Survivor Redemption Island Episode 11

This blog post contains spoilers.

In this episode of Survivor, the former Ometepe tribe members (also known as the Mariano Crime Syndicate) continued to vote off former Zapatera tribe members. In this episode there was a double elimination at tribal council, and the Ometepes finished off the Zapatera tribe by voting off Steve and Ralph. I personally feel like this is justice as the Zapateras threw a challenge early on in the game in order to vote off Russell. Immediately after the merge, what is important in the game of Survivor is numbers, which makes throwing challenges a very dangerous move. That the Zapateras are punished for this very swiftly is very satisfying.

There are now six players left in the game: the three men (Rob, Grant, and Philip) and the three women (Andrea, Natalie, and Ashley). Rob is a former Survivor player who just about everyone looks up to. It would make sense for others to vote him out because he is such a threat. However, Rob has never won the million-dollar grand prize and in my opinion, if he gets to the top two or top three, like Russell, he will find it difficult to convince members of the jury to vote for him. The last time Rob made it to the final two the jury voted against him and instead decided to give the million dollars to his future wife Amber (this happen in Survivor All Stars). In my opinion, the jury voted against Rob because he so clearly backstabbed members of the jury. In Survivor Redemption Island, it is not clear whether the jury will blame him. Many may actually vote for him because they think he played well and deserves the money.

Rob has stated many times that he wants to take crazy Philip to the end because he believes there is no chance that Philip will receive any votes from the jury. Because Rob wants to protect Philip and because he is close to Grant, I believe that there is a good chance that the key alliance in the Ometepe tribe is among the three men. The person at the bottom is clearly Andrea. Once they vote off Andrea I believe then that the men will vote off the women simply because they are women. If you keep a woman till the end then there is a good chance that the jury members will vote for her simply because she is a woman. The men will want to vote off the women to get rid of this threat. From then who is voted off among the men will depend on the immunity challenge. I predict that either Rob or Grant will win the million dollars.

Survivor Redemption Island Episode 10

This blog post contains spoilers

I have not written about Survivor 22 (Redemption Island) in a long time mainly because I was on holidays. But now that I am back I have caught up with with the current Survivor season. In episode 10, Dave was eliminated from Redemption Island and Julie was voted off at tribal council into Redemption Island.

Basically the season started with two tribes, one tribe had Boston Rob on it and the other tribe has Russell on it. These two castaways are from previous Survivor episodes. Both these players are known for being very good players, although they have never actually won the million dollars. Rob got along well with his tribe but Russell did not get along well with his tribe. Russell's tribe actually threw a challenge just so they could vote him out, and then when they kept losing challenges thereafter, proceeded to vote off the women who had aligned themselves to him. As a result, Russell's tribe went into the merge with one man down and right now they are being picked off one after another by Rob's tribe.

With Russell gone, there really are no interesting players other than Rob and Phillip. Phillip is wacky former federal agent. His craziness and antagonism may actually help him because it provides an incentive for players to keep him till the end since nobody will vote for him. After Julie has been voted off and the tribe that was once Russell's tribe dwindles down to only two people, I think it is likely that these two will be voted off in the next two episodes and then Rob's alliance will start to cannibalise. It's difficult to know what will happen after that.

Survivor Redemption Island Episode 2

This blog post contains spoilers.

In this episode, Russells tribe once again win the immunity challenge early. Most of the action happens after the immunity challenge. In Russell's tribe, a castaway named Ralph who looks like a stereotypical redneck farmer finds the hidden immunity idol without any clues. Russell snatches the clue but because Ralph has already found the idol, it is pointless. To make matters worse for Russell, most of the men in his tribe (who outnumber the women) saw him snatching the clue and are eager to vote him off because he is not trustworthy. I am convinced that Russell will not survive in this game and will go out early. The only thing saving him at the moment is his team's ability to win immunity challenges. His reputation for being untrustworthy is only being confirmed when he continues to behave deviously.

Over at the other tribe, it is expected that Rob would orchestrate the ouster or the crazy man Phillip or Kristina. However, he notices that Matt and Andrea may be forming a strong romantic alliance, that Andrea is strong player, especially when she has control of Matt. To fix this problem he forms a four-player alliance to get rid of Matt, which weakens Andrea and makes her dependent on him. By also sparing Phillip he also controls him through fear. This looks good for Rob but I am worried that with a four versus three position with Phillip, Kristina, and Andrea in the minority in Rob's tribe, all it will take for this tribe to flip on him is if one person from his alliance defects. Keeping Phillip in the game may be a good move as he seems harmless to Rob and also seems very loyal.

Survivor Redemption Island Episode 1

This blog post contains spoilers.

Season 22 of Survivor will still be on Nicaragua, as was season 21, but this season will features two twists: Firstly, those who are voted out do not leave but rather go to Redemption Island (RI) where they will have to survive by themselves. When the next person is voted out, he or she also goes to RI where the two castaways will engage in a duel. The winner of the duel will continue to stay on RI while the loser is completely out of the competition. At some stage in the future the castaway on RI will re-enter the game. Survivor Pearl Island had a somewhat similar idea in that two people who were previously voted out went back into the game. When this happened, there was a lot of pressure on the returning castaways because those in the game make the argument that these people did not deserve to still be in the game. The second twist this season involves the return of former Survivor players Boston Rob and Russell Hantz. Boston Rob has played three times, went to the end once, but has never won. Russell, a self-proclaimed multi-millionaire who owns an oil company, has played in two seasons, has been to the end twice, but has also never won. Given these these two players have developed reputations as villainous and devious players, it is likely that other players will see them as a threat, which may see them voted off early. If this happens, the existence of RI should give Rob and Russell fans an incentive to continue to watch the season.

During the first episode, Rob and Russell were randomly assigned to separate tribes. Russell is in the more physical side whereas Rob is in the less physical side made up of younger and physically weaker people. Because Rob is the only strong player on his tribe, he is important. However, Russell is a strong player among many other seemingly strong players, so his position in the tribe is, in my opinion, not good, especially given his villainous reputation.

