Episode 27.6

If all goes well, Survivor could be close it having its thirtieth season at some point in the near future. It would probably have all returning players. But what would the theme be? There are various guesses as to what could happen and none of them could prove to be true in the end. But here are guesses by me and other people. They could do an old school versus new school season where the players are determined by what season they originally played in. There might have to be more than two tribes in a season like that. Where does new school begin and old school end? They should have more than two tribes if they do a season like that. Borneo through Palau is one tribe. Guatemala to Tocantins is the second tribe. Samoa to the current season would be the third tribe. Many people have also talked about doing an all winners season. That might not happen with as many people as we would like or expect. But I hope that they give it a cool name like Survivor: Winner Take All instead of just Survivor: All Winners. A lot of people have wanted them to do a second chances season, but that might not happen and probably wouldn't for a landmark season like that. Plus, they could end up choosing people that have already got a second chance and get yet another one for various reasons. I wouldn't personally like that, but they could still do that and I'd still watch it if they did. They could do all runner-ups or all last voted out, but those might not happen. Smart players versus strong players or even Heroes versus Villains 2 are also in the running. Actually, I have no idea what's in the running for the potential 30^th season that might not ever even happen. It might not even be all returning players, although I'd be shocked if it wasn't. I just hope that they FINALLY bring someone from Guatemala who isn't Stephenie or Bobby Jon (simply because they aren't originally from that season, not because I don't want them to play again). There are many people that would work for a second chances season that I forgot to mention or didn't mention, but that could probably happen at some point in the future. Maybe the 35^th season will be something like that. Jeff Probst said that there were other possible ideas for the season that became Heroes versus Villains, but they could appear in future seasons. I just don't know what the three or four other ideas were. A celebrity season is unlikely in my mind, but could always end up happening. I hope that it doesn't. I've heard rumors of Jeff Probst wanting to do an all villains season. It could be all new players that are children of Survivor players. But there are lots of ideas and if you know of anything or want to mention some idea for the landmark potential season, please let me know. I highly doubt that a CBS producer is reading this, but that's always possible. I especially doubt that they would tell me what they have planned. I wouldn't mind waiting that long.

So I want Laura Morett to win Redemption Island and Brad to lose. I still don't know if a high number of confessionals is a good thing or not. Rupert got a lot of confessionals, but he didn't get very far. They might have just been showing him while they had the chance to. Are they doing that with Brad? Maybe Laura loses simply because there's no reason to focus on someone who doesn't end up winning the game and, like Marissa and Candice, doesn't come back into the game. But things change. Candice isn't on the jury this season and didn't come in the exact same place she did the first two times she played. At least she didn't flip on any sort of alliance that caused bad things to happen to her. The only bad thing that happened to her was first impressions and losing a very close duel on Redemption Island. A record three people this season never went to tribal council and that might not even count since they all did when they played in previous seasons. Will Ciera switch with her mother on Redemption Island? It's always possible. I do wonder if Rupert will be the only person who ever does that. I also wonder when any of the pairs will be completely out of the game. That is going to happen at the final nine, if not sooner. Also, why has nobody found the hidden immunity idol? The only season I can think of where an idol has gone this long without being found was Guatemala and that's simply because they didn't introduce that twist until after the merge. Parvati knew she was supposed to give it back after the TV guide interview, right? She made it for the other players and not herself. Besides, the producers would make sure that there is an idol in the game. They don't give clues to it for no good reason, do they?

It's official. There's going to be a tribe swap this episode. This may help with the idea that they wanted blood pairs versus water pairs in this season originally. But we don't know if they'll make sure that people with loved ones aren't on the same tribe or if they will just do a random swap. This will be the first time that they do a tribe swap in a season with Redemption Island and that means that whoever is on the island will be excluded from the swap, which is more or less a first (although earlier in the season might have counted when Rupert switched with his wife. I don't consider that to be a full-fledged tribe swap, though). I know that the twist challenge that brought the tribe swap in Guatemala was without certain members of the tribe present (and that was the point, since everyone except for one person on one tribe and two people on the other tribe were switching tribes and the two from each tribe that were gone were staying on their original tribes). I should rank the tribe swaps in a future blog post sometime. I still don't know if we have to wait until the merge for people on Redemption Island to reenter the game or not. I'll be sure to post the new tribes in this paragraph, so stop reading it now before I mention it. Katie and Tina, Kat and Hayden, as well as Aras and Vytas are the only pairs left that aren't on Redemption Island. Will any of them wind up on the same tribe? I wonder if they waited to do the tribe swap until after both tribes had gone to tribal council. I wonder the same thing about the first tribe swap in Survivor: Gabon. I am annoyed that they will probably never do it the way it appeared the first time again. It seemed like it might happen in Samoa, but that turned out to be a do-it-yourself challenge.

I wonder if the trip swap will affect which tribe wins challenges for a while. Typically, only one tribe wins immunity after a tribe swap in seasons where new players fight against returning players and possibly other seasons as well. So hopefully that doesn't end up happening again, since that is too predictable. Despite the fact that the new players have only won one challenge, more returning players have been eliminated from the game. None of them had gone to tribal council. Candice was voted out after first impressions, which I don't count as a real tribal council. Colton quit the game. Rupert switched with his wife who was voted out and sent himself to Redemption Island. Only two new players have lost Redemption Island and two returning players have also lost. I do wonder if more than one person will get back in the game through that twist. Will the swap have equal numbers on each tribe or will it be done a different way? SPOILER ALERT! The new Tadhana: Ciera, Hayden, Gervase, Aras, Tyson, and Caleb. The new Galang: Monica, Tina, Katie, Vytas, Kat, and Laura Boneham.

