Survivor 38: Edge of Cancellation - The only winning move is not to play.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Survivor 38: Edge of Cancellation - The only winning move is not to play.

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Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

ApplesandOranges posted:

A reminder that players won't know EoE exists until the merge, so chances are pretty good Joe will stick around til probably the vote or two before the merge since challenge strength. Then 'better stop him before he goes on an immunity streak'.

It seems like the kind of twist Jeff might announce at the top of the show, during "mat talk" for instance. Has it been said it's gonna be a surprise?

# ¿ Feb 14, 2019 17:49

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 00:26

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

It's that type of challenge where everyone has like an idol or something else that represents their life in the challenge, and which can withstand three whacks. You suffer three whacks and your thing falls or gets smashed or whatever and you're out of the challenge. In this instance it was a "coconut chop." (I don't remember what that was exactly, but imagine maybe like a net holding a bunch of coconuts, supported by three ropes. The coconuts fall to the ground when you have all three support ropes chopped, and you're out of the challenge.) Probst does different rounds of questions, and each player that gets it right gets to chop one of someone else's rope.

So when they get the questions right, the majority alliance quickly knocks all the outsiders out of the challenge, of course. Then they all go in order systemically chopping down their own alliance members' ropes -- transparently in the order of the internal hierarchy! The people on the bottom got a wake up call and went on to join up with the people outside the alliance to take power. Basically the people running the show (the Rotu 4 led by John the nurse) betrayed themselves with their hubris, and it was the first time on Survivor ever people really "flipped" on their alliance.

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Feb 16, 2019

# ¿ Feb 16, 2019 00:00

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

ApplesandOranges posted:

The coconut chop challenge is like the loved ones visit where sometimes the best move is not to win.

It's a bit of a shame that the challenges have become a lot more streamlined so we don't get the goofy fun challenges anymore like the mixer and 'answer a bunch of questions about the spooky story Probst made up'.

I remember kind of recently in Cambodia they had that kind of challenge. It was fun. They had to run to different stations and pick an answer to a question. Fishbach picked a wrong answer and Abi Maria copied him then he was like "whoops" and changed his answer and went on to win the reward

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 17:32

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I love the show but i do get mad when the producers do dumb poo poo to screw up The Beautiful Game. I'm always excited for a new season though, even if i can already tell a twist is gonna be dumb

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 23:24

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

My Survivor gossip is off because I thought Sierra was dating Mike Holloway.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 17:00

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Oh yeah that's right, thank you.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 19:22

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I think Keith could've hung on longer for sure if only he hadn't sucked so bad at challenges, it was a deft if soulless move the way he knifed Reem, but ""Wardog"" made a good point on Kelley being a good person to have next to you in a swap situation. That poor trio of Reem/Keith/Wendy can't catch a break outside of wendy's ankle

SLICK GOKU BABY posted:

Doesn't actually matter. Idol is hers.

no it's not because it's not in her possession. If someone somehow dug it up it'd be theirs

blue squares posted:

Strong second episode up until the total wet fart of an ending. I complain about this 8 times per season but I just hate the editing misdirection for the sake of creating an "exciting" tribal vote read. David and his nerd friend changing their mind was not even explored so it was just a random "yeah nah Kelly stays Keith is out."

I think it was fine... i mean they showed wardog being deadset on getting Keith out, they showed Chris was the 5th the anti-kelley plotters needed, they showed wardog talking to Chris and trying to talk him out of it and giving a confessional that he wanted Chris to change his mind but think it was his decision. They left us in suspense, obviously, but upon seeing the result, the stuff they didn't show us can easily be inferred (Chris backed off the move courtesy of """""WArdog"""" and the plan had to be dropped as a result, so everyone went unanimous onto Keith)

Zesty posted:

Piece of poo poo. Wonder if Jessica Lewis on that podcast she does will get the loving hint. Not listening to it anymore though so let me know if it�s brought up.

How do you get so mad at a woman for using the word females.?

