Stephenie LaGrossa Palau Recap

You might be wondering why I haven't updated this blog the last two weeks. I mean, I do tend to update this blog religiously on Wednesdays except for during Advent and Lent, in which case I actually am doing something religious while the episode is first airing. I decided a while ago that I wouldn't update multiple blogs on the same day. Basically, I decided that it would be better to update a different blog those last two Wednesdays. You won't be seeing a lack of Wednesday posts for a while after this. Now, to a long promised blog post.

Okay, I decided to do two versions of this recap. One of them is the better version, which is this one, the one that you are reading now. Later, I will post an extended version that I highly recommend that nobody reads. Why do I say that? Well, if you read the extended post and read all of it, you have accomplished a great thing. I rambled far too much in that post and I decided that the best way to fix that was to make this post with just the important parts while keeping that post will all the excessive ramblings that I’m known for. So without any further ado, here’s my blog post recapping the game that Stephenie LaGrossa played in Survivor: Palau.

This Has Never Happened Before- Stephenie gets her first confessional of the season when she decides to jump out of the boat. She gets a second confessional about it as well. Jumping out of the boat was a mistake as she didn’t get to shore until much later after the boat. According to commentary with the episode, the other contestants eventually brought the boat back to her and Jonathan, who had also jumped out of the boat. She had a planned alliance with Tom, Katie, and Ian, but was put on a different tribe than them. She was chosen by Bobby Jon to be on the Ulong tribe and she picked Jeff to be on the tribe afterwards. At the immunity challenge, she doesn’t like her tribe’s decision to take multiple items at the challenge which contributes to their loss. It is ultimately Stephenie that successfully campaigns to eliminate Jolanda. She gets a third confessional about it. She successfully votes against Jolanda in this episode. Ultimately, she has three confessionals thus far in the game.

Love is in the Air, Rats are Everywhere- Stephenie gets her first confessional of the episode when she talks about how she thinks getting rid of Jolanda was a good idea. She helps score at least two points at the reward challenge that her tribe wins (the third and ninth points, at least). She gets another confessional about how the fire that they now have has helped them cook and eat food. She gets a third confessional about who to vote for at the tribal council. She voted with the majority of her tribe to get rid of Ashlee. So that’s three total confessionals for her in this episode leading to six total.

Dangerous Creatures and Horrible Setbacks- Stephenie previously wanting to vote out Kim was discussed in the recap, even though this ultimately didn’t end up happening. She starts the episode with a confessional as to why they are tired of tribal council. Stephenie competes against Jenn in the second part of the reward challenge. I had previously told you about their rivalry when I talked about Jenn’s time on Survivor: Palau. Stephenie scores a point for her tribe. Ulong wins the reward. Stephenie is the longest lasting woman at the immunity challenge, but her tribe still loses. At tribal council, Stephenie joins the majority of her tribe in voting out Jeff. She has one new confessional this episode. She now has seven total confessionals.

Sumo at Sea- Before the reward challenge, the tribe shows its continued lack of leadership by failing to pick a representative. Stephenie gets a confessional about the challenge. The tribe is still working on the challenge when Jeff Probst returns. She gets a second confessional about how she’s glad how the shelter turned out, even though they don’t end up winning. She gets a third confessional this episode about upcoming immunity challenge and how they can’t keep losing. In the challenge, she fights against Jenn and wins that round easily. There is a rematch of the fight later in the challenge. This one lasts longer, but ultimately ends with Stephenie winning again. However, the challenge is a close loss for Ulong who returns to tribal council. She is mad over the challenge loss in a fourth confessional for her this episode. She then talks in a fifth confessional about trying to get rid of the guys so they don’t gang up against the women. This is interesting as it doesn’t end up happening that the men take control, even though Kim does get voted off tonight. Stephenie even casts her vote that way, joining the majority of her tribe in making this decision. So that’s five confessionals this episode and twelve confessionals total.