Most people probably wouldn't care about this, but in the second season of the Philippine version of Survivor, they had a twist that was like Redemption Island. That version had a tribe swap in it and the occupant of the island ultimately came back into the game and didn't get voted out immediately. In fact, she made it all the way to the final tribal council (like Lillian did, thanks to the outcasts twist) only to become the runner-up. She only lost by one vote and not in a landside. I really hope that whoever wins Redemption Island doesn't get voted out all over again. It reminds me of in Big Brother when evicted houseguests get back in the game due to a twist and get evicted the next chance. Only Judd of the most recent season didn't get evicted again (immediately at least) and neither did those who won Head of Household. Ozzy won immunity when he got back in the game in South Pacific and was almost given the necklace by another player (this unaired event was mentioned by the person who considered doing that before realizing that if he did that, he would probably get voted out instead and he decided against doing it. Guess he should have kept it a secret like Jenna Morasca did because she gave it up and didn't get voted out. Wikipedia has a link to this in their synopsis for that season) but he was ultimately voted out the first time he didn't have it. When the two outcasts got voted back into the game, they had automatic immunity at their first tribal council. I wonder why they don't do that with the people who come back from Redemption Island, or, at least the first returnee at the merge. But enough of my ramblings.

Laura Boneham was glad that she survived tribal council, although she is getting a bit cocky about her feelings about it. The coconut bandits (not sure if they are an alliance or not) talked about getting rid of Aras who is considered the ringleader. Will he suffer the same fate as Brad?

In the next segment of the show, the duel happened and things got emotion with Laura Morett and her daughter Ciera. They did not swap places. The challenge seems fairly simple. Laura Morett wins the challenge and Brad loses it. Brad is finally out of the game. So don't make big moves too fast. Once again, they show the entertaining player while they have the chance too. Besides, he should have lost the last duel anyways. Also, Vytas gets the clue and burns it before using it. It's become the same curse it was in Gabon when the ten players threw it into the sea, only no player has it yet. I'm wondering if nobody will find the immunity idol this season.

In the next segment of the show, the swap happened. As usual, we get used to the new tribes. One is all men except for Ciera and the other is all women expect for Vytas. Only one pair (Tina and Katie) get to play the game together on the same tribe right now. Yep. Spoilers are accurate, since they more or less showed it in the promos. Tina is glad that she gets to play with her daughter and Vytas isn't all that thrilled with being on a tribe of all women or just not being in control anymore. Tyson is stirring up trouble, which is typical to his character.

In the next segment of the show, people get serious on Galang. There is praying and hopefully they don't turn into nuts like they did in South Pacific. The immunity challenge happened next. The reward is a picnic. Laura Boneham and Tina messed up the challenge by forgetting to bring the trap back when they swam back out for it. This makes me think that Tadhana will probably win the challenge. Poor Laura Boneham might get voted out again. Galang almost pulled a come from behind. They were wrong and prematurely cheering their win. Will Vytas get voted out since he is literally the odd one out and people don't like doing the obvious votes anymore? Laura Boneham has still never spent time on what could have been her real tribe.

In the next segment of the show, Tina was sorry for the huge opening mistake that probably cost them the challenge. Kat talks about Monica possibly getting out of the game. Would the women really want to get rid of another woman? The last time the women failed to vote out a man, that man went on to win the game. But that was 18 seasons ago. Monica might get voted out because she is talking too much strategy. Monica now wants to get rid of Kat. Strangely, neither Tina or Laura Boneham appear to be on the chopping block. A lot of drama appropriately unfolded at tribal council. I have the feeling that the obvious vote might never happen this season. The person voted out was Kat for causing too much drama in the game by trying to shake things up. Hopefully, the women won't regret getting rid of Vytas. I'm sure that Yasur regretted never getting rid of Chris. Poor Kat got blindsided again.

On the next Survivor, Vytas is making new friends and things don't look well for his brother. His brother getting out might be too obvious, but that might not happen. I do wonder when a merge will happen and how many people will return from Redemption Island.

Confessional counts of players on Redemption Island: Brad- 16, John- 11, Laura Morett- 6. Confessional counts of players in the game: Laura Boneham- 7, Katie- 4, Monica- 10, Ciera- 8, Kat- 8, Hayden- 7, Gervase- 6, Tina- 6, Tyson- 11, Caleb- 9, Aras- 11, Vytas- 13. New confessionals this episode: Katie- 0, Monica- 2, Ciera- 0, Kat- 4, Hayden- 1, Gervase- 2, Tina- 2, Tyson- 4, Caleb- 1, Aras- 2, Vytas- 3, Laura Boneham- 2; Brad- 0, John- 0, Laura Morett- 0.

Not really sure what else I can say I look forward to in the future episode besides the usual. I hope that it continues to be good. I'm a little disappointed in the tribe swap, but China still has the worst one of any season. Hopefully, the next episodes and whatever they have in store are good as usual. Will the game make more sense? Would someone finally bite the apple, as it's called, and find the freaking hidden immunity idol? How annoying would it be for it to not appear in this season? That would make this the first season since Palau to not have the hidden immunity idol and I have to wonder what episode this season would have to be at to beat Guatemala's informal record of longest time without an idol in the game. Every idol from Panama to Caramoan has been found premerge. The first season with Redemption Island had someone finding the idol on day 2! I just don't understand why nobody would want that sort of power. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 27.5

