Tonight's episode is titled "Truth Kamikaze." I just watched a clip where Deshawn and Erika are talking about a F3 with Xander saying they all have different stories. Deshawn also got Erika to say that Heather needs to go. I have a feeling Heather is going to win immunity resulting in a lot of scrambling.

--
Brian

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 5:53:33 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> Tonight's episode is titled "Truth Kamikaze." I just watched a clip where Deshawn and Erika are talking about a F3 with Xander saying they all have different stories. Deshawn also got Erika to say that Heather needs to go. I have a feeling Heather is going to win immunity resulting in a lot of scrambling.
>
> --
> Brian

I thought that was a good episode with a huge surprise at the end from Jeff.. No way anyone was expecting him to say that. Anyway, here are some key points and observations on the episode.

--Episode started off with a lot of talk about race.

--RC saw them split into two teams. Deshawn, Xander and Erika won. They could either have chicken and veggies or cake and cookies. They went for protein which I thought was the obvious choice. After 40 seasons new players should know that pigging out on sweets never ends well.

--At the reward meal the three of them talked about going to the end together and what a threat Ricard is. They all agreed he needs to next. Earlier in the episode Danny asked Xander why he didn't vote out Ricard last TC. Xander said he kept him so he wouldn't be the next target and that they could get Ricard out next.

--Once again Ricard foiled the plans of the others by winning immunity. Deshawn and Danny knew they were the new targets. Danny feared this might happen and looked for MP's idol during the RC dinner. When he got back to camp he acted happy which made Ricard suspicious. Danny did not find the idol. Ricard told Heather he was pretty sure Danny did find it while they were off looking for items to keep the fire going. He even looked through Danny's bag and when he didn't find it, he and Heather assumed he hid it elsewhere.

--TC was good. Deshawn laid everything out in the open and threw Erika under the bus by telling everyone she wanted Heather gone. Heather looked shocked and Erika was feasibly upset. Erika then said Deshawn screwed up and that he'll never know if he was the intended target or not.

--Vote ended up being 3-3 between Deshawn and Danny. Danny was booted 4-0 in the tiebreaker vote. Deshawn never having won immunity might have saved him.

--After Danny left, Jeff told the others they would be moving to a new camp where they would be starting over. Lots of shocked looks when he said that.. Over the last three days he said they will do two more RCs, two ICs, a fire starting challenge, and determine a winner.

--Preview showed lots of scrambling. I'm not positive, but it looks like they move to Edge of Extinction for the last three days.

If Ricard wins out to the end he'll have an amazing resume. If he doesn't, they would crazy not to vote him out.

--
Brian

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 8:04:03 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 5:53:33 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> --Once again Ricard foiled the plans of the others by winning immunity. Deshawn and Danny knew they were the new targets. Danny feared this might happen and looked for MP's idol during the RC dinner. When he got back to camp he acted happy which made Ricard suspicious. Danny did not find the idol. Ricard told Heather he was pretty sure Danny did find it while they were off looking for items to keep the fire going. He even looked through Danny's bag and when he didn't find it, he and Heather assumed he hid it elsewhere..
>

One thing I found very puzzling tonight is that there was no talk at all of trying to flush Xander's idol which I believe is good until F5. Is Xander's social game that good or were Heather and Erika afraid of a possible tie vote that could have gone to rocks? Also, why did Deshawn and Danny vote for each other? They should have voted for Erika to give the other three another option to consider in the revote.

Saw on Twitter tonight that so far this season not one idol has been played!

--
Brian

"Brian Smith" wrote in message
news:5322dbeb-8715-47c7-bc01-059ae34f8defn@googlegroups.com...
>
>On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 8:04:03 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 5:53:33 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>
>> --Once again Ricard foiled the plans of the others by winning immunity.
>> Deshawn and Danny knew they were the new targets. Danny feared this might
>> happen and looked for MP's idol during the RC dinner. When he got back to
>> camp he acted happy which made Ricard suspicious. Danny did not find the
>> idol. Ricard told Heather he was pretty sure Danny did find it while they
>> were off looking for items to keep the fire going. He even looked through
>> Danny's bag and when he didn't find it, he and Heather assumed he hid it
>> elsewhere.
>>
>
>One thing I found very puzzling tonight is that there was no talk at all of
>trying to flush Xander's idol which I believe is good until F5. Is Xander's
>social game that good or were Heather and Erika afraid of a possible tie
>vote that could have gone to rocks? Also, why did Deshawn and Danny vote
>for each other? They should have voted for Erika to give the other three
>another option to consider in the revote.
>
>Saw on Twitter tonight that so far this season not one idol has been
>played!
>
>--
>Brian

I had the same question about Xander's idol. Surely there had to be some
discussion about it in camp, but they chose not to show it. Some of the
editing this year has been strange.