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Feb 28, 2019

# ¿ Feb 28, 2019 18:45

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Hmm that�s interesting, i knew that story except I always thought it was taken out of his bag. my statement was from a player�s rules explanation on a podcast although I can�t remember which (either Wendell/Dom or Australian Survivor maybe?)... but I definitely heard it. It would make sense too that if you leave it out in the woods somewhere that someone else could find it. And it�d be another of the pros/cons between keeping it in your possessions where people can find it but not take it vs hiding it in the woods which would be taking it out of your possession. Now I�m unsure what the rule really is though

# ¿ Feb 28, 2019 19:26

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I dont call women "females" because of the reasons mentioned and also it just sounds weird and clinical to use in normal speech. However I dont really bristle at someone whos a woman herself over her choice to use the word, it's not as if it's a slur. Not worth policing women over imo but that's just me

Yeah I feel like I'm being slower than usual to recognize the cast despite following the preseason coverage. Eric, Aurora, Julie, Julia, and Gavin are i guess the people who have yet to make an impression. I know Julie & Julia had a brief moments last episode but the others are a real blank still. But it's early

# ¿ Mar 1, 2019 16:31

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I know Australian Survivor does it mostly because they're trying to bleed as many TV hours as they can out of their taping, but the extra time really really works in terms of introducing all the players and sharing their stories. Not sure I agree on needing more challenges though! They're an important part of the game but I feel like we get all we need out of them. Actually I think the bit where Jeff explains how the challenge works is the most skippable part of any episode, it's not like it's hard to follow along with what they're doing out there.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2019 16:53

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

Some day I have to rewatch that season because I'm pretty sure I absolutely hated that guy when I binged through.

edit: Then again the case for him is basically "Chris snapped and became a sociopathic evil serial killer in a great revenge tale" and i generally hate revenge movies. So I don't imagine I'd like him more on a rewatch. But maybe I'd respect him more.

I also didn't like him but haven't rewatched Vanuatu since it aired. As I recall he didn't figure out any of his moves on his own and had to have Twila and others spoonfeed them to him and then bumbled into a win. but i wasn't a very big fan back then and might have overlooked things

# ¿ Mar 6, 2019 17:11

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

That was a pretty interesting vote. Obviosuly Chris really hosed up telling a guy who was more loyal to Kelley that he wanted to vote out Kelley. But he probably didn't expect a guy he thought was his ally to swing the vote over to him instead of Wendy. Tough break there and doubly tough that he still had the numbers but David/Devens decided to bail once Wendy was protected and once he showed he couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut.

Probably good decision by those guys, since it keeps the tribe united going into the swap, and keeps the trusted player they wanted to save (although I'm not sure if Wendy will actually be a good ally or not). I also really like David gunning for Kelley actually, it unites him with the newbies and if there's fewer returnees out there he's less of a threat himself.

Not sure the boot makes much sense from Wardog unless sacrificing Chris was the only way to save Kelley.

Lone Goat posted:

I hope climbing that hill spends more calories than you get from the rice.

Also why not just stay at the top of the hill???

Honestly that map and hike to the food drop spot took me back to early Survivor where they had to trek out like that to find their water source. Kind of enjoyed it even though I still don't want anyone coming back into the game past the merge.

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Mar 7, 2019

# ¿ Mar 7, 2019 16:40

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Lone Goat posted:

Did anyone listen all the way through the Spencer recap on RHAP? I checked out when the son of two addicts was talking about doing mushrooms and ayuhuasca and poo poo.

Pretty weird to hear the chess-playing finance dude start talking about psychedelics and meditation but maybe being zen now is helping his crippling depression. I say maybe because he was talking about breaking down and crying for days just this past week so seems like the jury is still out but he seemed positive.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2019 23:14

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

I'm sure she's a perfectly pleasant person

Counterpoint: That Secret Scene of her and Wardog laughing their asses off at the young woman with a visibly bruised ankle

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 15:47

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Propaganda Machine posted:

Wait, how do you figure? She's coming across clumsy and tone-deaf.

She got that edit the previous episode to establish her as an underdog, and then in this episode she got a real nice hero bounce back edit that even took pains to incorporate scenes from her previous seasons of her trying and failing to find the idol to make this moment more triumphant. An idol and a swap could bail her out and keep her in the game for a good bit.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2019 18:05

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

This focus of this season is shaping up absolutely awfully so far. I've enjoyed the Extinction Island content we've gotten well enough, but that combined with one tribe losing exclusively, and there being some returnees stealing the focus, means we're several episodes in and we still have no idea whatsoever who half the cast is. This has to be the worst that's ever been, right?

They still can introduce these other players and surely will eventually but it'll just feel like t-shirt designer Brett parachuting into Samoa at the F6 if they're not properly established ahead of time. And even though I say the EI stuff has been fine so far, we all know it's going to do something incredibly stupid eventually.

STAC Goat posted:

Apparently he's just Cochran'd and asked for it.

Which in fairness, isn't nearly as desperate as telling everyone to call you "The Wardog".