A lot of Survivor contestants are known to have stirred the pot. Some are quite good at it. In the first season, Richard stirred it quite a lot and mastered the art so well, he won the game because of it. Sue also stirred the pot by making her famous speech. Stacey stirred some pots after the show by suing it. Keith stirred the pot a lot in the second season and got far because of it. Lex stirred pots in the third season and so did Teresa which caused him to do it. Boston Rob was a memorable pot stirrer in every season he was in except maybe his third appearance. Brian was very good at stirring the pot in his appearance in the fifth season. Shii-Ann also stirred pots when she appeared the first time. Roger stirred pots in the sixth season and that's what got him voted out after the merge, but before the jury. Johnny Fairplay stirred as many pots as possible in the seventh season. Travis stirred pots in the ninth season and that's why he screwed himself out of the game. There are countless people who stirred the pot in the tenth season. Caryn, Coby, James, Ian, Janu, and maybe even Stephenie all stirred the pot. Judd was very good at causing drama in the eleventh season. Shane was a memorable pot stirrer in his season and so was Danielle. Jonathan Penner has always stirred the pot and that's what got him the record for most votes against a player in a season (which has since been broken). Dreamz stirred pots in the fourteenth season. If Melissa from that season counts, then so did she. Denise stirred pots in the fifteenth season. Natalie was a pot stirrer in the sixteenth season and caused one of the greatest blindsides ever. Randy, Sugar, Ken, and Crystal were all pot stirrers in their appearance on the seventeenth season. Coach is one of the master pot stirrers the first time he played. Russell Hantz stirred many pots in his days playing the game. So was Russell Swan in a way and Shambo especially. Cirie stirred pots in the twentieth season. Marty, Shannon, Tyrone, Jimmy T, and especially NaOnka were all great at causing trouble in the twenty-first season and Sash could count too. If Phillip Shephard never stirred the pot, then few people have. John Cochran stirred the pot by flipping and Bradon's incredibly stupid game play left nothing in the pot to stir when he was done with it. Colton infamously stirred the pot and Alicia did it as well in the twenty-fourth season. Pete stirred the pot in the twenty-fifth season. Shamar did that in the twenty-sixth season and it's possible that Brad could lose the game due to the pots he stirred this season. I hope that this paragraph makes sense to people other than me and the people who listen to a great podcast I linked to previously. I just wish that one of the people wouldn't say things that are wrong a lot, but it isn't that important.

Candice and John are spending time together on Redemption Island. If they didn't mind the cameras, they might try making a Survivor baby. One would think that could mess up someone's game, but that also might not affect someone who probably couldn't conceive in conditions like this. Besides, they give them birth control if they wanted it, I've heard. Are most couples even interested in making sex tapes? I have the feeling that, although it is a common television plot for some shows (just a few times typically for a single show) that most people probably never have and never will do something like that (unless they are porn stars of course). Would CBS even give them the footage of that? I don't think that they could ever show something like that to anyone. Just like the footage of Michael Skupin actually falling in the fire, we wouldn't want to see something like that. And if you do, you should be ashamed of yourself. I don't know why I'm bringing this up. I'm sure a lot of people don't know why something like this ever comes up. Maybe Candice and John are trying to make a baby right now. I don't think that they have kids yet, but they could by the time the reunion show airs. I probably shouldn't spread untrue rumors about things like this, but since this is all hypothetical anyways, it doesn't matter much, does it? Am I doing any harm? Don't tell me that you weren't thinking this might be happening. In the British version of Survivor, there were, in fact, contestants that had sex.

I have no idea what they do with all the unused footage from each season. They probably have at least a year's worth of footage if they keep it at all. Brad could be a buzz kill for the two people on Redemption Island. I don't know if his wife switching with him on Redemption Island will happen or not considering the trick edit with Tyson switching. Maybe it will and maybe it won't. I predict that she will (but I was wrong the last time so maybe she won't). I want Brad (or Monica) to lose Redemption Island and I'm still rooting for Laura Boneham to win, even though her few confessionals make it seem like she won't. But I still don't know if few confessionals is a good thing or a bad thing. I, for one, would rather have little airtime and make it far in the game than have lots of airtime and not make it far in the game. I hope that Monica doesn't do something that prevents her from making the merge twice. If that keeps happening, there will be less pre-jury boots as returning players and they might stop having them all together, unless they finally do a second chances season that most of us have wanted them to do. I can't imagine most people working for a season like that who all made it to the jury. That defies the very nature of a season like that, in my opinion.

Colton quit in order to save Caleb from possible elimination. That plan might have mostly backfired to my knowledge. He could have quit at a better time. But it looks like now Caleb is better without his alliance that could be quickly falling apart. Vytas could end up being in charge of the game and win, but I have the feeling that he's only in the right order alphabetically at the moment. I'm not sure if anyone is getting the so called winner's edit right now or even at all during this season. But my somewhat mostly accurate confessional counts are pretty interesting at the moment. Will someone from the returning players tribe finally get voted out because they finally went to tribal council? I just know that someone is getting blindsided today. I do wonder what season of Survivor currently has the record for most blindsides. I have the feeling that it could be this season by the time it finishes airing. If you know, then let me know. Will Caleb's reign of terror be very brief? Will a returning player or Laura Boneham be voted out? Will it be a blindside to the viewers as well or just the contestant affected by it? Why do they seem to always put more into the second promos than the original ones? Why do I always ask a lot of questions?

So this season has been very interesting right now for me for the most part. I do wonder if they will do this twist again. There are a lot of interesting alternates for this season. I should include a link some time, but I'll probably talk about it at the end of the season. Since half of the alternates are new players, it would be interesting to see these potential new players in future seasons. I have no idea if the all new players next season (which I'm not even certain is a true rumor) are any potential players that could have been on this season. I will post what new players we could see at the end of this season based on what returning players rejected being on this season. Just look at wikia for the information since wikipedia doesn't have any alternates mentioned except for RC. Meanwhile, I think that I have talked way too much on a blog like this about stuff not related to the episode. But enough of my ramblings.