The Best and Worst Reward Ever- Stephenie gets the first confessional on her tribe this episode. People are exploring the camp area and she gets a confessional about it. She gets a second confessional about how it is raining all night. Ulong took an early lead in the challenge, but it is blown when Ibrehem doesn’t get a bottle in his turn. Stephenie is close to winning the challenge, but that doesn’t end up happening, although it probably didn’t matter as Tom says that Koror was still ahead. Stephenie is hoping for an early merge in her third confessional of the episode where the tribe complains about losing all the time. Ulong is disappointed by their loss at tribal council and get kind of screwed by when Koror votes to give people from their tribe immunity. My records say that Ian and Coby voted for Stephenie to have immunity. There isn’t an official record of this, so it’s unknown if my information is right. Ibrehem wins immunity, thus throwing a wrench in the plans of Ulong. This leads to a bit of scattered votes. At first Stephenie votes against Bobby Jon, but there is a tie. It’s one of the few tie votes (possibly the only one) where we know for sure that there isn’t a possibility of a tie at the revote. Stephenie votes out Angie at the revote, joining the rest of her tribe in doing so. She now has three confessionals this episode and fifteen total.

Jellyfish ‘n Chips- Stephenie’s vote change from Bobby Jon to Angie was mentioned in the recap. She gets a confessional about the tribal council and twist that it brought. Stephenie helps bring her tribe to a win at the reward challenge. She gets a confessional about it. They mention various Survivor facts that are printed on the Pringles. She gets a third confessional about the reward. Preparing for the immunity challenge, she gets another confessional. When confronted about the vote from the previous tribal council, she lies to Bobby Jon about her vote. This gets her another confessional. At tribal council, she doesn’t know who to vote for at first. Originally she votes against Ibrehem and causes a tie. But she then votes against James and he gets voted out. So she has five confessionals this episode and twenty total confessionals.

The Great White Shark Hunter- Stephenie starts the episode with a confessional about the fact that her tribe keeps losing challenges. It is only now on my fourth time watching this season that I’m able to catch the foreshadowing. Both tribes build a distress signal for the reward challenge. The challenge is actually an interesting point given the huge number advantage that Koror has. They are the only tribe to sit out the same people in back to back challenges as the other tribe had less than half of their members. You can tell that the edit favors Koror and not Ulong because Ulong sucks so much. Ulong loses the reward. Stephenie gets a second confessional about why they want to win a challenge. Sadly, they won’t ever win a challenge again on Ulong. Stephenie originally helps with one part of the immunity challenge and then switches to the other. Regardless, her tribe loses again. She gets a third confessional when she was worrying about the upcoming tribal council. Stephenie seems to be considered for the vote against Ibrehem and she tries to get Bobby Jon on her side. She gets her first vote against her from Ibrehem. She votes against Ibrehem and Bobby Jon does as well eliminating him. This means that she has three confessionals this episode and twenty-three total confessionals.

Neanderthal Man- Stephenie starts this episode with a confessional. It has always bothered me that there wasn’t a merge in this episode. I guess that producers just wanted to see a tribe of one for a change. At the reward challenge, it comes down to a tie-breaker that Ulong loses. Nobody could root for the members of Ulong. Koror had the sit-outs all rooting for the tribe. Stephenie believes that Bobby Jon is the strongest on their tribe. She gets another confessional about their tribe’s constant losses and she seems at first that Bobby Jon is taking it too well. Some members of Koror talk about wanting Stephenie to survive longer since she was originally part of the Tom, Katie, and Ian group that I will mention later.

Recap continued- Stephenie talks about how Bobby Jon is like a cave man (or Neanderthal man?) in another confessional. I’m wondering if some of what she is saying is actually from the next episode but put into this one. She is at around five confessionals so far this episode. She gets yet another before the upcoming immunity challenge. Ulong loses the immunity challenge and will thus never win again. Stephenie gets another two confessionals after the loss. She puzzles over what might happen in the future. She is also concerned over Bobby Jon being too good at the game. She gets yet another confessional about it. At tribal council, she wins the intense special immunity challenge. I do wonder why it was a fire making tie-breaker, but I guess that anything else would have been anticlimactic. Do you know how random a rock draw would have been? By winning this challenge, she causes the elimination of Bobby Jon. If my count is corright, Stephenie has nine confessionals this episode. She would then have thirty-two total confessionals.

