) - 23 pts 
2. [Hali (6) - 20 pts] out 6th 
3. Rodney (9) - 13 pts 
4. [Nina (16) - -5 pts] out 1st

Doug's Power Rankings:

This Survivor season's power rankings are about as reliable as Doug (me) posting up the blog promptly after an episode. 

1. Maximillion - Big point leap this episode. Both players have an immunity idol. Potential for final 3 and winner in both Carolyn and Mike. Biggest potential to win points by a long shot.   
2. Jennicide - They have a slight point lead over LOAP (which immediately disappears with jury points going to Will or Sierra), but Dan has the potential to win more points than Sierra and Will IMO. Jennicide and LOAP will be racing next to each other right down to the end. 
3. Livin' On A Prayer - Placed here for the reasons above. 
4. Jacked For A Reason - Tyler can't seem to win immunities and we are way back on points. Tyler also seems to be a threat to most of the others as soon as a clear target is no longer available. 

What do you think?

Douche of the Week:

Not a ton of options this week. I'm giving my vote to Will for not apologizing to Shirin for his off the handle comments from last week. Jeff gave him the opportunity. He denied. The hate runs deep, but he looks like a Douche on national TV because of it. 

Dan certainly seems to be a reasonable option as well for his adoption comparison. I feel like we didn't hear his whole story, but what we did see made him seem pretty douchey. 

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.    

Episode 9: The Controversy of Maximillion

The pool's landscape is rapidly changing from week to week. Two weeks ago we were first in Doug's power rankings and now we're clearly in last place. Last week's first place A to Z team has slipped to third after an unfortunate negative-scoring week, DouBri is in the mix despite a recent loss and a negative player and the Greenbergs top the list despite one of the shakiest non-Sanders, non-Richey drafts in pool history.

Power Rankings:

1. Jennicide - 55 points
1. Shirin - 13
Say what you want about Shirin (and virtually all the other castaways do, and they're not nice things), but she plays hard. For the first time, it appears that Shirin may actually have a shot at winning it all - 60% because of her scrappy performance and 40% because she could get to a Final Tribal with other disliked players. Last week she was listed in the "Hopeless" category, so that's a huge step.
2. Jenn - 25
Jenn is either going to go down as a disappointing character or as a heroic one. If she can summon everything she's got and get through at least one more episode she'll be remembered for her tenacity and resiliency. If she quietly bows out without a fight she'll be the girl who wanted to leave, who all Survivor fans revile because it's such a rare privilege to be a castaway. It's hard to imagine her actually winning at this point, even though the first two jury members would give her their votes. Shirin is now Team Jennicide's #1 horse.
3. Joaquin - 8
4. Dan - 9
On a week with unclear options, I'll go with Dan as my Douche of the Week. Which reminds me - I have not edited the spreadsheet because mine is view only. I have just been updating on here.

2. Jacked For A Reason, Bro - 43 points
1. Tyler - 19
The question remains for the Big Man and Mama C - can they eventually flip a couple Blues against each other? Or will they link up now with Jenn, Will and Shirin and take out the Blues from here on out?
2. Hali - 20
3. Rodney - 9
Rodney's fantastic impressions were especially entertaining because they came from such an unlikely source. At the end of the day though, Rodney is still a douche that no one will vote for.
4. Nina - -5 

3. Maximillion - 19 points
1. Max - 3
2. Carolyn - 11
Carolyn didn't accrue any points this episode, leaving Maximillion with just 22 points because
3. Lindsey - -1
4. Mike - 6
Oh no. We have the makings of a controversy here. Our rules state "Plays a fake immunity idol" is worth -10 points. Mike played it in a no-lose situation, humorously, and voted for idol-creator Joe anyway. Maximillion were already facing a huge points deficit and an unforgiving -10 would cripple their team. It seems unfair, but we follow the rules in this pool. The other thing is that A to Z won't be commenting on this matter for quite a while, as they are way behind on the show (and thus the blog). I've given Mike the -10. To further taunt A to Z, I've put their team name in the blog title for the second straight week.