Rob's tribe lost the immunity challenge and went to tribal council. He teamed up with three young girls and two young guys to form a six-strong alliance versus a minority of three people: Francesca, Phil, and Kristina. Because Rob suspected that Kristina had an immunity idol, he instructed his alliance to split the vote between Kristina and Francesca. This plan resulted in Francesca being voted off.

One of the castaways, Phil, is probably one of the strangest contestants ever. He was a former Federal agent and likes to brag about this. When he talks, he uses secret agent jargon. He reminds me of a friend of mine who studied law in university and although he is not a lawyer but an accountant he loves to brag about how he had a sharp legal mind and that he knows how to think in a legal manner. While being a Federal agent or being a law may or may not be an impressive thing, the bottom line is that if you have to brag about it, surely you must be insecure.

Survivor Nicaragua Episode 1 - Young at Heart

This blog post contains spoilers.

I've seen all seasons of Survivor. There have been 20 so far, and Nicaragua is the 21st. In this season, the two tribes are divided by the older players (over 40) and the younger players (under 30).

Let me just say early on that after watching last season's Survivor Heroes vs Villains, the first episode of Survivor Nicaragua was quite disappointing mainly because not much seemed to happen. It was great to watch Survivor again after waiting for a bit, but all in all this was an average episode.

During the immunity challenge, the young tribe won and the old tribe went to tribal council where they voted out a woman named Wendy who looked young but was actually about 48. My opinion was that the main problem with her is that she was not physically strong (it is normal in Survivor for weaker players to be voted out early) and because she did not bond well with the rest of her tribe. She knew that she was different and tried hard to bite her tongue and not say much. She spent much of her time working by herself rather than bonding with others players. It is important for players to not only try to work and to show that they are valuable and strong but to also put some effort into socializing with others. During the tribal council she came out strong and effectively blamed everyone else in her tribe for not being nice to her. After her outburst I was sure that she would go. You don't demand respect from others. You earn it.

The preview for the second episode sort of suggests that the younger tribe (called La Flor) will go to tribal council and there will be massive argumetns involving one of the younger blonde male players, pejoratively called Fabio.

Survivor Heroes vs Villains - Final Episode

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

It's been a great season, but the final five were Russell, Sandra, Jerri, Parvati, and Colby. Colby was the last Hero, and I definitely wanted him to do well, but in the immunity challenge he came short and lost against Parvati, so he was voted out. In the next immunity challenge, Russell won and initially thought about voting out Parvati. Instead everyone voted out Jerri. The three contestants in the final tribal council were Russell, Parvati, and Sandra.

Russell played a similar game to Samoa and the results were just the same. The jury hated him so much that they voted for the weak player instead, and the winner of Heroes vs Villains was Sandra. Sandra was very good at the end. The problem with Sandra is her poor performance in challenges, but whenever someone in the jury brought this topic up, Sandra very skillfully changed the subject and spoke about how she tried hard to get Russell out, so she capitalized on the jury's hatred for Russell very well. The fact that she was against Russell made her look very good.

At the reunion, Russell looked distraught. I felt really sorry for the man because he had worked so hard to win. He may have been a bully and he may have been very malicious, but if there's one positive I see in him it's the fact that he is honestly and obviously malicious. He is a true wolf, not a wolf in sheep's clothing. He is more like a street thug rather than a popular but secretly corrupt politician.

The next season is in Nicaragua. The previews look very ordinary. There seems to be no twists or innovations or gimmicks, but this may be a good thing as Survivor returns to its roots.

Survivor Heroes vs Villains Episode 11 - Jumping Ship

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

In the previous episode of Survivor, JT was voted off, giving the Heroes only four people, namely Amanda, Colby, Rupert, and Candice. On the other hand, the Villains have five people: Russell, Parvati, Danielle, Jerri, and Sandra. The upper hand seems to be with the Villains in terms of numbers. However, Sandra is on the outs with the Villains. If voting goes as normal and the Heroes are voted off one by one then Sandra will only be guaranteed in the top five as the Villains will vote her out as soon as all the Heroes are voted out. Sandra can get be better deal by aligning herself with the Heroes, voting off a Villain, and then switching to vote for a Villains and then continuing to alternate until the final three during which she brings the three most hated players along to the final tribal council. In this episode, it seems like Sandra was indeed trying to flip. She wanted to flip to the heroes and vote out either Russell or Parvati. If Sandra flips, it's five vs four.

When Amanda, Danielle, and Colby went to the reward challenge, Danielle found a clue to a hidden immunity idol (HII). Amanda saw Danielle finding it and the two of them got into a fight. Colby did not involve himself in the fight. Amanda then gave the HII back to Danielle. This incident I thought was interesting because I don't know what the rules are with regards to HII clues. I think with HIIs ownership of the idol goes to the person who finds it. However, with HII clues, what is the rule? I assume there are no rules, and if this is true then Amanda and Colby could possibly have wrestled Danielle and forced her to reveal the clue. However, there is a rule of Survivor that says you cannot hit someone. I don't like it when there is uncertainty over rules. In my opinion, the current system of dropping HIIs into food and napkins should be replaced by a system whereby HII clues are earned by winning a reward challenge.

Danielle shared the clue with her Villains and she and Russell went out to find it. Russell found it but, angry that Danielle and Parvati found an idol and didn't tell him about it, Russell decided to keep the idol for himself and not tell Danielle or Parvati. Instead, Russell told Candice about the idol. What this did was bring Candice over to the Villains' side. Candice is like the Heroes' Sandra. She is on the bottom for her own alliance, and so it would make sense for her to switch as well, but in my opinion Candice needs to realize that the next person to go should be a Villain to even the numbers out. You you engage in a divide and conquer strategy, you want to be able to conquer, and voting out another Hero only skews the numbers in favor of the Villains even more, giving Russel, Parvati, Danielle, and Jerri even more power. Candice told Russell everything Sandra was going to do and because of this Sandra decided to switch her vote and vote with the Villains. In the end, Amanda was voted off because Candice and Sandra voted for her.