I Will Not Give Up- If there were ever an episode about Stephenie, this is the one. We begin with her returning to camp alone and getting a confessional about it. I guess I would call this a really long confessional in a way. She gets another confessional while still alone on Ulong. She then gets the treemail about joining Koror. She calls this a merge, but it isn’t actually considered one. Stephenie gets a third confessional in the episode by talking about her new tribe Koror. Jenn talks about Stephenie and Jenn considers her a threat.

Recap continued: Coby ends up making a possibly fatal mistake by telling Stephenie all that is wrong with Koror. Some Palauans teach Koror members how to fish which Stephenie is happy about in a confessional. In another confessional, she’s concerned about being the next one to go. Coby does air Koror’s dirty laundry to Stephenie, a move that got him voted out later. Everyone talking to Stephenie confuses her and makes her wonder if she’s safe or not. Jeff tells Tom that they can vote out Stephenie and make it an easy vote. She loses the challenge for pizza, which is the last of the food temptations. (I just lost the game.) At tribal council, Jenn talks about her rivalry with Stephenie. She talks about possibly feeling bad for herself if she got voted out tonight. She only gets one vote against her from Janu. Meanwhile, she joins the rest of the tribe in voting out Coby. She has six confessionals this episode. It wasn’t as much about her as I thought. She then has thirty-eight total confessionals.

Exile Island- We begin with a recap of Stephenie’s time alone on Ulong. For the reward challenge, Stephenie is put with a group of Ian, Katie, and Jenn. Her team or tribe loses the challenge. She gets a confessional before the immunity challenge. There is talk about voting out Stephenie. She gets a second confessional about thinking that she’ll be the one who is voted out. She only has two new confessionals this episode. Stephenie gets upset at the tribal council due to Janu wanting to quit the game. In the end, Janu decides to quit the game so there’s no vote. This puts Stephenie at forty total confessionals.

I’ll Show You How Threatening I am: Stephenie starts the episode with a confessional. She gets another confessional wondering what happened to her alliance on this tribe. There’s even a third confessional about it. There’s yet another confessional about what might happen next and how Stephenie wants to show others that she’s a threat. At the Survivor auction, Stephenie joins Caryn to buy an item. They originally get cheese and crackers, but trade it for hamburgers and fries. After Tom sets the price for the letters from home, Stephenie is allowed to buy hers at the same price he bought his at. Stephenie gets a confessional about the letters from home that she got. Stephenie talks about a possible all women’s alliance after she loses the immunity challenge. She’s at seven confessionals before tribal council happens. She votes against Caryn in the episode, but the rest of the tribe votes against her and she’s eliminated. This gives her forty-seven confessionals.

We’ll Make You Pay: Stephenie’s last stand is covered in the recap. That’s pretty much all the airtime she’ll probably get this episode. I am right about that. I’m not sure how I should be doing the recap part right now, but we’ll see.

It Could All Backfire: It appears that there is no importance of Stephenie to the story of this episode, which seems appropriate as she is on the jury right now. I’m surprised that there wasn’t a mention of how the previous episode started with only contestants from the original Koror tribe.

The Ultimate Shock: Stephenie is mentioned a lot in the really long recap leading into the finale. On the rites of passage, Stephenie talks about how much stronger she is now because of Survivor. Her jury speech is first addressing Tom about how he might have done something to save her in the game. She also asks Katie what she might have done better than Tom. Katie thought that whoever came from Ulong would be voted out, but Tom retorts that he thought that Stephenie was an ace in the hole. Ultimately, Stephenie gives her vote to win to Tom.

Reunion show: Stephenie gets a segment of the reunion show to herself. Jeff Probst wonders how it felt to be on a tribe on her own. She is considered one of the most popular women to play the game. She only gets a small amount of airtime as they were much better at doing the reunion show back then.

