I need to watch the last part of the episode again to to see if I missed any clues that would help explain why Dwight was booted tonight.

The IC twist was interesting but I think the players ruined what production was going for. Production no doubt wanted people to reveal alliances in front of each other but these guys were too smart for that. I believe either Noelle or Cassidy suggested they paint a bunch of rocks two different colors and then do a rock draw. The resultant pairings weren't the best in terms of fairness.

Even worse was that the challenge was done in stages with only so many teams advancing each stage until they got down to the final two where the last four people would fight it out individually for II. The first stage was brutal. Cassidy killed it but damn near didn't advance to the next stage because of Karla. The cargo net nearly killed Noelle and she felt super bad that she caused her partner also to be eliminated. Cassidy did great in the second stage but Karla screwed up and eliminated the both of them. Mike Gabler winning II by breaking a record for the challenge they did at the end was totally unexpected.

After tonight I no longer think Karla's getting a winner's edit. Mike could be getting a returning player's edit.

More later!

--
Brian

On Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 7:26:19 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> I need to watch the last part of the episode again to to see if I missed any clues that would help explain why Dwight was booted tonight.

I don't think you missed anything. The final minutes of the episode were edited to make it seem like Noelle was going to be the target. IIRC,
the only player who mentioned Dwight was Cody.
>
> The IC twist was interesting but I think the players ruined what production was going for. Production no doubt wanted people to reveal alliances in front of each other but these guys were too smart for that.

The rocks that they pulled were probably too smart for that! If Production was hoping that the players would reveal hidden strategic relationships under such circumstances,
it's time for Probst to pick up his phone and call Mike White again. :-(

>The resultant pairings weren't the best in terms of fairness.

I actually thought that the six teams were fairly evenly balanced. IMO, the only players who might have felt that they got raw deals were Cassidy and Jesse.

> Even worse was that the challenge was done in stages with only so many teams advancing each stage until they got down to the final two where the last four people would fight >it out individually for II. The first stage was brutal. Cassidy killed it but damn near didn't advance to the next stage because of Karla. The cargo net nearly killed Noelle and she felt >super bad that she caused her partner also to be eliminated. Cassidy did great in the second stage but Karla screwed up and eliminated the both of them. Mike Gabler winning II >by breaking a record for the challenge they did at the end was totally unexpected.

This episode was so bad that the editors were forced to stretch the time devoted to the challenge by including Mike Gabler's shameless
self promoting blather about the things that he is inspired by. That guy is reminding me more of Coach Benjamin Wade with every
passing episode. And not in a good way.
Fortunately, the IC did have its redeeming qualities....such as Cassidy's purple shorts/blue knee socks combo. :-)
> After tonight I no longer think Karla's getting a winner's edit.

IMO, of the players still in the game, the best edits so far have gone to Karla and Jesse.

> Mike could be getting a returning player's edit.

Heh! I have been quietly hoping that "returning players" had become something that won't be featured in the post S40 version of Survivor.:-)

On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:07:41 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 7:26:19 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> > I need to watch the last part of the episode again to to see if I missed any clues that would help explain why Dwight was booted tonight.
> I don't think you missed anything. The final minutes of the episode were edited to make it seem like Noelle was going to be the target. IIRC,
> the only player who mentioned Dwight was Cody.

I never got that impression about Noelle. I thought maybe Jeanine would go after giving her HHI to Dwight and not playing last eek to save Elie.

As for Dwight, were you surprised that he did not make the jury? What's the sense of hyping "earn the merge" when it doesn't mean making the jury?

> > The IC twist was interesting but I think the players ruined what production was going for. Production no doubt wanted people to reveal alliances in front of each other but these guys were too smart for that.
> The rocks that they pulled were probably too smart for that! If Production was hoping that the players would reveal hidden strategic relationships under such circumstances,
> it's time for Probst to pick up his phone and call Mike White again. :-(

Speaking of Mike White, he cast Angelina and Kara on his HBO show The White Lotus.

https://www.vulture.com/article/white-lotus-season-2-survivor-cameos-explained.html

> >The resultant pairings weren't the best in terms of fairness.
> I actually thought that the six teams were fairly evenly balanced. IMO, the only players who might have felt that they got raw deals were Cassidy and Jesse.