So, in the recap, Brad shushes a woman while denying that he does that. Brad got blindsided. Tadhana talks about what happened after tribal council. Caleb is now in control of the game and could be a great player. Brad arrived at Redemption Island and the players there enjoyed the idea of that.

In the next segment of the show, we see a strange massage happening between Aras and Laura Morett. Laura Morett was the person giving the massage. This was shown on the Survivor Live after Show. Laura Boneham was trying to get used to the game and being in a tribe of returning players, which is a first for a new player if you didn't already know that. Will Monica switch with Brad? It looks like she won't, but she could be making a move in the game. Maybe she throws a challenge to get someone from her tribe out of the game for a change. There is typical banter between the contestants. The challenge is a common challenge, as usual. Then again, maybe it isn't. Brad has a bad strategy at this challenge. Jeff incorrectly says that nobody beat Candice at Redemption Island. John did in the last episode and she came in second. The challenge is mostly going back in forth between the contestants for a lead. John wins the duel. Who would he give the clue to? Who will lose the duel? Candice lost a very close duel. This means that a record three people don't visit tribal council in a single season. But she could be pregnant right now and that could make things better. I'm sure that we'll see her again in the 34^th season, whatever that could be. Look up the seasons she was in and that math will make sense to you. Monica was once again given the clue for some odd reason and she once again destroyed it without reading it. Candice's departure means that Cook Islands is the next season to be eliminated from the game. At Galang, the tribe comforted Monica on her husband being sent to Redemption Island. John is without a partner in the game, but there has yet to be two partners gone at the same time. That will probably happen at some point. The close duel makes me wonder what kind of controversy could be caused if the wrong contestant is declared the winner of a duel. If it were quickly fixed, then it wouldn't affect the game. But they have messed up an immunity challenge and that challenge is no longer used in the game. A challenge could be very close and that would seriously be a bad thing for the player and Survivor itself if the wrong person won the challenge. People are wary of Caleb after blindsiding Brad. Vytas brought it up, even though he voted against Brad himself. There are a lot of injuries in the game, but we still have no idea if that will affect someone's game in any way. Will it be serious enough to get them pulled from the game? Will they get pulled before getting voted out or once they are on Redemption Island? That's one of the reasons I don't ever want a medically evacuation to happen in a season with Redemption Island because things would get very complicated very fast.

In the next segment of the show, Vytas likes how good the place where they're doing the season is because it is beautiful. Tadhana is hoping to finally win a challenge. This interesting challenge has people sliding and getting rings to score points. In the first face-off of Caleb versus Gervase, Caleb wins somewhat easily. Hayden and Tyson face off against each other and Tyson scores the point. Katie and Kat fight against each other and Katie scores the point. Vytas and Aras then fight. Vytas scores the point very easily. Tina and Ciera face off against each other and Tina wins. Caleb and Tyson then face each other. Caleb won the point and it looks like Gadhana might finally win the challenge. Hayden and Gervase face off against each other. Hayden won which means that Tadhana finally wins a challenge. This could be very bad for the returning players plus Rupert's wife tribe. So this makes me wonder who on Galang would get voted off. Gervase is probably safe and so are Tina, Tyson, and Kat. Laura Boneham has been the odd woman out for quite a while. Laura Morett could be on the chopping block too, but I'm not so sure about that one. Aras could have his alliance crumble. Monica could especially be in danger considering how her husband was controlling the game and she kept getting rid of immunity idol clues. All that we know is that someone is getting blindsided. Laura Boneham stirred up trouble by telling Kat that the other two sit-outs wanted to stay in the challenge. Tyson is apparently recovered from his injury. That didn't last long. Everyone thinks that Laura Boneham should probably go, although that seems too obvious to other people. Laura Morett got wind of the plan and could mess it up. Is Aras still in control of the game? I have the feeling that Laura Boneham's time in the game could be up. So at tribal council, different stuff came up. They discussed the main twist for the season. Jeff asked very direct questions to Laura Boneham. People think that she should stay in the game, but others don't. So the voting happened next. The Lauras are voting against each other and that's possibly the only name that will come up today. Nobody has an idol (to my knowledge), but Jeff asked for one anyways. Laura Morett was, in fact, the person voted out today. Will her daughter switch with her? I wouldn't be surprised if she did.

What will happen next time? Gervase and Tyson are making a move (that probably means nothing, as usual). There is also some sort of switch up, which doesn't make a lot of sense, in my mind at least. A switch up could be unfair, like they typically have been in the past. Why have they never repeated it the way they did it the first time? I liked the first tribe swap, although there might be a couple of swaps that were better.

Confessional counts of players on Redemption Island: Brad- 16, John- 11, Candice- 6. Confessional counts of players in the game: Hayden- 6, Gervase- 4, Tina- 4, Tyson- 7, Caleb- 8, Aras- 9, Vytas- 10, Laura Boneham- 5, Katie- 4, Monica- 8, Ciera- 8, Kat- 4, Laura Morett- 6. New confessionals this episode: Laura Morett- 3, Hayden- 1, Gervase- 0, Tina- 1, Tyson- 1, Caleb- 2, Aras- 2, Vytas- 2, Laura Boneham- 2, Katie- 1, Monica- 2, Ciera- 3, Kat- 1; Brad- 1, John- 1, Candice- 1.