That’s it for this blog post. I will do another recap about Sue Hawk from Survivor: Borneo next, but it could be a long while before you see that. In the meantime, you’ll have to wonder why the recap is in a different font until you see the extended version of this post. I don’t know yet if I’ll do that this summer or wait until winter. I’ll probably do it next week. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Top Ten Jury Speeches

The jury is an important part of any Survivor season. And while they are practically ignored from being voted out until day 39, the jury has the final say into who will win each season. So I’m basically mentioning my favorite jury speeches from each of the Survivor seasons.

Rules: 1- Only one speech per season. One would clearly have stood out more than the others in one single season. 2- No questions allowed unless they are not the main point of the speech. 3- This one is more of a disclaimer, but due to my lack of good memory, I’m not going to have that much of a selection to choose from. But I will post videos here of each speech if I can find one. Just click the link and enjoy. There may be a lot of shade throwing going on in these, but I’m choosing the most memorable and I’ll mention why in each section. Sorry if I'm forgetful.

#10 Reed in San Juan del Sur: This is one of the meaner speeches ever given in the game. I only have it on here because of how memorable it was and not so much because I liked it. We the audience didn’t really see much of why Reed had this hatred towards Missy so it seemed to come out of nowhere. But he made his point as to why he felt that she didn’t deserve to win the game.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm7O6nZzG1A

#9 Ozzy in Micronesia: This is a bit of an unusual choice for this list, but you tend to not see speeches like this. Basically, Ozzy gave a negative speech for the person who ended up winning and an impassioned speech for the runner-up. It normally happens the other way. Some people don’t like Ozzy and I’ll admit that he has gotten a worse edit with each season he’s been on. But this is one of the moments that I like about him as he gets fed up with the person he didn’t like even though she wasn’t actually the one who blindsided him. I like the speech a lot.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSNyp7mY_d4

#8 Lex in All-Stars: So many finalists had already made their mistakes before the final tribal council happened. When Rob betrayed Lex after Lex had done what he wanted, Rob basically lost the vote that could have won him the game. Lex vents his frustration at Rob for doing so and thus we have this speech which explains why Rob didn’t win.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg3CFS-lCD0  

#7 Eliza in Vanuatu: Some may feel that this season has Eliza as a bitter jury member. But bitter or not, jury members need some love by the finalists or they won’t win. Chris understood that and Twila did not. Plus, Eliza was clearly more hurt by Twila throughout the game. This is a pretty good speech and Twila demonstrates what not to do to a jury member.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-mklv39teg

#6 Brenda in Caramoan: Some say that Brenda may have crossed a line with Dawn in this speech, but I still have it ranked as a good speech. Brenda did have reason to hate Dawn and Dawn also had reason to vote Brenda out. But what happens in the second part of the speech is actually an interesting moment regarding the teeth incident and Dawn does the right thing. The first part with John is actually a good thing for him as well as he explains why he helped voted out Dawn.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-5B4Wu4ZxU

#5 Coby in Palau: I feel that Coby makes a good point about the final two. He speaks against both of them and basically tells them that Katie will only receive his vote if he is voting against Tom. That’s what ultimately happens. I enjoy it as a speech and do enjoy Coby for the shade thrower that he is.

Video: (unavailable)

#4 Jonathan in Philippines: Jonathan pretty much shared his thoughts about all of the finalists in front of the jury. It was quite the interesting take on the game. He barely even made a case for anyone, but all he had to do to make my top ten was give an interesting speech. He succeeded by pretty much pointing out what all the final three had done.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsFvwsnAaWg

#3 Kat in One World: This is a more unusual speech that may only be here because of me not being able to find other speeches that I liked in their entirety online (more on that later) and not having much to watch in my personal collection of Survivor seasons. Anyways, this is on here mostly due to Kat’s character growth after she was blindsided. She could have been bitter at all of them and instead just did a speech on why she felt that she didn’t have to be upset. While she never spoke out for a contestant or against a different one, she did do a memorable speech.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deS9XVhAFck