Regarding Danny and Deshawn's vote, yes they could have put two votes on
Ericka creating a 2-2-2 tie, but on the re-vote, Heather, Ricard and Xander
would still have voted for Danny. I think they voted for each other so that
whichever of the two survived (in this case, Deshawn) would then have a
better shot at aligning with Ericka and Heather to possibly take out Ricard
and Xander on later votes.

--

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 7:04:03 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:

> I thought that was a good episode with a huge surprise at the end from Jeff.

They will probably be put on Extinction Island.
>
> --Episode started off with a lot of talk about race.

That was the cue for me to start fast forwarding which reduced the time of the episode by eight minutes.
> --TC was good. Deshawn laid everything out in the open and threw Erika under the bus by telling everyone she wanted Heather gone. Heather looked shocked and Erika was feasibly upset.

The so-called "truth bomb" was more like a "truth firecracker". Everybody (even Heather) should know that things said for strategic reasons do not
necessarily reveal a player's true intentions.

>
> --After Danny left, Jeff told the others they would be moving to a new camp where they would be starting over. Lots of shocked looks when he said that. Over the last three days he said they will do two more RCs, two ICs, a fire starting challenge, and determine a winner.

So, it sounds like an F3 to me. Probably the player who is immune at F4 will decide who has to make fire.

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 10:29:28 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:

> One thing I found very puzzling tonight is that there was no talk at all of trying to flush Xander's idol which I believe is good until F5.

That has not been made clear yet. On the parchment that Xander found, it said nothing about when the power of the necklace
will expire. Probst has said nothing about it either. I'm assuming that the final episode will include some sort of twist involving
Xander's necklace.

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 6:23:07 AM UTC-8, Rick wrote:
>
I think they voted for each other so that
> whichever of the two survived (in this case, Deshawn) would then have a
> better shot at aligning with Ericka and Heather to possibly take out Ricard
> and Xander on later votes.

If that was their thinking, it seems odd that Deshawn would say things at TC designed
to drive a wedge between Erika and Heather.

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 2:14:49 PM UTC-7, zeppo wrote:
> On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 6:23:07 AM UTC-8, Rick wrote:
> >
> I think they voted for each other so that
> > whichever of the two survived (in this case, Deshawn) would then have a
> > better shot at aligning with Ericka and Heather to possibly take out Ricard
> > and Xander on later votes.
> If that was their thinking, it seems odd that Deshawn would say things at TC designed
> to drive a wedge between Erika and Heather.

I don't think Deshawn and Danny thought things through before TC. If Danny knew Deshawn was going to throw Erika under the bus they both should have voted Erika with the hope that Heather would be pissed off enough to do so as well. They had nothing to lose and it would have been a smarter move. If it worked they would both still be together and have a much better shot of advancing to the end.

--
Brian

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 2:08:18 PM UTC-7, zeppo wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 10:29:28 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:
>
> > One thing I found very puzzling tonight is that there was no talk at all of trying to flush Xander's idol which I believe is good until F5.
> That has not been made clear yet. On the parchment that Xander found, it said nothing about when the power of the necklace
> will expire. Probst has said nothing about it either. I'm assuming that the final episode will include some sort of twist involving
> Xander's necklace.

HIIs last until F5 so why would this be any different? If F6 was the last time for Xander to play his I'm sure he would have just in case the others tried to pull a fast one.