I'm not sure what will happen next. Brad is my favorite to lose Redemption Island and it looks like the person who has been there the longest is typically the one who gets eliminated. Hopefully the tribe swap, if that's what's really happening, is a good one, because a lot of the recent ones have been bad. Whatever it is, I can't wait. That Christine edit proves true again, this time, by striking Candice. Laura Morett could be the next person affected by this edit (or curse). This is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 27.4

As promised, here is a bunch of questions for Would You Rather? This is a Survivor edition. Feel free to answer them in the comments if you so desire. If you aren't familiar with this game, it is when you have to choose between two different bad choices happening to you. My questions have to do with Survivor. Most of them are my own making. Would you rather be the first one voted out or medically evacuated? Would you rather play with Russell Hantz or Brandon Hantz? Would you rather play with the Outcasts twist or Redemption Island twist? Would you rather be the last one voted out or the finalist with no jury votes? Would you rather have to quit the game because you are sick or injured or ask to be voted out because you are sick or injured? Would you rather waste a hidden immunity idol by playing it or get voted out with an idol in your pocket? Would you rather go to Redemption Island and then get medically evacuated or get medically evacuated with no way of going to Redemption Island? Would you rather give up the immunity necklace or the hidden immunity idol? (The previous question might be obvious to some people.) Would you rather get voted out because of a tribe swap or a hidden immunity idol? Would you rather play the game with a little rain every day or one huge rain storm on the very first day? Would you rather get voted out because you didn't play an idol or get voted out because someone else played an idol? Would you rather be voted out right before a loved ones challenge or get voted out after winning a loved ones challenge? Would you rather win a car or win the game? Would you rather make the merge and not the jury or get medically evacuated after the jury starts forming? Would you rather watch Survivor without sound or listen to it without picture? Would you rather get voted out on your birthday or have the episode where you are voted out air on your birthday? Would you rather create questions for this game or leave me to fail to come up with more?

My hope is the Tyson's injury doesn't affect him that much. If he were to get medically evacuated, would he deserve another chance considering how it would then be his fourth time playing the game? One would wonder if someone who was medically evacuated should play again if they've already played the game enough times before, if they won the first time, if they were already voted out and pulled when they were on Redemption Island, if they were a runner-up the first time, or if they chose to be medically evacuated which is called quitting due to illness (or in this case, injury). I heard a rumor that there aren't any medical evacuations this season. Well, I didn't actually hear it because this source is never very obvious with what he says anyways and retweets what people are saying whether they really know something accurate or not. Maybe he wouldn't count some anyways. I hope that there aren't because that would mean five people left for medical reasons in the past three seasons. Three seasons in a row already have that problem appearing and four would be way too many and could result in lawsuits (even though the players know what dangers they are getting into when they agree to play the game.

Candice and John are at an interesting situation right now. One of them could throw the challenge so that the other one stays in the game. I do wonder if one could switch with their loved ones after the merge if they are on Redemption Island. Probably, it would happen at tribal council if it happened at all. As far as we know, Rupert could be the only one to do it this entire season. I'm not sure if what Rupert did was dumb or not, but Colton is definitely winning a stupid award for this season. I don't know why quitters aren't considered stupid players to some. They always had that choice that they didn't have to do. They didn't have to play in the first place. Anyways, I have the feeling that if Marissa wins the duel, that we could see one of the other players left in the duel throw it for the other one to win. Candice might not reenter the game considering her few confessionals. John might be eliminated since he has a lot of confessionals. I have no idea which one is better. I still don't know if John has an idol or not. But he could bring that back into the game. I have the feeling that no one has found it yet. I also don't know if my confessional count is right since I don't use the same standards that everyone else has.

New shocking events will happen in this episode. Two of them, actually. Will they have someone leave Redemption Island and reenter the game while others stay on Redemption Island? Will either Rupert or Rachel make a surprise reappearance because of Colton quitting? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that Colton got to keep his buff? I don't think that he should keep it, but apparently it is an honor to destroy it in seasons with Redemption Island at least. It might be too early for there to be double tribal councils, although something interesting is probably going to happen. I just hope that someone like Brad doesn't get expelled from the game. It could happen although it never has and they haven't even hinted that it will. That kind of shocking first would be in the original promo and not the second one, right? Would they give someone like that any confessionals at all? Candice not going to tribal council and getting eliminated from the game would be a first: three players all out of the game in one season where not one of them went to tribal council. Will John somehow get back into the game and then idol someone out? Is someone getting seriously blindsided? Will someone destroy a real hidden immunity idol? Will somebody quit Redemption Island? Will someone through a Redemption Island due? What will happen at tribal council? Would someone other than Laura Boneham be the first person voted out of Galang? Will Tadhana win a challenge? If Hayden Moss opens Pandora's Box, would that make Galang haves and Tadhana have nots? (In case you are wondering, haves and have nots work much better on Big Brother than their ill fated attempt in Survivor: Fiji. Also, Pandora's Box is a Big Brother twist that has a good thing and a bad thing released to the house. Hayden Moss himself has opened it, to my knowledge at least). Will a fake one ever come back to the show? (I hope so, because I miss them.) Will someone who could have been unanimous voted out play an idol on themselves and cast the sole vote to eliminate someone else? I should stop asking questions and wait for the show to air so I don't have to wait any longer.

Colton thinks that Aras is one running the show on Galang. Is he right? Let's find out. So, this is how the episode started. John arrived at Redemption Island to be with his wife Candice. I wonder if this means they'll have sex at some point. Well, they've already done that but I actually doubt that they'd do it on national television, even though we know it won't air. Plus who would want to have sex in conditions like this? Tadhana came back from tribal council, Brad talked about the way of the new Survivor this season. Caleb worried about not having a loved one. Candice complained to Jeff about her husband being on Redemption Island.