#2 Erik in Samoa: People really need to stop bitching about how Russell should have won because nobody like Russell who has zero jury management skills should ever win Survivor. Erik gave a great and impassioned speech about why Natalie should win and she did. Whether or not this actually changed minds doesn’t matter when you think about it. People who do get hateful speeches by the jury tend to never win (except for maybe Brian) and people who get glowing endorsements like this rarely lose. Erik told the other finalists very clearly why they didn’t deserve to win and they didn’t. This speech helps Natalie look even better than usual as she gets the love she deserves from a man she herself blindsided. I love this speech a lot, but not as much as the next one.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4OThXtqKTc

Now I leave you wondering what number one is. Most of you should already know by now what it is because you haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere on the list. The original great jury speech can also be considered the greatest jury speech, in my mind at least.

#1 Sue in Borneo: Of course this is number one! What else could be considered number one? Sue was betrayed by Kelly and figured that Richard would make the better winner since he was better at the game. Snakes and rats would have to be one of the best Survivor moments of all time. Without this, we might not have the same Survivor we do today. It is a great speech and what I consider to be, quite possibly, the greatest moment ever in any final tribal council.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFKJ507yZJ0

Honorable mentions: Shirin in World Apart: Shirin gives an impassioned jury speech, even if it seems a bit disjointed in different ways. Spencer in Cagayan was a nice speech in support of who he thinks is the best player between Woo and Tony. Dan in Nicaragua gave a speech that talked against both Sash and Chase. I couldn’t find any of these online, nor did I have it on DVD like I did with Palau. Otherwise, I might have and probably would have included them. There are probably others that I can’t remember or ruled out for one reason or another.

Well, that’s all that I can think of for this post. Maybe there is more that would have worked that I can’t remember for whatever reason. I just hope that my picks were good in the end. There’s not really much else to say. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Underrated Survivor Seasons

Sadly, one will never be able to agree with someone else on different things relating to Survivor. For instance, there are a lot of seasons of Survivor that people don’t like. And I tend to like a lot of those seasons myself. This could be due to a flaw in my character where I tend to like things too much. But, I’m going to make a case as to why some seasons of Survivor are actually underrated.

Africa: I’m a bit surprised that there are people who don’t really like this season. This is truly a great classic season. For one, there are finally twists that make the game more interesting. Another aspect is the great cast and you have one of the greatest Survivor winners. This is classic Survivor at its best which is surprising since most people don’t seem to care about it.

All-Stars: On the surface, there is a lot to hate about this season and not many redeeming values about it. Even I, while defending it here, would not put it in the good seasons’ list, although I feel that it gets far too much hatred among people that I’ve seen. This season is actually quite interesting when you think about it. We have a season with all returning players from every season before it. We are not so much all focused on just keeping up with the players who did well before as we get players who weren’t as good before doing better the second time around. While it may only be slightly underrated, I say that it remains underrated in the end because it is interesting to watch.

Vanuatu: I’m honestly not entirely sure if people actually hate this season or not. But, it can still be on this list due to how it doesn’t get the love that it probably deserves to get. I mean, here is a season with unpredictable twists and turns throughout the game. The way the women started to dominate after the merge, you probably wouldn’t think that the last man left could pull off a win, but he does.

Cook Islands: This isn’t one of Survivor’s best season, but it doesn’t deserve all the hatred that it gets. Maybe I spend too much time on the highly negative Addicted to Survivor facebook group. Of course, the internet tends to be a fairly negative place in general, but I have this blog as an alternative to that. As I was saying, this season is pretty good and interesting, even if it takes a while for that to happen. The finale was quite interesting and it was cool seeing the Aitu four conquer the members of Rarotonga both after the mutiny by winning every challenge and then doing well after the merge as well. It deserves far more love than it gets. An underdog story is underrated.