Somebody posted here earlier that he actually asked to be called by his full name, "Rick Devins," which is pretty funny. I loved Rick. Sad to see him go, he got a real rough break with that swap.

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Mar 14, 2019

# ¿ Mar 14, 2019 17:30

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

The Bloop posted:

Big Wendy has actually been a challenge beast overall

I mean, she is completely batshit and unstable, obviously, but good to have on the challenge front

Yeah, exactly. It's a surprising asset to find in the first boot kook. She's already shown off her swimming but seeing her replace out a puzzle solver and win was an extra surprise. Really hope she survives to the merge, but also want this to be the end of that chicken plot

Nottherealaborn posted:

Lol at anyone who unironically likes Wendy, instead of enjoying her for being an insane Angelina, but with more self awareness.

Her motivations are not at all sympathetic and the only reasons to keep her in the game are 1) being okay at challenges and 2) being a great goat because there�s no way she gets any votes in the final 3 because her social game is terrible at best.

2) is negated completely by how unpredictable she is between her no real alliances and dumb obsession with the chickens which every episode is less driven by caring about the chickens and more driven by thinking she�s cool and badass for caring about the chickens.

I think she's not necessarily a total goat... she could be the sort of likable misfit that you end up having affection for if you fail to remove them straight off for being different. I don't actually think she does make it all the way to the end, but if she gets near I could actually see her being seen as a threat for being the lovable underdog? Not sure on this, just think it's possible

# ¿ Mar 14, 2019 17:40

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

A "pure vanilla" season might be taking it a bit far for me but I'd love them to just skip the swap once or twice, so people know they can't rely on a swap happening... I think with a cast full of decent players you'll still get action post-merge

# ¿ Mar 15, 2019 16:48

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Lone Goat posted:

the last two non swap seasons were Redemption Island and South Pacific and those were straight up pagongings after the merge. by that metric, never don't swap.

even ignoring cast issues and the RI mechanic being problems in those seasons, my take is just,

The meta has evolved so much since then.

We needed swaps more then, we don't need them anymore! I'm not saying cancel swaps, either, just throw in a no-swap season or two and see what happens and how it affects future seasons too.

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Mar 15, 2019

# ¿ Mar 15, 2019 20:16

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

All respect to online Survivor games which are a lot of fun and surprisingly enveloping and stressful, and often have friendships, blindside tribal councils, and betrayals and everything. However iIt's really hard to read those games after the fact. If you follow it live it usually makes a lot of sense, since you can read each player's confessional as it rolls out and kind of track what everyone is thinking and planning.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 22:53

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

This conversation inspired me to go check out mafiascum, where they still run these games fairly regularly, and guess what launched today? Signups for a new game!
If you're curious this is the perfect opportunity to check it out! You can sign up to watch or play

They've played a lot of games with a pool of like 50 regular players, so to keep grudges or alliances from carrying over from game to game, the seasons have themes, and players pick a character that fits that theme and play anonymously as that character. They make a custom message board and each player gets an account given to them to play from. The new game appears to be My Little Pony themed. So in this version someone could be for instance Rarity, I guess (hi Rarity!) or AppleJack or whatever, idk. I have nothing to do with this season and know nothing about MLP but themes are just flavor and don't really matter, it's still online Survivor, although if you like a theme it does add a little bit of fun to it.

link: https://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=79136

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Mar 18, 2019

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 22:57

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Yeah Lauren/Kelley and David/Devins were obvious pairs, but Wardog was pretty tight with Kelley too, which is presumably a big reason why he went that way.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 23:04

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

IcePhoenix posted:

I don't have any tattoos

i choose to believe you have a ricky rubio tattoo

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 14:49

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

mancalamania posted:

There's been some discussion on RHAP this week about the exact mechanics of how someone will return from Edge and how it'll probably just be a regular endurance challenge but that it might be cool to bring back the vote-someone-back-in mechanic from the Outcasts in Pearl Islands. It made me think that the most interesting challenge would be a hybrid of the two: bring back the coconut chop challenge (i.e. answer questions correctly to "chop" other players in the challenge, 3 chops and you're out)!

Making the re-entry a straight vote incentivizes weird strategies like purposefully wasting your vote on someone you think won't get a lot of votes, while making the re-entry a straight challenge (endurance or otherwise) will always inevitbably favor one particular body type over another which feels inherently unfair to the people without that body type that just wasted 2 weeks of their life starving on an island with nothing to do. But the coconut chop challenge combines the best of both worlds: no one body type is favored, having social capital is worth more than anything else, and it plays out in real time (so you don't get the weird thing where 3 people throw their vote away on Lillian and she wins a slim plurality of the votes and comes back). Bring back the chop!