In the next segment of the show, the people talked about Brad being the new Russell Hantz of Samoa. He didn't have the dominance the other two seasons he played, or at least it wasn't as strong. So the duel started and I'm starting to think that Candice is throwing the challenge for John to win. There are rumors that someone (Steve) had already thrown a Redemption Island duel. Jeff said so himself. I have the feeling that since John won Redemption Island, Candice might lose. Or I might be wrong about that. Marissa lost. So a couple gets to stay on Redemption Island together and Brad's plan may have backfired horribly. Who will Brad give the clue to? In a somewhat strategic move, they give it to Monica. In a strategic move and possibly at her husband's command, Monica burned the clue without even reading it. Never has a reward disappeared so quickly. Nobody used it. Jeff calls this a first, but he must be forgetting about the time that Boston Rob threw a clue into a volcano. Will this backfire against Monica? Will she get blindsided tonight? John and Candice are both on Redemption Island together and mention that this could be a fun story to tell the kids someday. They might show this to them when they release this season in the future. They might even be making some. But this can only bring a couple together. Gervase no longer has a partner in the game. He thinks that Survivor changes people. Caleb looks like an easy vote of for Tadhana. That way, nobody (Brad) gets blood on their hands. But would it work? Off topic: if injuries don't end up affecting the game that much, are they ever shown? I mean, Brenda had a largely unexplained injury last season that no one focused on the much because it didn't get her pulled from the game. But they didn't show the real reason that either Shamar or Erik were medically evacuated.

In the next segment of the show, Tyson talked about how his injury gets him to do less and people might not like this when it airs. There are also coconuts bandits between Gervase and Tyson. That's a hashtag now because apparently it is important in the rest of the game possibly. Now we get done with the random camp stuff and to the immunity challenge. This challenge has been used a lot in different Survivor seasons. I forget when it first premiered. Tyson decides to risk the challenge and not sit out of it. Also, anybody notice that he's not in a sling when he's doing confessionals? That implies that it could get better or that he doesn't need it all the time. Anyways, Tadhana started the challenge leading. Will they finally win one? Who knows? Galang could be a tribe that only goes to tribal council once. But we don't know if that would happen to them or not. Brad is a wiz at this challenge. Tadhana messed up the challenge by getting things off of the boat by accident. So the challenge stays neck in neck mostly. So poor Tadhana is going to go back to tribal council again.

In the next segment of the show, people talk about what is different with this immunity loss. Will Caleb get blindsided or will Ciera get voted out? What shocking first will happen at tribal council? I don't know but it better be interesting and a real first. I'm not on twitter today because I don't have time with the series premiere of the Tomorrow People about to happen. Plus, I have to watch Law and Order: SVU. So I guess the tape that's recording Revolution right now will have to record the next show. Too bad I can't watch any other shows at the same time. I can't set this up to record something since I'm busy with this blog. And only one VCR can record something at a time. At least the other show isn't coming in. Anyways, lots of drama is happening at tribal council, too much for me to talk about here. Hopefully Caleb isn't pulling a Caryn and getting himself voted out because of this drama. Brad stayed true to his word and voted for Ciera. Caleb voted against Brad. I have the feeling that the return of and first proper use of the purple rock could be the shocking "first" that also isn't a first. Or Brad could get blindsided since it looks like Ciera probably isn't getting voted out. Hayden decided not to flip, but that didn't matter since Vytas did and Brad got voted out. Kudos to Hayden for casting the most confusing vote ever in Survivor history after changing your mind twice as to who to vote for. So Brad could become a strong player on Redemption island. Or this might be the last we see of him.

Will Monica switch with Brad on Redemption Island? That could throw off Caleb's plan which we will see more of apparently. We just know that Redemption Island will be interesting either way. Will more than one person get back into the game? I don't know. I also don't know how voting out Brad is a first, so feel free to explain that to me.

Confessional counts of players on Redemption Island: Marissa- 5, John- 10, Candice- 5. Confessional counts of players in the game: Kat- 3, Laura Morett- 3, Hayden- 5, Gervase- 4, Tina- 3, Tyson- 6, Caleb- 6, Aras- 7, Vytas- 8, Laura Boneham- 3, Katie- 3, Brad- 15, Monica- 6, Ciera- 5. New confessionals this episode: Aras- 1, Vytas- 0, Laura Boneham- 0, Katie- 0, Brad- 3, Monica- 2, Ciera- 1, Kat- 0, Laura Morett- 1, Hayden- 1, Gervase- 2, Tina- 0, Tyson- 1, Caleb- 3; Marissa- 0, John- 2, Candice- 3.

So I'm not entirely sure how the blindside of Brad is a first. I guess this is the first time that someone said they were the target without the votes being changed for him. I don't know for sure. I just know that a friend of mine might be disappointed that he's getting voted out today. Brad may not last that long and we are finally getting to see more of Candice. Candice is doing pretty well, but I fear that she's still getting the Christine edit from South Pacific. Both her and John can't both get back into the game (I think at least). So maybe I don't hate Candice as much this time. If she gets on the jury, she will be a three time juror, something only one other contestant can claim. Marissa is out of Redemption Island which means that she doesn't have a streak that lasts until the final premerge duel and first reentry point. She did get the Christine edit. There are also other interesting things that could happen with the contestants in the game. Will Tina be on the jury and be a premerge boot, finalist, and jury member over various seasons? Tyson can do that too if he somehow becomes a finalist. Tina might not be on the jury and thus be the only three time player besides Russell Hantz to play the game three times and never be on the jury. Who will be the first one out of Galang if they ever go to tribal council? What will happen if Tadhana's losing streak continues? Will they become the new Matsing? (At least Matsing had the winner of the season.) Will Galang become the next Tandang? Will some other twist happen if Galang keeps winning? I will leave these questions for another day. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 27.3