Candice has a history of being disloyal. In Cook Islands, she flipped on her own tribe, but this turned out to be a losing move because she flipped into a tribe that had a member who also flipped. I can't really blame Candice for flipping because if she stayed with the Heroes plus Sandra and voted off the Villains one by one then she would be guaranteed either top five or top four since Amanda, Colby, and Rupert are probably strong, although it could be argued that Colby is not really that solid in this alliance. The old core Heroes alliance seems to be dead ever since JT was voted off. When Russell guaranteed Candice top three, it sounds better than top five or four, so she defected and is now with the Heroes. However, Candice is putting a lot of trust in Russell who has already screwed over the Heroes, so it should be evident to Candice that Russell is not trustworthy. Another reason why I think Candice voted with the Villains is because of fear. Russell has the HII and can give it to anyone. He could give it to Parvati or Danielle (Jerri had immunity from the challenge). The Heroes plus Sandra need to choose someone who won't play the HII. There is a 33 per cent probability that the Heroes plus Sandra vote for someone who plays the HII and then Amanda would have gone anyway and then Candice's vote against the Villains would show Russell and she was not loyal to him and therefore her chances of top three are gone. This was a similar tactice Yul in Cook Islands used to get Jonathan on his side. However, in Cook Island, Yul brought Jonathan over and then slit his throat. I think Russell will do the same with Candice. I therefore cannot really blame Candice for doing what she did, but in my opinion a better move for Candice would be to join Sandra, vote off a Villain, then a Hero, and then alternate. If Russell was voted off then it would be three vs three (Amanda, Colby, and Rupert vs Parvati, Danielle, and Jerri) with Sandra and Candice as the swing votes. This is in my opinion the optimal strategy as it gives the swing voters a lot of power. If the numbers are even among Heroes and Villains, swing voters are very important and everyone will do anything for their vote. But if Villains have more power than Heroes then swing voters are not necessary. However, since there is a 33 per cent chance that their vote would be blocked by a HII, Candice decided to put her trust in Russell instead.

The danger with this alternating strategy is if the Heroes and Villains all gang up and vote out the swing voter, e.g. Amanda, Colby, and Rupert allign themselves with Russell, Parv, and Danielle to vote out Sandra and Candice. But in my opinion this would be unlikely. This alternating strategy works because the two groups are divided. The Heroes and the Villains are divided and cannot trust each other. If Russell walks up to Amanda and tells her that they should all vote out the swing voter, Russell could be trying to get Amanda to waste a vote so that he and the Villains can vote out another Hero. Furthermore, even if the Heroes and Villains all align and vote off the swing voters, the result would be a three vs three tie after the swing voters are gone, which results in a massive risks of a tie vote, which means stones will be drawn, which means a 25 per cent probability of going home.

Many people are criticizing the many HIIs used in this show. In my opinion, a HII is great to add action to the same, especially when a member of a weaker alliance gets a hold of it. It equalizes the playing field. However, even though the Villains have numbers over the Heroes, the Villains are so fractured that it is fun to watch Villains flipping over to the Heroes. In this situation, a HII is not necessary to increase entertainment value. If anything, it reduces it because there is a probability that the Villains will find it and it strengthens their power even more, giving them more power and making the game more one-sided. In order to make Survivor most entertaining, game designers need to act as if they were in antitrust. They need to make sure there is competitition and that there is not too much consolidation of power. Consolidation of power leads to order and predictability, which makes the show boring.

Survivor Heroes vs Villains Episode 10 - Going Down in Flames

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

This was a great episode of Survivor, but I expected the person who was voted to be voted off because I have actually been exposed to the spoilers. Here is a little tip for any Survivor fans out there. Do not go to Survivor message boards like Survivor Sucks or CBS Survivor Community Forum. This is because there are people there who post spoilers, and unfortunately for me I was exposed to some of these spoilers, so I know who was going to get voted off in episode 10 and I also know who will be in the final three as well as who wins.

When I saw these spoilers, I was skeptical because CBS makes every contestant and staff sign confidentiality agreements to make sure the results do not leak. Any leak may affect the suspense of the show, which may affect how many people eventually watch the show, which can affect profitability. However, it is clear that there must have been a leakage because the spoilers given by this person seem to be coming true. Instead of going to message board to read extra, I recommend that if you want to get extra Survivor material, you go to the following websites:

• The Tribe: A Survivor Podcast - I makes it a personal rule to listen to this podcast while I am on my exercise bike, and I have found that I have been exercising quite a lot now. The four people who do this podcast are very funny. The only downside of this podcast is when at the end they read out all the emails from listeners. Some of the emails are long and boring.
• CBS Survivor - I go to CBS's Survivor website to watch the secret scenes after an episode is over. I enjoy the trivia there as well. The sight also allows you to watch the full tribal council. That is, you can hear what each castaway said during voting. The problem is that when they speak they whisper and it's very difficult to hear them. CBS needs to build the voting booth very far away from where the rest of the castaways sit so that the castaways can speak at normal volume without fear of other castaways hearing. The videos on the CBD website are extremely advertising intensive, but that is not too much of a problem because many of the ads are okay in quality.
• Survivor Central - Entertainment Weekly - A great site for Survivor news. It also contains Jeff Probst's blog.
• Survivor Heroes vs Villains - Survivor Fever - The site has great content but the downside is the cheap appearance of the site and the excessive ads--including annoying pop-ups!

Comments on Episode 10

In episode 10, the Heroes and Villains merge and become Yin Yang, which is a suitable name. In the previous episode, JT gave Russell the hidden immunity idol (HII) because he assumed that an all-female alliance was going to get rid of him. This was a risky move JT played in order to get Russell on the Heroes' side after the merge to avoid a tie vote. The assumption turned out to be very bad. There was no all-female alliance and JT was fooled into giving away a HII, which means that the Villains have two HIIs while the Heroes have zero, and therefore the Villains have the upper hand.

Post-merge, Russell pretended that he is on their side and they are going to vote for Parvati next. However, Sandra told Rupert all about Russell's lie. Rupert told the rest of the Heroes who then plan to tell Russell that they will be voting for Parvati but instead vote for Jerri instead. The problem was that this plan was leaked to the Villains, not deliberately but because Amanda went to Parvati and told her that she should play her idol, which must have made Parvati think that they were not voting for her. During tribal council, Colby even said that there was a chance that they would not be gunning for Parvati. During tribal council, Parvati gave two HIIs to Jerri and Sandra. If the Heroes had voted for Russell or Parvati, there would have been a draw assuming that Sandra voted with the Villains. The Villains ended up voting out JT.