This would be a lot of fun. Whatever they do id much prefer if it has some voting (by parchment or by chop) involved.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 14:54

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Still laughing the next morning at Wardog�s throwing lmao

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 14:38

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Lauren is slowly dying, David is a scrawny nerd, Kelley is concussed, and wardog is more embarrassing than all of them haha

Tbh I think Lauren and Kelley are the top two challenge competitors out of the 4.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 16:42

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I'm still curious about after Chris blabbed to Wardog and the whole plan got out, whether David/Devens would have voted out Wendy if the target hadn't shifted to Chris. Like in a way Chris might have been the guy both sides could compromise on, but idk, maybe the whole thing was dead as soon as Chris leaked it and idol possibilities came into play

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 22:49

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Vernacular posted:

Overplaying was definitely an issue (specifically by Kelly, Wardog and Chris...I think David is playing an underrated game this season), but to chalk up the majority of their failures to anything other than horribly uneven original tribes followed by the most unfavorable tribeswap scenario possible feels like an exaggeration.

The garbage tribe has been good for David and Kelley... screwups like Reem, Keith, and Wendy kept them safe and let them get tight with the semi-functioning members of the tribe. Meanwhile Aubry and Joe have just been dead people walking all along because their tribe is full of normal humans that don't urgently ne ed to go home

# ¿ Mar 22, 2019 15:34

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

I think Joe's a huge edge but that's why there's puzzles and "everyone has to be on the mat" stuff. Someone like Joe can win some comps single handily but not every one.

Exactly. However while Chris was a monster at the physical part of the challenges and he maybe could give Joe a run for his money there, Joe is a puzzle beast too. And when we get to post-merge he's also a stud at the balance challenges

# ¿ Mar 22, 2019 15:38

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

midseason even!

# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 17:39

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Kelley talks to Joe, he says he doesn�t feel good about his spot on the tribe, that the only one he can trust is Aurora. If he and Aurora were to flip they�d have the numbers with Lesu. That doesn�t happen for some reason, Kelley starts targeting Devins, and Joe�s tribe immediately votes him out. Somebody screwed this up!

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 02:01

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Rarity posted:

I'm starting to think the reason Wentworth has spent her entire Survivor career playing from the bottom is because she's actually just bad at Survivor. She (and David) got served a complete lay-up here and they totally whiffed it.

The only thing I can think of is that at the end of Kelley's conversation with Joe, he told her "nah sorry I'm not flipping, I just can't, I want to work with you but I'm voting with Kama this vote" and the editors just didn't want to show it. Would justify a lot of what Kelley did after that

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 15:13

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I have to say voting Joe out was a pretty poor decision though. The players now know about Extinction Island, so they know blindsiding a challenge threat isn't even necessarily taking them out of the game. Therefore they should be prioritizing keeping strong numbers well above targeting challenge threats, yet voting out Joe and blindsiding Aurora does the opposite. I have to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for that crew.

nerox posted:

I watched Survivor late last night and am real confused why they added a new contestant, Aurora, at the merge.

Aurora still is pretty anonymous even after last night, although we knew that for some reason she was a fellow outcast at Kama with Joe and Aubry. I still think Gavin and Eric are the most invisible, just completely unshown. I just shocked myself by even knowing Eric's name.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 15:27

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

I don't blame Joe for losing his original Kama tribe... Those guys just gelled together and had no time for their returnees. I do blame Joe for not immediately flipping at merge. He knew he was being iced out and he knew Aubry had been voted out last vote. He probably could've even squeezed a deal with Kelley/Lauren for them to keep him longer than David/Devins

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 19:25

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

There will be more opportunities to vote him out! Why blindside Aurora and vote off one of your own when it's putting you in a potential 6-6 situation... just to prevent Joe from winning a couple reward challenges?? You're more scared of Joe being super strong because he ate some Survivor pizza than you are of losing the numbers and being voted/idoled out?

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 22:30

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

What do y'all think about how Devins played that broken idol thing?

Seems like it worked out ideally for him. He and David both survived and now he has the full idol. However I think clearly the intention was that he'd walk up to someone with the numbers (someone from Kama in this case, probably Julie), show them the thing, and then give them half, and promise them the other half if they keep him around. They definitely would in that case, right?