So I had another Survivor dream where I met Russell Swan. I think that the meeting went well for the most part. Rupert is the first one out of the game and Pearl Islands is the first season to be eliminated from the game. The other two seasons he was in before this one are both still in the game at the moment. I wonder if you can always replace a loved one on Redemption Island or if you can only do it when they first arrive there. I predict a possibility that Tyson will change places on Redemption Island, but I'm not certain if he will. He would be falling for the other tribe's trap. After what Rupert did this season and the mistake Tyson made the last time he played, it might not be such an obvious choice to replace your loved one on Redemption Island. Only women are on Redemption Island (unless any of them switch with their loved one). I think that I want Marissa to win Redemption Island. Who knows if the fact that only women are on Redemption Island might affect the duel they use. They don't have to use the challenges in any set order. I think that I want Laura to win the game right now. Good luck. Like I said before, since there are two of them, I might have to root for them both at the moment. But if that doesn't make since, then I'm rooting for Hayden. Rupert being the first one out is like when Zane was the first one out of the twenty-fifth season. I had to think of a new favorite to win. Although I don't think it was until the fifth episode that season when I started rooting for Denise to win. I guess that Laura Boneham is the replacement by default. She is the first person to lose her partner in the game. Colton might quit in this episode. I'll post more about that if he does. It's interesting that the first four people voted out were all women and the only person eliminated from the game is a man.

Survivor 25 brought back three players who all had a link between each other despite not playing together before. Whether a group of three has played together or not, it might be interesting for me to list a group of three players and a link between them to make them returning players. Maybe I'll do it in this blog post and maybe I'll do it in others. It could appear in various blog posts. You already know that I keep updating the list of medically evacuated players that I think should play again and what group they belong in. I will keep updating it all the time. You also know about Wanda (Palau), Jonathan (Palau), and Kourtney (One World) who were all the first to leave the game before going to tribal council whether it was due to an unfair twist or a stupidly designed challenge. I'm not entirely sure that would ever happen considering how Jonathan doesn't want to play again after not knowing why he wasn't picked for a tribe. There are other groups I should consider.

Shawn, Andrew, and Ryan Opray of Pearl Islands were all screwed by the Outcasts twist. Ian (Palau), Rafe (Guatemala), and Terry (Panama) were all the last ones voted out of the game and most of them messed themselves up at the end which is why they deserve another chance in my mind. Paschal (Marquesas), Sundra (Cook Islands), and Matty (Gabon) all lost to final four tie-breakers. Unless I include other tie-breakers in the game, those are the only final four I can choose since Cirie has played three times and Jenn is dead. I do wonder if one of Jenn's friends or relatives would ever want to play the game in her honor. None have appeared yet to my knowledge, but that doesn't mean that none ever would. Lisette, Michelle, and Sylvia from Fiji were all screwed by various twists that season. I could also add Liliana to that list if I wanted to. Stacy (Fiji), Alexis (Micronesia), and Kelly (Samoa) lost the game because someone played a hidden immunity idol. Jason (Micronesia), Brendan (Tocantins), and Erik (Samoa) all had a hidden immunity idol and got voted out after they failed to play it when they should have. Alina, Marty, and Brenda were all the jury members of Nicaragua when two people infamously quit. Fabio, Chase, and Sash were all the final three that season considering how the two quitters greatly affected who won and Sash is included for good measure.

Those are all that I can think about for now. There are many more I could choose. I could go with many others like lowest placing member of a merged tribe, highest ranking member of a tribe that fell victim to Pagonging, finalists with no jury votes, first out of a post-switched tribe, screwed by immunity twists, alliances of three, rivalries of three, tribes of three, and others that I haven't thought of yet. Since I have to include these random thoughts that don't have to do with an episode in these blog posts for some odd reason, I will probably do a Survivor version of Would You Rather? that includes mostly original questions. Feel free to post your answers to those questions in the comments if you want to. Maybe I'll have to do more random blog posts during the break between this season and the next season.

So a lot of interesting things are going to happen and I have more stuff planned for future blog posts. John could have the hidden immunity idol and they haven't shown us yet. Tyson might switch with Rachel which is the other tribe's plan. We will have an interesting opening and that's for sure. Candice might not do well on Redemption Island due to her lack of confessionals. I recognize the duel they will be using today, I think. Tyson saw through Tadhana's plan. Will he switch? He did not. What's interesting is that he said nobody in Redemption Island would have a chance in hell. That's interesting since if he doesn't change his Mormon beliefs, he'll be learning a lot more about it. But since this is a Survivor blog and not a religious blog, I won't go into any more detail. A lot happened in the introduction. More than what typically does. Colton might quit. But will he? (Off topic: does anyone ever feel like you have to rush through a lot of things during commercial breaks during this show?)

In the next segment of the show, Colton is being a whiny baby person. He doesn't want to be hated and he thinks that quitting won't do damage to him. Well, apparently he quit the first time somehow and wasn't really medically evacuated. He got out of the game before he even got a torch. Approximately half of all quitters get their torches snuffed. Caleb no longer has a partner in the game. I heard that Caleb would be on Redemption Island and that's why Colton would quit, to avoid potentially fighting against him. But him quitting is the last real spoiler I heard from this source I'm no longer keeping track of on twitter. Candice wins Redemption Island. Will Colton quitting affect Redemption Island? Did he really quit the first time or did he really need medical treatment? Will someone get back into the game sooner because Colton left? Marissa came in second and Rachel lost the duel. Colton's departure means that Stephenie is no longer the only returning player to come in nineteenth place. John gets another hidden immunity idol clue. Rachel is eliminated from the game leaving Tyson without a partner.