Cassidy definitely got a raw deal. What in the hell was Karla thinking at the end of the second challenge stage?

> > Even worse was that the challenge was done in stages with only so many teams advancing each stage until they got down to the final two where the last four people would fight >it out individually for II. The first stage was brutal. Cassidy killed it but damn near didn't advance to the next stage because of Karla. The cargo net nearly killed Noelle and she felt >super bad that she caused her partner also to be eliminated. Cassidy did great in the second stage but Karla screwed up and eliminated the both of them. Mike Gabler winning II >by breaking a record for the challenge they did at the end was totally unexpected.
> This episode was so bad that the editors were forced to stretch the time devoted to the challenge by including Mike Gabler's shameless
> self promoting blather about the things that he is inspired by. That guy is reminding me more of Coach Benjamin Wade with every
> passing episode. And not in a good way.

Rob's Fact Checker said the IC took up 44% of the episode time!

Mike Gabler throwing out patient's names seemed very wrong. No way did he get them to sign a waiver BEFORE going to Fiji.

> Fortunately, the IC did have its redeeming qualities....such as Cassidy's purple shorts/blue knee socks combo. :-)

Cassidy reminds me of Victoria in some ways. A lot of fans love her but I don't think Jeff knows she exists.

> > After tonight I no longer think Karla's getting a winner's edit.
> IMO, of the players still in the game, the best edits so far have gone to Karla and Jesse.

Cody's getting a good edit but not a winner's edit. I'm sensing Jeff wouldn't mind Mike winning and if it's not him he would like to see Noelle win. Noelle winning would be a great casting pitch for the show.

> > Mike could be getting a returning player's edit.
> Heh! I have been quietly hoping that "returning players" had become something that won't be featured in the post S40 version of Survivor.:-)

With so many Survivor players getting cast on The Challenge now thanks to the remerger of Viacom and CBS, you might get your wish. About a year or year and a half ago Michele said that no players from S20 and earlier would be asked to play again. No idea where she heard this from but no reason not to believe her.

--
Brian

On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:29:51 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
> I never got that impression about Noelle. I thought maybe Jeanine would go after giving her HHI to Dwight and not playing last eek to save Elie.

The player discussions that were included in the final edit made it appear that the votes were going to either Dwight or Noelle. However, that might
have been some misdirection as Noelle didn't get any votes at all. Near the beginning of the episode, we were given a hint that Dwight was going to
be in trouble when we were allowed to eavesdrop on a strategic conversation between he and Owen.

> As for Dwight, were you surprised that he did not make the jury?

Not at all! Both S41 and S42 had eight person juries. I would have been surprised if Production decided to change this model for S43.
> Cassidy definitely got a raw deal. What in the hell was Karla thinking at the end of the second challenge stage?

Karla's tumble looked accidental to me. The plank that her back foot was on just gave way.
> Cassidy reminds me of Victoria in some ways. A lot of fans love her but I don't think Jeff knows she exists.

She is getting the "invisible player" edit which is much worse than a bad edit. As much as I am inspired by her challenge
outfits, I can't see her getting anywhere near F3.

> Cody's getting a good edit but not a winner's edit.
>I'm sensing Jeff wouldn't mind Mike winning and if it's not him he would like to see Noelle win. Noelle winning would be a great casting pitch for the show.

I agree on all three points. The amount of face time that Mike received in E07 could be either the beginning of his "winners edit", or a final moment of
"Survivor fame" before he is booted in E08. My impression that the skull on the immunity necklace bears an uncanny resemblance to his face leaves me
concerned that he might not be going to the jury any time soon.:-)
Earlier in the season, I thought that Noelle was a lock to make F3. Now, I'm not so sure as I feel that her edit has really tailed off since the merge. However,
to be fair, not participating in the "earn the merge" competition, and getting stuck in the net during the E07 IC, may not have left the editors with a lot to
work with.