Parvati had two HIIs. She received one from Russell but she also found another and she did not tell Russell about it, and based on the previews of episode 11, it looks like Russell is not happy with Parvati keeping secrets from him.

Forecasts

Sandra is in an interesting position. She knows that she is on the outs with the Villains, so if she continues with the normal plan of picking off the Heroes one by one then she will be the first one to go after the last Hero leaves. Her best move, in my opinion, is to allign with the Heroes and vote out a Villain next. Of course, if she aligns with the Heroes and the rest of the Villains are voted off one by one, she will be voted out right after as well. I think the best move for her to make is to vote off a Villain, followed by a Hero, followed by a Villain. However, if this plan is too obvious then they all might just vote her off. She needs to be subtle. She should align with the Heroes and vote out Danielle, align with the Villains again and vote off Rupert, then Jerri, then Candice, and then she permanently joins the Villains Russell and Parvati to vote off Amanda and Colby because going into the final three with Russell and Parvati, who are both hated, Russell probably moreso than Parvati.

Hidden Immunity Idols

Many Survivor purists do not like the addition of HIIs into the game. As I recall, the HII was introduced in Survivor Guatemala. In that season you had to play the idol before the votes were cast. However, in Survivor Panama you play the idol after the votes were cast and read out. The HIIs in these seasons were completely boring and useless. After these seasons, they changed the rules so that HIIs had to be played after votes were cast but before the votes were read out, which in my opinion makes the game a lot better. HIDs make the game more interesting because without it the tribe that has fewer numbers post-merge would be picked off one by one, which is quite boring.

Single Challenges or Double Challenges

Traditionally there would be two challenges: a reward challenge and an immunity challenge. In Survivor Heroes vs Villains, there has been a tendency in some seasons to have a combined reward and immunity challenge. Many Survivor purists do not like this but I happen to prefer it. Survivor is a game of politics, so more focus I think should be on the politics and not on the challenges. If we wanted to watch challenges, we can watch shows like Wipeout (an absolutely horrible show, in my opinion). Furthermore, many reward challenges are for trivial and pointless luxuries like fishing gear. Although these tools may be essential for survival, that is not really what I see is the point of Survivor. It is not about survival in the wilderness or outback (we have Man vs Wild for that). As I said, Survivor is not about wilderness survival but political survival. It is not man vs wild but man vs man. Having reward challenges merely distract from the main point of the game. That being said, I do not like it when CBS just hands out heaps of luxuries to the castaways. I want the castaways to suffer and work for the million dollars, so I am all for having combined reward and immunity challenges and making sure the rewards are not too excessive. I absolutely hate it when CBS gives castaways tools to build houses (Survivor Fiji).

Lessons from this Episode

JT said in the interview after the game that he should not have trusted Russell. He also said that he should never trust women. I assume he was referring to Parvati. JT took a risk and it didn't pay off. But he also made a mistake in assuming that there was an all-female alliance and that he could trust Russell, even though other members of the Heroes tribes expressed skepticism. That JT could so easily fall for a scam like this makes me paranoid about whether I can trust anyone in real life. The lesson we can learn from this is that indeed it is dangerous to trust others and it is dangerous to assume. This does not mean that we cannot trust others and that we cannot assume things. We need to assume things because not doing so is too difficult in a world that is so complex. We also cannot distrust everyone because as social creatures there needs to be some people we trust otherwise we become completely isolated, and there are downsides to being isolated. A balance is needed. For example, I trust that my parents care for me and like me, but I am prepared if they are not. A husband should trust that his wife loves him and will be with him forever, but he should also be prepared if the wife betrays him.

JT won Survivor Tocantins but to me it seemed to be an accidental win. In Heroes vs Villains, it seems as if JT was trying to prove himself by playing harder. He made many moves early in the game and came up with the innovating plan to give the HII to Russell.

Survivor Heroes vs Villains Episode 8 - Expectations

This blog post contians Survivor spoilers.

When Russell appeared, I expect him to go early when he faced off with Boston Rob, mainly because the numbers were on Rob's side. It's amazing how Russell used to be outnumbered and now he is the one in control. It was interesting to see him in Survivor Samoa when he lead a small after the merge to take on a larger group and come out on top. I never expected to see Boston Rob go, but he is now gone. After Russell gave up his immunity idol, Jerri seemed to want to align herself with Russell, and Coach seems to be sway with what Jerri wants, so once Coach and Jerri were voting with Russell, Rob was gone. In a way I am happy because I am not a fan of Rob. I really disliked his attitude in Survivor All Stars. His decision to marry in a game I thought was pure cheating. In Survivor you cannot split the winnings, but marriage effectively achieves this so the whole All Stars season was dodgy. Of all the Survivor seasons, I think All Stars would be the worst mainly because of Boston Rob and Amber.

Russell has taken out his biggest rival and now his team of villains seems to be weak. They lose both the reward challenge and the immunity challenge. They seem to be in complete disarray now. The Heroes have been on a losing spree and in the process have culled off many weak players, namely Cerie, Sugar, and James. Tom and Stephanie I believe are strong players but they left because of the communism effect, that is, weak players using their numbers to vote off strong players. I think the communism effect is inevitable in a game like Survivor, but the Heroes did manage to get rid of a lot of weak players, so now they are left with a strong tribe. The Villains on the other hand, have gotten rid of Randy and Sugar, who weak players, but then got rid of Tyson and Boston Rob, who are two strong players. The voting off of strong players in the Villains tribe seems to be the doing of Evil Russell. The Villains still have Sandra and Courtney, who are very weak players. That they were in the immunity challenge made the tribe lose. Russell I believe is a very communistic player in that he gets rid of big threats, i.e. strong players. He gets rid of rivals and then takes control in a dictatorial fashion. His behavior is similar to that of a communist dictator. The problem with communism is that the cruel exploitation of the people usually leads to popular uprising, which often leads to the fall of the communist government. This was Russells undoing in Survivor Samoa. He rose to power and then dominated until the final two. But at the end, the jury revolted and voted against him. If Russell wants to win a season he needs to model his behavior not on communist dictators because history shows that communism is rarely successful.

