Tonight's episode is titled "There's Gonna Be Blood." I watched a long preview clip of Erika on EI that to me makes it pretty clear she's going to break the hourglass.

--
Brian

On Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 5:50:19 PM UTC-6, Brian Smith wrote:
> Tonight's episode is titled "There's Gonna Be Blood." I watched a long preview clip of Erika on EI that to me makes it pretty clear she's going to break the hourglass.
>
> --
> Brian

Crazy episode. TC was super good. I had no idea who was going until the last vote was read. Playing the SITD backfired on Syd and she ended up being voted out. Had to laugh at her final words.

--
Brian

On Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 6:07:45 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> Crazy episode. TC was super good.

For me, it was good up until the time when they all began to wander around in the dark whispering to each other. I really
dislike that, as I can't always tell who is speaking when they huddle up in a big group.

> I had no idea who was going until the last vote was read.

You have probably just made Jeff Probst very happy (if he reads alt.tv.survivor) :-)

Playing the SITD backfired on Syd and she ended up being voted out. Had to laugh at her final words.
>
She would have been voted off even if she had not played the SITD. The dominant group of eight split their votes equally between
Evvie and Syd, and Deshawn played his extra vote for Ev. If Syd had kept her vote, she would have joined Xander, Tiff, and Evvie in voting
for Deshawn. So the final vote would have ended up being 5-4-4 with Syd still being booted.
For the record:
-Danny, Deshawn (2), and Ricard voted for Evvie.
-Evvie, Tiffany, and Xander voted for Deshawn.
-Erika, Heather, Liana, Naseer, and MP voted for Syd.

A couple of thoughts:
-Naseer and MP both knew what a real immunity necklace looked like, so why were they so easily duped by Xander's creation?
-What had Syd done to end up so far on the outside of the former Blue Tribe? I understand why they wanted to try to
get rid of Evvie, but how did Syd's name get tossed into the mix?
-Xander was right about not giving the immunity necklace to Ev, but it was an extremely ballsy call in that situation.

On Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 6:39:47 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 6:07:45 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>
> > Crazy episode. TC was super good.

> For me, it was good up until the time when they all began to wander around in the dark whispering to each other. I really
> dislike that, as I can't always tell who is speaking when they huddle up in a big group.

It does get confusing but it was also entertaining.

> > I had no idea who was going until the last vote was read.

> You have probably just made Jeff Probst very happy (if he reads alt.tv.survivor) :-)

Did you know who was going? We we're blindsided with info we didn't know in order to blindside us on who got booted. Early on in the TC I thought Xander was a complete idiot for showing the idol and then saying he gave it to Evvie. By the way, where did he find the beads, etc. to make a fake idol?

> Playing the SITD backfired on Syd and she ended up being voted out. Had to laugh at her final words.

> She would have been voted off even if she had not played the SITD. The dominant group of eight split their votes equally between
> Evvie and Syd, and Deshawn played his extra vote for Ev. If Syd had kept her vote, she would have joined Xander, Tiff, and Evvie in voting
> for Deshawn. So the final vote would have ended up being 5-4-4 with Syd still being booted.
> For the record:
> -Danny, Deshawn (2), and Ricard voted for Evvie.
> -Evvie, Tiffany, and Xander voted for Deshawn.
> -Erika, Heather, Liana, Naseer, and MP voted for Syd.

In her exit interview with Dalton, Syd claims she planned on voting for Evvie.

> A couple of thoughts:
> -Naseer and MP both knew what a real immunity necklace looked like, so why were they so easily duped by Xander's creation?

Did they actually look at what he made? Also, do all of these idols look the same?

> -What had Syd done to end up so far on the outside of the former Blue Tribe? I understand why they wanted to try to
> get rid of Evvie, but how did Syd's name get tossed into the mix?

Her exit interview with Dalton might give you some insight into this.

https://ew.com/tv/survivor-41-sydney-segal-interview/

> -Xander was right about not giving the immunity necklace to Ev, but it was an extremely ballsy call in that situation.

He might have been right but was it because he knew what was going on or was it just dumb luck.

--
Brian

On Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 11:59:56 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> Did you know who was going?
Before they voted, it seemed obvious to me that it would be Syd. I was thinking the same thing as Xander, that the Gang of Eight
would split their votes with the majority going to Syd due to their belief that Ev had the necklace. However, the edit of the reading
of the votes caused me to believe that I had been wrong, and that the ninth vote would go to Evvie.

By the way, where did he find the beads, etc. to make a fake idol?
I wondered about that too. The wire was likely a piece of wishing line, but where did he get all those beads from?
> Did they actually look at what he made? Also, do all of these idols look the same?
Naseer was practically sitting at Xander's feet when the fake idol was held up. However, he didn't really give the other players a
clear view of it. My guess is that the parchment drew more attention than the beads did.

> Her exit interview with Dalton might give you some insight into this.
It provided some insight, but I also believe that much of what this woman says is untrue, and intended to make her
appear to be a smarter and more successful person than she really is. During the latter part of the TC, she looked
absolutely spent. She was sitting at Evvie's feet and practically begging to be given the necklace. As the vote approached,
she realized that that was not going to happen, and fell back on the one desperate move that she thought might save her
life in the game. Once she knew that she had been targeted by her former tribe mates, I believe that she was no longer
thinking about who to vote for, only what she could do to save herself.

> He might have been right but was it because he knew what was going on or was it just dumb luck.
He knew what was going on. Everybody did, even miserable old Sydney. He knew that there was going to
be a split vote with the majority of them going to Syd because she was the least likely player to have
Xander's necklace in her possession. The Gang of Eight would have preferred to put most of their votes on
Evvie, but they assumed that she already had the necklace. Xander wanted to save the necklace, rather than
burn it on Evvie who he figured didn't actually need it. When I saw Xander's photograph on the CBS website
prior to the beginning of the season, I assumed that he would turn out to be another Survivor "pretty boy".
But I was wrong about him. He has a lot more game than I was expecting.