> About a year or year and a half ago Michele said that no players from S20 and earlier would be asked to play again. No idea where she heard this from but no reason not to believe her.

Actually, what she said makes a lot of sense to me. Bringing back players who many viewers have forgotten about, or, who never saw play in their
original seasons, does not make the most promotional sense IMO. As we sadly saw in S40, most of the truly "old school" players had no game left and,
IMO, ended up looking really bad as they did their time on Extinction Island waiting to sit on the jury (and Sandra wouldn't even do that much). I think that
the S40 experiment taught Probst a valuable lesson: even though he had fond memories of the early seasons of Survivor and hoped that the "old school"
winners could still bring something to the modern game, it was time to move on to younger, strategically savvy players who had learned how to play
Survivor by watching the originators do it "back in the day". This model worked like a charm in S41, but got bogged down in a muddy twisting net of
misguided "wokeness" in S42.

On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:32:36 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:29:51 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> > As for Dwight, were you surprised that he did not make the jury?
> Not at all! Both S41 and S42 had eight person juries. I would have been surprised if Production decided to change this model for S43.

Damn! My brain must be doing a good job of erasing those two seasons from my memory. Unfortunately, I still remember the really bad parts such as the hourglass twist.

> > Cassidy definitely got a raw deal. What in the hell was Karla thinking at the end of the second challenge stage?
> Karla's tumble looked accidental to me. The plank that her back foot was on just gave way.

To me it looked like she hesitated too long to step on the platform. If she had listened to Cassidy right away she would have been fine.

> > Cassidy reminds me of Victoria in some ways. A lot of fans love her but I don't think Jeff knows she exists.
> She is getting the "invisible player" edit which is much worse than a bad edit. As much as I am inspired by her challenge
> outfits, I can't see her getting anywhere near F3.

She's been prominent in some of the secret scenes this season. She has a good sense of what's going on and hasn't done bad in challenges. She deserves way better.

> > Cody's getting a good edit but not a winner's edit.
> >I'm sensing Jeff wouldn't mind Mike winning and if it's not him he would like to see Noelle win. Noelle winning would be a great casting pitch for the show.
> I agree on all three points. The amount of face time that Mike received in E07 could be either the beginning of his "winners edit", or a final moment of
> "Survivor fame" before he is booted in E08. My impression that the skull on the immunity necklace bears an uncanny resemblance to his face leaves me
> concerned that he might not be going to the jury any time soon.:-)
> Earlier in the season, I thought that Noelle was a lock to make F3. Now, I'm not so sure as I feel that her edit has really tailed off since the merge. However,
> to be fair, not participating in the "earn the merge" competition, and getting stuck in the net during the E07 IC, may not have left the editors with a lot to
> work with.

Gabler's not going anywhere for awhile. If he gets booted next episode it'll be a huge blindside on us.

I thought the whole Noelle getting stuck in the net helped to make her a more well-rounded and likable player. If she makes F3 she'll have a great story which I think will resonate with the jury.

> > About a year or year and a half ago Michele said that no players from S20 and earlier would be asked to play again. No idea where she heard this from but no reason not to believe her.
> Actually, what she said makes a lot of sense to me. Bringing back players who many viewers have forgotten about, or, who never saw play in their
> original seasons, does not make the most promotional sense IMO. As we sadly saw in S40, most of the truly "old school" players had no game left and,
> IMO, ended up looking really bad as they did their time on Extinction Island waiting to sit on the jury (and Sandra wouldn't even do that much). I think that
> the S40 experiment taught Probst a valuable lesson: even though he had fond memories of the early seasons of Survivor and hoped that the "old school"
> winners could still bring something to the modern game, it was time to move on to younger, strategically savvy players who had learned how to play
> Survivor by watching the originators do it "back in the day". This model worked like a charm in S41, but got bogged down in a muddy twisting net of
> misguided "wokeness" in S42.

If there's no Sia money this season people can blame Drea.

As for returning players, there are a number of players who have only played once that deserve another shot for various reasons. S37 and S38 alone could provide nearly the entire cast for a returning players season. So many good people on those seasons. Jeff owes Victoria so he better ask her back.

--
Brian