At tribal council, Coach was voted out. Russell was gunning for him because Sandra managed to get him scared that Coach was after him. Strangely, Russell ended up voting for Courtney, but Danielle, who originally wanted to vote off Courtney, ended up voting for Coach. I had a feeling Coach was going because the show seemed to be suggesting too much that Courtney was leaving. Usually when the show suggests that one person is going to leave, that person is not going to leave.

Coach's departure is a sad one for me because he is definitely an interesting character. His behavior is very unique and he tries to be heroic.

Heroes vs Villains Ep 6

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

By far this was one of the best episodes I've watched. The twist in this episode was that both tribes would go to tribal council to vote players off and the challenge was only for food and the ability to watch the other tribe at tribal council. Boston Rob won individual immunity for the Villains and Candice won individual immunity for the Heroes. Boston Rob faced off against Candice and won for the Villains food and the right to watch the Heroes at tribal council.

The Heroes finally did what they obviously needed to do, which is vote off James. In the Villains tribal council, something very shocking happened.

Russell has the hidden immunity idol (HID) and pretty much everyone knew it. Russell is in an alliance with Parvati and maybe Danielle. These three are in the minority (3 vs 7). To flush the HID out, a simple plan to split the vote is required. Rob, Tyson, and Sandra vote for Russell; Courtney, Couch, and Jerri vote for Parvati. It was expected that Parvati, Russell, and Danielle vote for Tyson. If Russell plays the idol, there is tie between Tyson and Parvati (three votes each) and there is a revote. In the revote, those who voted initially for Russell switch their votes to Parvati and she goes. If Russel does not play the idol, there is a tie among Tyson, Parvati, and Russell and then those who voted for Parvati initially could vote for Russell in the second vote to get him out. What I don't understand (and this is because I am not exactly sure of the rules of Survivor) is whether Russell can play the HID in the revote.

In practice, the voting did not go according to plan. Russell lied and told Tyson that he would vote for Parvati and for some weird reason Tyson thought it would be a good idea to switch his vote from Russel to Parvati. This may be because he was worried about being the one voted against. Tyson, Parvati, and Russell were the ones on the chopping block, so Tyson may have felt like it was a good idea to attack Parvati to protect himself after he learned (wrongly) that Russell was going to vote for her. (Go to Ousted Villain calls his vote flip the dumbest move in Survivor history to see Tyson's explanation for why he switched votes.) In tribal council, Russell actually gave the immunity idol to Parvati and spoke to coach about how he was a player of honor and integrity. The four votes against Parvati were neutralized, Russel received two votes, but Tyson received three votes. Tyson went home.

Even though this was a very risky move that actually paid off. Russell's alliance is still in the minority (3 vs 5). But it is difficult to know whether Boston Rob's alliance will hold up. When Tyson left, he did not reveal to anyone that he was the one who screwed up and voted for Parvati. Rob may assume that Sandra, who was meant to vote for Russell, was the one who screwed up, and he may not trust her. He might think that Sandra was in the alliance with Russell and voted for Parvati maybe because she knew that Russell would give the HID to Parvati. Then there is Coach. In tribal council, Russell revealed that he and Coach had a discussion about the importance of honor and integrity and Russell illustrated these qualities by sacrificing his own HID. This then might put pressure on Coach to move to Russell's alliance. It may even make Rob nervous about whether Coach is with him or not.

Going forward, if the Rob vs Russell conflict intensifies, it will be interesting to see what happens post-merge. Will Rob and Russell unite to vote off the Heroes one-by-one (assuming the Heroes remain down in numbers compared to the Villains) or will either Russell and his alliance align with the Heroes to take down Rob's alliance? It will be interesting to see.

Heroes vs Villains Ep 5

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

In this episode of Survivor, while the rest of the Villains tribe is doing tai chi, Russel finds the hidden immunity idol and uses it to set up an alliance with Parvati and Coach. Russel's intention is to take out Rob. Unfortunately, the Heroes lose both the reward challenge and the immunity challenge. In the reward challenge, James busted his leg up to the point where he was barely able to walk. The balance of power lied with JT who could take out either Tom, a strong and uninjured player, or James, an immobilized player. JT chose to get rid of Tom, which I think is a bad move. The Heroes are down in numbers, they cannot sit out players, and therefore James has to play in challanges. If these challenges involve anything remotely physical (e.g. swimming or jogging) then the Heroes tribe will lose. The only way the Heroes can win now is if there is a purely mental challenge, and it's clear from history that the Heroes are not good at puzzle challenges, so from here on I predict annihilation for the Heroes tribe. There is a possibility that James's leg might heal over time.

Heroes vs Villains Ep 4 - Survivor and Communism

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

Hidden Immunity Idols

When everyone in the Villains tribe realized that there was a hidden immunity idol on their camp somewhere, they reached a consensus that whoever went looking for it would be voted off next. Russel from Survivor Samoa went off and tried to find the idol, which I thought was a bad move because now he will be, as Boston Rob said, a "marked man." Even though there is an agreement to get rid of whoever looks for the idol, in practice this may be difficult as there will be a temptation among contestants to align themselves with whoever has the idol. Furthermore, the Heroes tribe has an oversupply of physically strong men whereas the Villains tribe has an undersupply, so getting rid of a strong man like Russel won't be a good idea for the Villains. I believe the Villains made a good choice to get rid of Randy the previous time they were at tribal council because Randy was clearly the oldest and weakest male. Voting off weak females would be a good idea as well, but because the Villains have a numbers advantage, they have the luxury of sitting out females in challenges.