Vernacular posted:

You are crazily underestimating the importance of weakening the biggest immunity threat by subjecting him to significantly worse living and eating conditions.

They get some rice, just like the full players do. They have some kind of fishing gear and Joe can catch himself some fish and then even do the Survivor MacGyver thing and build himself a palace. I don't think Joe's gonna waste away out there, even if he misses the Survivor pizza etc.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 15:36

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Casual fans love Joe, Jeff loves Joe, guys like Joe are why Jeff created the Fire 4 previously, guys like Joe are why they're doing Extinction Island this time, it's all about keeping the island boy archetype that casuals and Jeff love in the game and giving them a chance to win. Thankfully I expect Extinction is just a one-time thing because they're permanently in Fiji so they're playing with lots of different themes and gimmicks to differentiate the seasons.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 18:15

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

It's a huge gamble. If Rick had gone to one of the Kama they easily could have ratted him out and said "we have to get him out before he gets an idol".

But he literally can't get the idol against your wishes because he's giving you half of it. You have nothing at all to lose and an idol to gain!

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 19:56

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

A Typical Goon posted:

Doesn't the idol only go to Devins? I don't get how it was supposed to benefit him at all. If he gives the idol to someone he doesn't 100% trust already he is only increasing his own target, they'll make sure he gets out to keep the idol from him. I don't see how Rick getting an idol helps Kama at all. It seems like production basically forced him back with his old allies that already voted him out

This season is really loving bad. Productions hand is way too obvious and the EoE is just a complete time waste

Unless I'm misunderstanding it, the idol doesn't really go to anyone. If Devins and someone else each have half of it for that TC (which is required for it to activate), then that's just it: they each have half of a now activated idol. But only half, so one of them has to willingly hand their half over for it to be completed and used, and either one can do that or refuse to do it. That means Devins is no risk at all to Kama if he spills the details to them and gives them one of the pieces, because they don't have to give it back, but he could promise his piece to them if he's still in the game after that TC, thus ensuring his safety for one round and avoiding a revolving door situation.

STAC Goat posted:

But Rick has no way of knowing who those people are, what their alliances or game plans are, or how that will play out. He's never even met those people. So yeah, a Victoria or Ron might totally see it that way. Or Julie in hindsight seemed like someone who might have been amenable to that kind of thing. But pick someone who wants to be loyal to their people or has a plan that doesn't include you or whatever and you threw it all away.

It's a gamble because you can't just assume everyone will think like you do. I mean, Rick of all people knows that with memories of Wendy and most of his friends currently selling him down a river. So I get why he picked the one person he knew probably wouldn't gently caress him. Even if I agree that there were probably potentially much more interesting and useful ways he could have played it. But he had almost zero information to make a decision like that on.

Yeah, I'm just trying to glean if there was an actual canon intended way to use it the producers had in mind when they designed that power. I do think the idea was he could what I described above, getting his foot in the door and not being immediately sent back out. The fact that he got to stay while only sharing the idol with a trusted ally is obviously a better outcome for him, of course, though that wasn't without risk.

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Mar 29, 2019

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 22:27

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 00:26

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

That is - incidentally - my reason for thinking Joe was the wrong vote. For whatever reason Joe and Aurora were on Team Kama. So it just makes sense to me to use that and take apart Lesu and any threat of a majority coup forming. If they had gone after a Lesu then theoretically they retain their 8-4 advantage into next Tribal hoping Joe and Aurora don't wise up and start playing better to make it 6-6. But now they've betrayed Aurora and given her and the rest every reason to make that 6-6 happen if they can get their heads out of their asses. No squinting or EoE stuff. Just numbers.

This is exactly my thought, and there's another big factor that amplifies the importance of that 8-4 advantage: idols. No one in the Kama 6 has an idol, and none of them has heard anything about the whereabouts of any idols. Obviously they have no way of knowing the other side has three of them, but they do know the Lesu folks have on their roster:
David, who found multiple idols his previous season
Kelley, who found multiple idols her previous season
The Wardog, a bodega-level Tony clone

From where the Kama 6 stand:
There's 6 of them, and they just blindsided a total of 6 people, and 3 of those people have idols. That could be fine, but that's not exactly a pristine outlook. There could be 8 people still in their alliance and only 4 people outside it. Not saying a 4-4-4 vote split is a walk in the park but at least they'd have that option, which would strengthen their position when it comes to controlling the votes.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 22:49

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Survivor 38: Edge of Cancellation - The only winning move is not to play.

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