--
Brian

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 7:23:07 AM UTC-7, Rick wrote:
> "Brian Smith" wrote in message
> news:5322dbeb-8715-47c7...@googlegroups.com...
> >
> >On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 8:04:03 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> >> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 5:53:33 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> >
> >> --Once again Ricard foiled the plans of the others by winning immunity.
> >> Deshawn and Danny knew they were the new targets. Danny feared this might
> >> happen and looked for MP's idol during the RC dinner. When he got back to
> >> camp he acted happy which made Ricard suspicious. Danny did not find the
> >> idol. Ricard told Heather he was pretty sure Danny did find it while they
> >> were off looking for items to keep the fire going. He even looked through
> >> Danny's bag and when he didn't find it, he and Heather assumed he hid it
> >> elsewhere.
> >>
> >
> >One thing I found very puzzling tonight is that there was no talk at all of
> >trying to flush Xander's idol which I believe is good until F5. Is Xander's
> >social game that good or were Heather and Erika afraid of a possible tie
> >vote that could have gone to rocks? Also, why did Deshawn and Danny vote
> >for each other? They should have voted for Erika to give the other three
> >another option to consider in the revote.
> >
> >Saw on Twitter tonight that so far this season not one idol has been
> >played!
> >
> >--
> >Brian
> I had the same question about Xander's idol. Surely there had to be some
> discussion about it in camp, but they chose not to show it. Some of the
> editing this year has been strange.

The editing has been strange. Too often things like this have been left out. In the past such talk would have been included to help muddy the waters as to whom would be leaving.

--
Brian

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 1:56:29 PM UTC-7, zeppo wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 7:04:03 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:
>
> > I thought that was a good episode with a huge surprise at the end from Jeff.
> They will probably be put on Extinction Island.
> >
> > --Episode started off with a lot of talk about race.
> That was the cue for me to start fast forwarding which reduced the time of the episode by eight minutes.
> > --TC was good. Deshawn laid everything out in the open and threw Erika under the bus by telling everyone she wanted Heather gone. Heather looked shocked and Erika was feasibly upset.
> The so-called "truth bomb" was more like a "truth firecracker". Everybody (even Heather) should know that things said for strategic reasons do not
> necessarily reveal a player's true intentions.
> >
> > --After Danny left, Jeff told the others they would be moving to a new camp where they would be starting over. Lots of shocked looks when he said that. Over the last three days he said they will do two more RCs, two ICs, a fire starting challenge, and determine a winner.
> So, it sounds like an F3 to me. Probably the player who is immune at F4 will decide who has to make fire.

It's been confirmed it's a F3. More than likely F4 will be done the same way it has been since S35(?). With the finale starting at F5 and no audience, I wonder if the reunion segment will be longer? I have a feeling it will be and that we're going to get a lot of race-based talk and a lecture or two..

--
Brian

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 3:05:42 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:
I wonder if the reunion segment will be longer? I have a feeling it will be and that we're going to get a lot of race-based talk and a lecture or two.

Nooooooo! I can't take anymore!

"zeppo" wrote in message
news:cbe4e583-84cc-4b31-a5e0-220247cb128dn@googlegroups.com...
>
>On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 6:23:07 AM UTC-8, Rick wrote:
>>
> I think they voted for each other so that
>> whichever of the two survived (in this case, Deshawn) would then have a
>> better shot at aligning with Ericka and Heather to possibly take out
>> Ricard
>> and Xander on later votes.
>
>If that was their thinking, it seems odd that Deshawn would say things at
>TC designed
>to drive a wedge between Erika and Heather.

I think Deshawn did that on the fly without really pre-planning it much. He
and Danny had already probably decided how they were voted.

--

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 2:51:18 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:

> HIIs last until F5 so why would this be any different?

Yeah, you're right. I'm probably overthinking things. Probst's propensity to mess with the fundamental
rules of the game this season has me looking for twists everywhere. :-)

On 2021-12-09 20:56:28 +0000, zeppo said:

>> --Episode started off with a lot of talk about race.
> That was the cue for me to start fast forwarding which reduced the time
> of the episode by eight minutes.

100% agreed.

On 2021-12-09 23:14:24 +0000, zeppo said:

> I wonder if the reunion segment will be longer? I have a feeling it
> will be and that we're going to get a lot of race-based talk and a
> lecture or two.

Oh, no doubt.

DVR FTW.