When the players at the Heroes camp realized that there was a hidden immunity idol somewhere on their camp, there was no attempt to reach a gentlemen's agreement not to go looking for it. (Such behavior does not seem heroic to me.) Rather, everyone scrambled into the bushes to try find the idol, and Tom found it, although Amanda saw him finding it and then told everyone. Currently in the Heroes tribe there are eight members. Five players--Candice, Amanda, James, Rupert, and JT--are aligned, meaning Colby and Tom, the remaining Heroes, are on the chopping block. This makes absolutely no sense from a tribal strength perspective because Colby and Tom are physically strong players, but the history of communism shows that when great power is up for grabs, weak people acting together can overthrow strong people. That is exactly what is happening on the Heroes tribe.

Tribal Council

The Villains won both the reward challenge and the immunity challenge, although both challenges were very close and arguably the Villains were just lucky. Nevertheless, the Heroes were going to tribal council where they would vote one player off. The initial plan was for Candice, Cerie, Amanda, James, Rupert, and JT to address the hidden immunity idol issue by giving three votes to Colby and three votes to Tom. That way they flush out the immunity idol and get rid of someone outside the alliance. However, JT and Amanda then thought it would be a good idea to defect and vote with Colby and Tom to vote out Candice, a weak female (arguably Cerie is the weakest one). This would potentially be a good idea for JT and Amanda because it would strengthen the tribe and allow both JT and Amanda to be on the side with the hidden immunity idol. However, when Amanda went to Cerie and urged her to vote for Candice, Cerie argued that this was crazy because if Amanda voted against Candice then the girls would be up against the strongest males, and these girls would be able to win against these strong males. Weak players united are less likely to be defeated. I have seen Cerie Survivor play twice before and she has always used this tactic very well. I do not deny that Cerie is a a good Survivor player. Survivor Micronesia was absolutely horrific to watch because Cerie (and maybe Parvati) organized the weak females to vote off all the males one-by-one after the merge. Colby and Tom initially wanted to get rid of Candice but when JT informed them that Cerie was out to get Colby, they devised a plan that involved Colby, JT, and Tom voting for Cerie. Three votes would go to Tom. JT, who was originally voting for Colby, would defect and vote for Cerie instead, meaning Colby gets two votes. Because Tom plays the immunity idol, Cerie would go. The plan went off like clockwork at tribal council and Cerie was voted off.

When I think about it initially, JT made a bad decision to side with Colby and Tom rather than Candice, Cerie, Amanda, James, and Rupert. It's a bad idea because now everyone knows that JT is on Colby and Tom's side and now it is four versus three in the Heroes tribe with JT being on the side with fewer numbers. However, JT is on the side with the immunity idol, so there may be pressure from Candice, Amanda, James, or Rupert to switch sides and align with JT, Colby, and Tom.

Secret Scenes and Further Analysis

In a secret scene on the CBS website, Cerie complains about Rupert, someone she is aligned to. The impression I get is that one of the most difficult aspects of a game like Survivor is being forced to spend time with people you may hate. This may happen in real life as well. However, if you have a friend you don't like, you can just stop being friends with that person and avoid him. But in Survivor, you may have to continue to deal with that person if you want to win the million dollars. Sometimes you have to tolerate annoying people if you want to benefit. If someone is annoying at work but you need to work to put food on the table, you have no choice but to put up with it. Similarly, if someone in your family is annoying you and you need your family to feed you, you have to put up with it. This is why I think it's important for an individual to try to have an exit plan. If you own a small house in the outskirts and have enough money in the bank to afford food for the rest of your life, then if your family annoys you or if an employee or boss annoys you, you don't have to put up with it in order to live. You can just quit and live by yourself.

In another secret scene, JT weighs his options before tribal council. He reveals something that I didn't think about, namely that even though he is aligned to Candice, Cerie, Amanda, James, and Rupert, of that group, Candice and Cerie are at the bottom. Hence after this episode perhaps there is a four versus three split in the Heroes tribe with JT, Rupert, James, and Amanda on one side and Candice, Colby, and Tom on the other side. JT is the swing vote and holds the balance of power.

The secret scenes also show that on the Villains tribe, Coach is very much on the outside because of his eccentricity. Everyone mocks him and makes fun of him.

Cerie's final words revealed that the plan was for the girls (Cerie, Candice, and Amanda) to vote for Tom and for the guys (James, Rupert, and JT) to vote off Colby. Given that Colby only received two votes, Cerie believes on the guys cheated on her, and she thinks it is either James or JT. This means that JT may be able to hide the fact that he voted against the alliance. James and Rupert can declare that they voted for Colby, but JT can lie and say that he voted for Colby and point the finger at James or Rupert. Tom or Colby could tell everyone that JT was the rat, but I see no reason why they would do that.

Survivor Pearl Islands

This post contains Survivor spoilers.

Survivor Pearl Islands was played during 2003. Right now it is 2010. Back in 2003, I was in university, so I didn't have time to watch TV because I was busy studying. Now that I work and have free time outside of work, I can indulge in leisure activities, my favorite of which is watching Survivor. I am currently watching the old seasons of Survivor, and I am up to Survivor Pearl Islands.

Iin this season of Survivor there were three cute girls: Michelle Tesauro, Christa Hastie, and Darrah Johnson. It was disappointing that neither of these three girls won. Whenever a pretty girl gets voted out in Survivor, I fell an immense pain in me. Michelle was a very sweet and cute girl but was voted out before the merge. Christa has a deep voice, which I think is sexy, and I really like her hair. Christa made it far in the game but was probably the victim of the infamous Jonny Fairplay. Darrah was thin and beautiful, and I loved her pigtails. I also loved her Southern accent. I could barely understand what she was saying though. Darrah was the victim of Lillian Morris, who arranged to have her voted out. Many players thought that Lillian would be a threat because the jury would vote for her at the end, but this turned out to be wrong. The final two were Sandra and Lil, and the jury voted overwhelmingly for Sandra. Lil was one of the most annoying players I have ever seen. I really hate it how she showed up to the game wearing a full-on scout uniform and then proceeds to go on and on about how she is a girl scout. It annoys me when people make a big show over some stereotype because it shows that they have no individuality that they have to conform to some stereotype in order to make an impression on others. It signals insecurity. It reminds me of another Survivor contestant I didn't like, namely Billy Garcia from Survivor Cook Island. Billy came to the game wearing a full-on heavy metal outfit. He didn't fit in--didn't even make an effort to fit in--and then went on and on about how he is interested in heavy metal music and therefore he cannot fit in with other people in his tribe because no one else shared his interests.

