Episode 34.8

My laptop is back to working right so there shouldn’t be any major problems with it for a while. If there were problems, then there wouldn’t be any random posts during the summer until the issue is resolved. The next paragraph will explain more of what happened.

Here’s a paragraph that I’m putting in multiple blogs. I had problems with my laptop’s power cord and had to get a new one to use it again long term. In the event that there are problems with my laptop, this would be one of the blogs that I would try to keep updating blogs of shows that are still on, like this one. If not, then I would stop updating the blog until I have a new computer to do so with. For now, the issue is resolved and hopefully there won’t be any other problems with this for a while.

If there is one thing that I know without looking it up, I have done terribly predicting things this season. I doubt that many of my predictions will be remotely close to being right in the long term. Maybe I’ll have a few right, but this could turn out to be the worst I’ve been at predicting this in the few seasons that I’ve actually done predictions.

Now might be a good time to mention the history of controversies from this show. The first season had a controversy when a contestant from that season sued the show over what she felt was production manipulation that resulted in her elimination. Not much is known after that except that Mark Brunet countersued that person and the matter was settled out of court. The second season had a contestant taking coral from a reef which is in violation of that country’s laws. The third season had people messing up the final four immunity challenge with an obscure question that they failed to do enough research on. The fourth season had the purple rock, but some may question if that was a true controversy.

The next season to cause a controversy was the eighth season. The incident with Sue and a naked Richard was controversial. The America’s Tribal Council that season was also considered controversial as well. The thirteenth season divided tribes by race which was highly criticized by some people, yet widely praised by various contestants. The fourteenth season ignored all applicants except for one person who was in the final cast. Denise in the sixteenth season created a problem at the reunion show by possibly misleading people into thinking that being on the show got her fired. The seventeenth season had brief, uncensored nudity. The nineteenth and twentieth season were affected by mass spoilers. The twenty-sixth season had the terrible reunion show. And now this season has a controversial moment. Things were going so well too.

It is worth mentioning now that Ozzy’s elimination makes the fact that Cook Islands and South Pacific are now eliminated from this season. I have no idea what will end up happening this season. I’m not sure who has the potential to still win, who is a threat to win that won’t, who is in the path to victory of the winner that has to be eliminated and dealt with, and who doesn’t have a chance anymore. Maybe it is good not knowing who could potentially win. But I’d feel better if more of the choices were clearer. I’m not sure that I would know for sure who doesn’t have a chance anymore, but I do feel that some people like Debbie may be an obstacle in the winner’s path and not a potential winner themselves.

There have been some storms in the area today. Hopefully this won’t affect this blog post at all. If there is a power outage, then I should have this posted on Friday. The same can be said if there is storm coverage over the show on both of my CBS affiliates. Normally, I try to avoid using my laptop on days like this. But I have to use it to write this blog. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Debbie gloats over getting rid of Ozzy and feels that her side has all the power. Andrea wants to get rid of Zeke. I don’t understand what happened between them. I must have missed it, if they aired it at all. Sarah talks about her decision to get rid of Ozzy. She makes a good analogy about how lines drawn in the sand get washed away by the tide.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the reward challenge. The overview shows that a secret advantage is up for grabs if people notice it. Whoever isn’t picked gets no shot at reward, which is one of the dumbest things that go on in this game any season. Michaela is the sit out and she is right where the advantage is if she notices that. I guess that’s nice to offer the forced sit out. She’ll feel dumb know if she doesn’t notice it before she has to leave the challenge area.

The orange tribe does very badly in the challenge due to the poor performance of Zeke and Cirie. The blue tribe wins the challenge. Even though her team lost, Cirie finishes the challenge and the other contestants offer support for this. I’m still not sure what her long term story is. Would they show a winner struggling this much? I thought that when they did that with Aubry in Kaoh Rong, I could rule out her winning that season. They bring a boat in for the losers. Michaela never noticed what was probably meant for her: the secret advantage. Sarah did and she takes it for herself.

In the third segment of the show, Cirie talks about her struggles in the challenge. Sarah reads what the advantage is. It is a vote stealer option. She notices that they haven’t been played correctly before, these extra votes. I thought that Tai did his right in Kaoh Rong. But he might have wasted it. I’d have to look up the information. We get to the reward next. Brad talks about how he intentionally left some of his alliance members out of the school yard pick. I hope that’s a secret scene somewhere: who picked who. Cirie tries to reel Sarah instead her side. Sarah wonders what to do.

In the fourth segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. Tai gets really confused trying to get things set up in advance so he isn’t so confused setting up. He ends up being the last one out there as a result. Troyzan ends up winning the challenge. I notice that Brad seemed to be helping him at the end. I wonder if they are in an alliance as they were both rejected from the Cambodia cast. This makes me wonder if we’ll see other pairs of rejects from that season in the future.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get the image of various sharks in the water. What’s that song from Legally Blonde the Musical about blood in the water? I can’t tell if Brad is really in control or simply thinks that he’s in control. He wants to take out Andrea. They want to split the vote between her and Michaela. Sarah wasn’t consulted with this decision, so she feels that she should make a move now. Man, so many people get slighted to easily in this game. One moment your king of Narnia, then, just like Miraz, his associates kill him for feeling slighted. Sierra, Sarah, and Andrea could be the final three if nobody flips. Debbie wants to think that Aubry is on the same side as she is. Aubry is very suspicious of this and could wind up blindsiding Debbie again because of this.

Sarah thinks that she will decide at tribal council what to do. At tribal council, the tribe talks more about Cirie and the reward challenge. Andrea feels vulnerable. Debbie talks about the power alliance and how they made up their mind. She then possibly quotes Princess Bride. Zeke wants there to be a reshuffling of the deck at hand. I can’t tell what’s going to happen. That happens a lot. According to Debbie, a democracy is when there are some who give orders and some who take orders. The idols are still irrelevant as Tai has two and Troyzan has one. The person voted out is Debbie. I guess Sarah flipped? I’m not honestly sure, but this at least fits with my theory of her not winning and being an obstacle to overcome on the way to the win.

On the next Survivor, the tide has turned in some sort of way. I can’t tell what is going on. Man, they love these vague promos, don’t they? I’m just glad to be able to use my laptop again. We’ll see what ends up happening in the future.

Total confessional count: Sarah- 16, Troyzan- 8, Zeke- 17, Sierra- 11, Tai- 14, Debbie- 22, Andrea- 10, Aubry- 10, Michaela- 12, Brad- 16, Cirie- 18.

New confessionals this episode: Cirie- 2, Sarah- 7, Troyzan- 1, Zeke- 2, Sierra- 3, Tai- 0, Debbie- 4, Andrea- 2, Aubry- 1, Michaela- 0, Brad- 2.

Debbie is the next person with the highest confessional count to be eliminated from the game. Cirie is the second highest at the moment, or highest of the remaining players still in the game. Troyzan is the lowest in the total count as he is the only person left still in single digits. Debbie was second highest in the new count this week. Sarah was highest with 7. Everyone else was lower than those two. Tai and Michaela had no new confessionals, which is weird for Michaela since she was a potential target. There’s nothing else new to say regarding this, so I guess that I’m done with this. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.