Nicaragua: Fabio gets far too much unnecessary hatred in the Survivor community. So does this season as well, I feel. Sure, the two players quitting at once may be one of the worst ever Survivor moments in history. But the season as a whole is much better than people give it credit for. It’s interesting seeing the old versus young twist work out throughout the game, even if the young tribe does quite good in the end. The game always seemed interesting to me. Even the terrible quits were something that you wouldn’t see and changed the rest of the game from that point forward. You might not have had the same sort of interesting game.

Redemption Island: Okay, I may easily be fighting a losing battle with this one. I may never be able to convince anyone that this season was good. But I see it as an interesting season, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Rob dominating the game was actually a lot better than people give it credit for. That, and the cast is much better than people tend to give it credit for. Phillip, as crazy as he is, brings a great entertainment level to the game not typically seen. Matt is a wonderful example of a tragic hero, the victim of his own niceness. And a really satisfying part of this game is that Russell Hantz’s ways finally get the best of him and we see him cry like a little girl.

One World: A lot of parts regarding Survivor is stuff that I’m surprised to learn is hated by most of the community. I quite enjoyed Survivor: One World. The point where Manono gave up immunity may have been an incredibly dumb move, but in my mind, it was one of Survivor’s greatest moments and one of the most shocking moments in all of television history. Seriously. I wouldn’t be that shocked by something on television again until Jane’s baby got kidnapped on the first season finale of Jane the Virgin. That moment alone was when I decided to create this blog about Survivor. Even outside of that moment, the rest of the game was very interesting to watch. Seeing Colton’s downfall being one of his body’s making is something highly unusual. But karma’s a bitch. And I find this season to be quite an awesome part of Survivor.

Caramoan: I once got into a fight with various people as I tried to defend this season, but I failed at making a good point and only succeeded in making myself look bad. Of course, a blog isn’t at all like a facebook thread, so here I go trying to defend it again. I don’t think that either tribe was as terrible as some people thought. Sure, it would have been way better without the likes of Brandon Hantz, the worst ever contestant in the history of Survivor. But then we wouldn’t have had his crazy meltdown affecting the game and that actually would have been disappointing. The greatest tribal council happened this season as Phillip was voted out of the game. As much as the Cool Kids alliance and the Three Amigos struggled against the tide, it was still quite fun to watch what all they could do even if they were fighting a losing battle. All in all, this is a much better season than people give it credit for.

Cambodia: I’m not entirely sure if the reaction to this season was all that negative, but it was negative enough in some places for me to put it here. What does game bot mean? It doesn’t make much since to me. This season was quite interesting. I love the players that made it far and it had great blindsides. Plus, there was a different format with it to keep people on their toes. It is certainly an interesting season and the final four was great. Why don't people like it?

Koah Rong: Maybe lots of people did like this unusual season and were just disappointed at the final result at the end. Now I’m going to have to make something clear and I will yell to do this (by typing in all caps of course). Are you ready for this? Here goes: MICHELE IS A GREAT WINNER! SHE IS NOT ONE OF THE WORST WINNERS OF SURVIVOR! WHY DID PEOPLE LIKE AUBRY!? AUBRY WOULD HAVE BEEN A TERRIBLE WINNER! Now that I have that clear, I can honestly say that I do not understand the love of Aubry who was quite stuck-up and incredibly rude. What ending for a season would it have been if the person who constantly has things going the wrong way for her ending up winning? I’ll tell you what: a terrible winner. Aubry would have been the worst winner since Sophie. Now a lot of unusual seasons are quite good in the end (look at Palau) and this one had a better cast than some people would give it credit for. The blindsides of the bullies in the end were something that were quite good to watch. So I’m not sure if people hate this a lot or not, but I like it.

Well, that’s all that I can think about for this blog post. Seasons that people hated that I like are basically the ones that I picked here. If I felt that they were good enough considered in the fan community and I liked them, I didn’t put them on the list. If they did get negative reception and I didn’t include them here, I basically thought they were crap too. I might have to do an overrated seasons list in the future, although I’m not sure that I will. I’ll reveal the random rankings of old seasons randomly and I will rank all the seasons in special blog posts, but only if Survivor ends. Of course, you’ll see more of my thoughts on current seasons as they progress. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.