In the final immunity challenge, Lil won and surprisingly decided to vote out Jonny Fairplay, which was a really bad move that may have sealed her loss. She may have wanted the money to go to someone she thought deserved the money more. Sandra is a mother with children whereas Jonny Fairplay--although he has a child now--is manipulative and sexist.

Heroes vs Villains Ep 2 - The Importance of Leadership

This blog post contains Survivor spoilers.

CBS has started putting HD versions of Survivor Heroes vs Villains on Youtube, which I think is good because it allows me to watch the season from Australia. Watching the season on CBS does not work because, for some reason, CBS does not allow non-US citizens to watch their shows, which to me makes no sense because CBS is reducing the exposure of their shows and thereby are reducing potential advertising revenue.

The contestants in this season of Survivor come from previous seasons. They are divided into two tribes: Heroes and Villains. The Heroes tribe are players who are thought to play the game with integrity and honor while the Villains are amoral, deceptive, backstabbing, and so forth. Clearly everyone has a different opinion on what constitutes a hero and a villain. In my opinion, Cerie Fields, in the Heroes tribe, is a villain. In terms of physical strength she is very weak but has shown through her history of playing Survivor that she is good at staying in the game for a long time by making alliances with other weak players and voting off stronger players. I also think that another Heroes tribe member, Amanda Kimmel, is a villain. I also thought it was surprising that Coach (real name is Benjamin Wade and also known as the Dragon Slayer) was put on the Villains tribe since he makes a big deal about playing the game with honor and integrity. Nevertheless, the name of a tribe or team makes little difference. There is no doubt that members of the Heroes tribe will have to resort to villain behavior.

Episode 2 of Survivor Heroes vs Villains showed that leadership is important. The Villains tribe yet again won the immunity challenge because their leader Rob barked out orders and everyone followed. In the Heroes tribe, J.T. the leader in charge of the challenge, barked out orders but his subordinates dissented and argued back. Based on my experience at work and in life in general that strong leadership (or even dictatorship) is efficient. Last year at work I was put in a team of four people to do a project. The team decided that we didn't need a leader. What ended up happening was that nobody did much work because nobody knew who was responsible for what. Without a leader telling them what to do, they resorted to doing nothing. Hours was spent in meetings just talking and debating what needed to be done. Eventually the work was completed but the quality of the work was quite bad. Luckily for us the project was not that important for the organisation. Next time I am in a similar situation, at the very beginning I will step up and say, "Guys, we need to elect a team leader. Does anyone want to volunteer?" If there are multiple candidates, then I suggest a vote. If there is only one person who wants to be leader, that person is leader. This even works for non-work situations. For example, during a Friday night when my friends and I are walking around in the city trying to figure out where we should eat, some people prefer one place and other people prefer another place. The arguments and debating can go on forever and nothing can be done. At times I have said, "Let's elect a leader who will decide where we will go."

Anyway, back to Survivor. After the Heroes tribe lost the immunity challenge, they decided to vote off Stephenie, the person who dissented. Even though she dissented I believe that they should have voted off Cerie instead since she is clearly the weakest in terms of physical strength. Stephanie's mistake with dissenting can be fixed quickly but Cerie's physical weakness cannot be quickly fixed.

Update 21 March 2010: Based on a secret scene I watched, even though JT was leading the Heroes in the immunity challenge, Tom claimed that he didn't know what he was doing and asked for help, after which Stephanie decided to step up and help.

How Survivor is Like Real Life

This blog post may contain spoilers.



I am a huge fan of Survivor. In Survivor Samoa, a contestant named Jaison claimed that Survivor is much like real life. When you go to work, you work in teams on projects to try to win individual distinction so you can get a promotion. Similarly, in Survivor you are grouped into teams and the project you have are the challenges. The power the constestants on Survivor have to vote people off is similar to real life in that in real life those people who network with others and form alliance end up stronger than those who are isolated. The immunity idol represents power and attaining the immunity idol requires work because players must either win challenges or find the idol based on clues given. Idols can be won either for yourself (individual immunity) or for the team (team immunity). This mirrors real life in that in real life you work for power both for yourself and your team, and this power protects you. Watching Survivor often I believe gives you the best education you can have on real life.

Let me give some concrete examples of lessons we can learn from Survivor. In Survivor Panama, contestants were initially divided into four teams. One team consisted only of old women. One of these women was a lumberjack and was relatively strong and hence very useful for the team. However, this woman criticized all the other team members, telling them they were lazy. The other team members did not like being put down like this so they voted the lumberjack woman off, even though she was the most useful. The lesson here to apply to real life is not to insult people. This I think is really obvious but it amazes me how often I see friends, co-workers, and family insult others and then excuse it by saying that they are "speaking their mind."

Another common theme in Survivor is that in the beginning of the game when winning challenges is important, those who are voted out are the weaker players who have little to contribute to the team. Toward the end of the game when the two tribes are merged and each players plays for himself, the stronger players tend to get voted off because they are viewed as threats. In real life, this teaches you that it is important to be useful in some way (e.g. have an education) so you can contribute to a team. However, it is important not to be too successful or at least look too successful because doing so will put a target on your back. For example, if you real life you flash your wealth by driving around in luxury cars and wearing gold wristwatches, you present to criminals significant incentives to rob you, for example, by simply attacking you on the streets or even by stealing from you using blackmail or extortion.

Survivor is like real life because in real life we are free to interact with others how we please but there are rules (legislative and social) that put limitations on what we can do. In real life, alliance brings power and team effort often brings reward. For example, one man cannot deliver oil to the world. Rather, a whole company that draws upon the skills of truck drivers, explorers, engineers, and so on are needed to work together to supply oil to consumers in order for profit to be made. The same applies in Survivor. Players are free to interact but there are limits on their freedom that come from the rules of the game and the social values imposed. Just like in real life, in Survivor alliance gives you power over others and team effort definitely pays, not in profit but in rewards you can get when the team wins challenges.