4. Livin' On A Prayer - 74 points
1. Joe - 42
Jeff Probst stated the obvious when he said "Joe, for the first time since the merge, vulnerable tonight at Tribal Council." Give the Blues credit for sticking to their alliance and ousting him without incident, and give Joe the Survivor Fantasy Monster credit for hitting a five-pointer at the buzzer by creating a fake idol. The Blues may not be a brilliant crew of players, but none of them made the mistake of making moves just to make moves. We'll see if they carry it out for two more episodes and take Jenn and Will out. If that happens, that will be four straight weeks of Blues + Whites > Nos.
2. Kelly - 9
3. Will - 11
4. Sierra - 12
It doesn't seem Will has a real friend in the game. He's just playing out the string. And watching this week's episode, I actually forgot what Sierra's name was for a moment. She's invisible, except for the time she was hanging around Mike while he was talking about a "a group within our group" with Shirin. We finally have some clarity in this pool: Livin' On A Prayer is just that.

Episode 8: The Resurrection of Maximillion

Ten castaways remain, and just five have a legitimate chance of winning. Let's take a look at the remaining castaways and their chances of winning.

The Contenders
1. Mike
Each season one player falls too far in the draft because we overreact to a minor early-episode storyline. This season that player was Mike due to his abrasive obsession with physical labor. Mike outworked everyone to an idol and appears set on keeping it to himself with his BFF Kelly unfortunately ousted by Jenn's immunity idol save. Mike isn't the most popular guy around but he's the best-liked Blue left in the game. If Blue Collar sticks together, Mike's the favorite.
2. Carolyn
Sanders emerged from a one-minute tank in the second round with Carolyn, who we were salivating to take with the next pick. Mama C is sharp, popular and crafty. She's bridged the gap between Blue and White, she has an idol tucked away for a rainy day and has the best alliance in the game going with
3. Tyler
The Big Man has meticulously gained the trust of his tribemates even though the cameras constantly seem to find him in an expression of treachery. He's a patient, savvy, multifaceted player who could work a jury into his favor at the end. He and Carolyn are the true power couple of the game, but they need to find a way to penetrate Blue or shack up with the remaining Nos.
4. Jenn
5. Joe
If the remaining players played optimally, they'd finish off the Nos and then battle it out from there. But we're entering the stage of the game where players will start picturing the endgame, realizing they're on the outside looking in, and bust out some blindsides. If anyone decides to make a move (I'm looking at you, Carolyn & Tyler), they'll need voting troops.

The Hopeless
1. Will
2. Sierra
3. Shirin
4. Rodney
5. Dan
None of these players have much chance at winning. Will and Sierra rank highest because they're not as obnoxious as the bottom three, but they don't have the personality for a championship. 


Power Rankings:

1. Maximillion - 28 points
1. Max - 3
2. Carolyn - 12
3. Lindsey - -1
4. Mike - 14
A to Z was left for dead after that brutal double episode where they lost Lindsey and Max...actually, I take it back, both of the other bloggers noted that they were still in the hunt despite the one-night massacre that cut their team in half. Fast-forward three weeks and they may be the favorites. It sounds ridiculous - they have just half the points of first place MoonBee - but they're the only team with two contenders. Both their players aren't likely to pack their bags anytime soon and will eventually have opportunities to accrue bonus points with correct idol plays.

2. Livin' On A Prayer - 56 points
1. Joe - 26
2. Kelly - 9
3. Will - 11
4. Sierra - 10
Kelly's unfortunate exit, right before the jury bonus, may prove costly. She was the most likable member of the Blues and was thus wisely targeted by the Nos. Joe is a ticking time bomb who's likely to go the instant he loses an immunity challenge, leaving this team with two supporting actors.

3. Jennicide - 51 points
1. Shirin - 11
2. Jenn - 25
3. Joaquin - 8
4. Dan - 7
It's tempting to think of this team as a contender, and maybe they are in this balanced season. They're only five points back of us and their alpha dog (Jenn) doesn't have as much heat on her as ours (Joe) does. But look at this team. Literally everyone hates Dan (my Douche of the Week) and Shirin while Jenn has been pushed to the fringe of the remaining tribe. She's not a threat to quit (as the NEXT TIME ON: tried to hype), but she doesn't have many friends left. Jenn has been a producer thus far but her best days may be behind her.

4. Jacked For A Reason, Bro - 35 points
1. Tyler - 11
2. Hali - 20
3. Rodney - 9
4. Nina - -5
Hali's exit reduced DouBri to just two low-scoring players. Rodney's jacked and Tyler played in the NFL, but neither has given Joe a fight in an immunity challenge yet. Obviously everything is riding on Tyler; the question is, can he produce enough points to overcome the deficit their team currently faces? I believe so. This pool is wide, wide open at this point. It's anyone's game.