In the next segment of the show, Tyson talked about Rachel leaving about everyone talked about Colton quitting. Tyson considered targeting Monica since her husband is in charge of the other tribe or so it seems. Not much happened except for John telling Brad about the hidden immunity idol clue. I'm quite glad that Colton will probably never play the game again. He quit for selfish reasons. Finally, Osten Taylor is no longer the only male quitter. Colton is now one of four two time contestants who were never voted out. Can you guess the other three? One of them was medically evacuated and one of them quit. I'll mention who they are later.

In the next segment of the show, the tribes prepared for the next challenge. The Baskauskas brothers wanted to fight each other in the challenge because of sibling rivalries and each one thinking that the other won all the time at whatever they did. The challenge is sumo at sea which is great because of my love for Survivor: Palau. And yet, that's not even my most favorite season. Tyson is treated by medical after a shoulder injury. Tyson can't go again. Katie might have thrown her challenge with Kat. I don't know, but she lost too easily. And true to the confessionals shown, the two brothers fought against each other. Who will win? Aras won after a strange fight. Now I'm starting to wonder if the challenges are rigged for those of the same gender with partners to fight against each other. Laura Morett help win the challenge. Will Tyson be okay? I'm hoping that he will. Who will be voted out of the game? We'll see.

Just something I was wondering for a while now that I thought I'd share with you: if a medical evacuation happens, which would be more frustrating 1- Getting medically evacuated before you go to Redemption Island and not be able to play it to get back in or 2- getting medically evacuated after you got voted out when you are living on Redemption Island? I'd personally choose the first option since I never did get voted out. People wondered who to vote out at tribal council. Hayden talked about opening Pandora's Box which is something from Greek or Roman mythology and a twist used in Big Brother. I could be wrong about it, but I think that he has opened it before. I've have to watch more of the season to know for sure. Will John get blindsided tonight? Hopefully he either doesn't have the idol if he gets voted out or he uses it to save himself if he has found it. He could have it and they haven't shown it. John could be voted out because Candice keeps winning Redemption Island. When the votes happened, John was voted out. No votes are shown in the confessional booth, but they will be found out later. Nobody played a hidden immunity idol which makes me hope that either John doesn't have it or he gets back in the game and uses it. In case you are wondering, John could have an idol on Redemption Island and keep it to use after hypothetically coming back into the game. Jeff said so on twitter. Look it up on www.survivor.wikia.com if you don't believe me. Go to the page they have on Redemption Island, the twist.

Next episode, Brad could lose control of the game. Finally, a man is voted out of the game despite the fact that the first two people eliminated from the game were both men. A pair of loved ones is on Redemption Island. My favorite to win Redemption Island is John. If you don't have many confessionals and you are on Redemption Island, you are more or less a Christine and will not eventually get back into the game. Will Candice throw Redemption Island so her husband can stay in the game? Who would get a hidden immunity idol clue if either of them wins? Why didn't they focus on the people on Redemption Island? Does John have the hidden immunity idol that they haven't shown us yet? Am I asking too many questions? Probably.

Confessional counts of players on Redemption Island: Marissa- 5, Rachel- 4, Candice- 2. Confessional Counts of players in the game: John- 8, Katie- 3, Brad- 12, Monica- 4, Colton- 8, Ciera- 4, Kat- 3, Laura Morett- 2, Hayden- 4, Gervase- 2, Tina- 3, Tyson- 5, Caleb- 3, Aras- 6, Vytas- 8, Laura Boneham- 3. New confessionals this episode: Laura Boneham- 0, John- 2, Katie- 0, Brad- 3, Monica- 0, Colton- 1, Ciera- 1, Kat- 0, Laura Morett- 0, Hayden- 1, Gervase- 0, Tina- 0, Tyson- 2, Caleb- 0, Aras- 2, Vytas- 3; Marissa- 0, Rachel- 0, Candice- 0

So a new player gets to be the first player with more than ten confessionals. Rupert had a lot of confessionals so things might not end well for him. I really hope that no one else quits this season. They don't have to pay Colton for being on this season like they had for previous quitters. Colton is the only person who wasn't a finalist to be a two time player who was never voted out. He only got to be on two different tribes in his Survivor career. He played less days than Russell Swan (I'm pretty sure, at least). Michael Skupin, Jenna Morasca, and Sandra Diaz-Twine are the other three players who played twice and were never voted out. Michael was memorably evacuated the first time and a finalist the second time. Jenna won the first time and quit the second time. Sandra famously won twice.

In case you are wondering, I still have a list of medically evacuated contestants who I want to play again. Dana is considered both a quitter and a medevaced contestant. Colton can now claim that, although he didn't quit due to illness and he's play more than once. If I can't include Dana, I'd put Erik, Joe, and Bruce together, Mike, Gary, and Shamar together, and Kourtney is put with a different twist. If I can include Dana, I'd put her with Gary and Shamar while Mike and Kourtney would play together and the other three are left the same. I still don't know if I should include James who has played since he was medically evacuated. I don't include Michael Skupin, Jonathan Penner, or Russell Swan anymore. Maybe a list of mine should include James, but it doesn't at the moment. Maybe, if it did, James, Erik, and Bruce would be together, Mike, Kourtney, and Shamar would go together, and Joe, Dana, and Gary would go together, although you could flip Shamar and Gary if you wanted to. I'd do that list again without Dana. Erik, James, and Bruce would go together, Joe, Gary, and Shamar would go together, and Kourtney and Mike would go together. Besides, I've had dreams about meeting Russell Swan and I also dreamed about when he was pulled from the game. I have the feeling that I think about this and other Survivor related things too much. I also had a dream about meeting Wanda from Palau based on seeing someone who looked like her. (I have no idea where she lives, so it's always possible that it was her.) Now I have the feeling that I talked too much here anyways. Until next time, this is Adam Decker, signing off.