Survivor Samoa

Warning: This post contains spoilers. Do not read if you haven't watched Survivor Samoa yet but plan to watch it later.



I have just finished watching Survivor Samoa. I watched on TV all the way up to episode seven, which was supposed to show last Tuesday, but on that day I had an appointment to go bowling and have dinner with friends, so I had to set the VCR to tape the show. Unfortunately, the VCR stuffed up and I was not able to watch it.

I went to the internet and tried hard to find where I could buy DVDs or at least watch the episode online. Unfortauntely I could find nothing! All the sites that allow you to watch Survivor episodes online do not let you watch the show from outside the US! That is so horrible! Being a Survivor addict, I was willing to pay money to watch the show but found that I could not.

Luckily for me, I was able to find Survivor Samoa on Youtube. I then spent heaps of time in my bedroom watching the rest of the season.

To summarize, a contestant named Natalie won. A player by the name of Russell was a very devious, conniving player who offended many people. At the end of the show the jury was so annoyed with Russell that they voted against him. It was clear that Russell was very angry at not winning and I later learned that Russell has many fans who believe that he should have won.

I do not understand how Russell and his fans can claim that he is the rightful winner. The fact that he didn't win proves that he didn't win (obviously). But what Russell and his fans claim is that he played better and that because of that he deserved to win. That is simply not true. Being a good Survivor player means you have to bring to the end contestants who you think the jury will not pick. I think Russell was crazy to bring Natalie along because she is clearly a very likeable girl. He should have brought Mick and Shambo along.

I have heard one of Russell's fans say that the jury did not show good sportsmanship in voting against Russell, but this makes no sense because nobody in his right might would think Russell displayed sportsmanship in the game. The fact that he calls female contestants "dumbass blond girls" and the fact that he sabotaged his own team by emptying their water bottles and burning socks disproves the idea that he displayed sportsmanship.

Anyway, Samoa was one of the best seasons of Survivor I have watched. I have only seen about 20 per cent of all Survivors so I am looking forward to finding other seasons either on DVD or online.

Further Reading:

'Survivor' Crowns A Winner, Offending Many Who Do Not Understand 'Survivor' (NPR)

Recap of Survivor China

This post contains spoilers. Please do not read if you do not want to know who won Survivor China.

Unable to control myself, I went on Youtube and watched the rest of Survivor China. Watching Survivor China on Youtube is a challenge because you have to try your hardest not to look at the pictures while you are searching for the correct episode to watch. This is because the pictures can give away who is being evicted thereby ruining the suspense.

While I was watching Survivor I was very quiet and didn't speak to my family. I was so obsessed with watching what was going to happen. I feel really empty now that I can't watch any more Survivor and I am thinking of buying or hiring DVDs because I can't seem to find any other episodes on Youtube. I have only watched three Survivor seasons so far, Survivor Borneo, Survivor Australia, and Survivor China. China and Borneo were probably the best. Australia is forgettable, so much so that for a while I even forgot I even watched it.

Gay Mormon flight attendant Todd won Survivor China. I wasn't very happy because he was a big liar. I like watching Survivor but all the dishonesty in the game leaves me feeling dirty afterwards. It is especially hard to see players who I thought were good turn bad. It seems as if anyone who is in a losing position always appeals to honor but once the situation changes and they are in a powerful position, they try to excuse their dishonest behavior by appealing to the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest. For example, when PG was evicted she spoke about how she was honest and was focusing on the game, but if she were so honest why did she throw an immunity challenge to vote Aaron out? The same happened with James. When the double kidnapping occurred, James and Aaron had their heads on the chopping block. When Jaime and PG threw the immunity challenge, James was angry, calling these women dishonest. However, James himself was dishonest when he lied to Jean-Robert about possession of the hidden immunity idols. When the tribes merged and he was safe with two immunity idols, he felt invincible and when his arrogant side showed, I was turned off. Courtney is another example. At the beginning she was the weak player and I had sympathy for her smallness and lack of strength, which meant she performed poorly in the challenges. However, towards the end when her alliance put her in a powerful position, she became very cruel by bagging lunch lady Denise, saying that she "sucks at life" and that people shouldn't have sympathy for her. All this reminds me of the saying that only the impotent are pure.

I fear that many who watch Survivor will believe that this is the way the real world operates and that they themselves need to behave deceptively if they want to be successful. One of the biggest myths of business and life in general is that it is a zero-sum game like Poker or Survivor. It is not. In real life or in business you generate wealth for yourself. In man-made games, you fight for the wealth that already exists, that is, the prize money.

Survivor China: Jean-Robert Evicted

I have just watched the episode of Survivor China in which Jean-Robert was voted out. Another very exciting episode. What I love about Survivor is that it leaves you guessing until the end. I had no idea who was going to be voted out this time. I was worried that it might be James but it turned out that Todd and Amanda pulled a fast one on Jean-Robert and voted him out. Frosty seems to be part of the Todd-Amanda alliance because he voted for Jean-Robert as well.

During the start of the game, it is better to vote out the weaker players because they lose challenges and force the tribe to vote off members, thereby decreasing the tribe's size. If your tribe has fewer numbers pre-merge, you go into the merged team with a minority and in a democratic system you are picked off one by one.

But in this game at the moment the tribes have merged but the tribal lines have broken. Frosty is all over the place. The same can be said about that lunch lady and Courtney. With a merged tribe it is best to vote out the stronger players first because they have a better chance of winning immunity and are thus stronger. This is why I think James is very vulnerable, even if he has two hidden immunities. My guess is that the tribe will do what they can to get James out.

I have been watching Jean-Robert's talk just after eviction and it is really clear that this guy has no idea what he's doing. His plan was to act stupid and crazy at the beginning of the game and then improve as he went along. The only thing that did is (1) annoy people, thereby making them vote for you (e.g. Courtney), (2) make you stand out so that those from the smaller tribe will vote for you with the hope that fellow tribe members of Jean-Robert will go against him (e.g. P.G. and Erik), and (3) signal to other that you are duplicitous and untrustworthy. I think the last reason is why Todd and Amanda voted for Jean-Robert. In the video Jean-Robert seems very confident in himself.