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Survivor 34: Game Changers |OT| We Have To Go Back

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smokeymicpot

Beat EviLore at pool.
Just finished the episode. Jeff Verner is a douche for doing that. I assumed it was known. It was talked about on the sub-reddit of Survivor.

I saw the posts and and trending on Twitter/Facebook I assumed Zeke got booted. Thank god I was wrong.
 
Jeff Probst is an amazing host. How he handled the situation was A+++. Episode was cut well/tribal.

Everyone on the tribe was amazing with regards to how they handled it. Almost everyone on the tribe displayed such grace that my opinions on almost everyone improved by 1000%. Was wondering why the showtime for challenges leading up the the immunity challenge was so short but once tribal went going, I was like oh, this is why. Love Zeke. He's such a cool guy and a great player.

More topical and gripping reality tv than most of the shit out there in terms of the things it covers. Survivor really is one of a kind.


On topic. I think cole pepper will take this one out. Unless there's enough women to form an alliance and boot the men out.
 

Mission

Member
So despicable. I was just in shock. My daughter came out 2 years ago and I caught wind of it from her friends. Held onto that for a whole year, didn't even tell my ex (her mom). Told my daughter that when she felt ready; I'd help if she wanted but I could support her as long as she needed me to. It's the person's choice. It's been an hour since I watched it and I am still struggling with his actions.
 

GeoNeo

I disagree.
Just got done watching this beyond words. Zeke is fucking amazing.

I don't know if Varner truely regrets what he done deep down. But, If he does I know it will eat at him like pure darkness with every day that passes. I don't hate or despise Varner I just see him as an example of what lines some humans will cross for money without truly thinking through the impacts of their actions.

Also, I fucking love Brad pepper for that moment earlier on in the episode. Thank fuck finally people that play with him are starting to see he is a fucking stand up dude.
 
I'll admit, I support trans rights but I'm hardly an active promoter. But this? Oh my god I would have been so angry. I would have been screaming at Varner for doing this to someone Zeke if I were on that tribe. Outrageously fucked up on any level. No one deserves that. Good on Zeke for handling it well.

I imagine this will help Zeke's game quite a lot. Like it or not, he will now be defined by this. Which means no one will realize that's he's a relentless villain in Survivor capable of backstabbing literally anyone with the ability to strategize very well. I see him, Culpepper, or Aubrey as this season's winner right now.

I really hope there's no girls alliance. I hate that.
 

Fletcher

Member
I was just waiting for Varner to excuse himself from the game, too. Like just at some point say don't even bother voting. I'll see myself out.
 

llehuty

Member
And did anyone else notice how Michaela pushed Hali forward to accept the immunity idol for the tribe? Looks like they appreciated her for the win. They were so behind too.
Yeah, I saw that. I see Hali in a very good position now, she doesn't have enemies and doesn't seem to have a big target. She is also very intelligent and seems to know how to treat people.

Honestly, there are so many candidates to make a deep cut this season. The only ones I see have slim chances at winning the game would be Debbie and maybe Tai? I can picture almost all of the rest being able to have a compelling story at the FTC. There are however some with really big targets that need an extraordinary flawless strategy to get to it (mainly Ozzy).

I guess once we see the actual merge and what dynamics the group will have, we can eliminate some candidates of the equation, but now it seems like a very even field.
 
Yeah, I saw that. I see Hali in a very good position now, she doesn't have enemies and doesn't seem to have a big target. She is also very intelligent and seems to know how to treat people.

Honestly, there are so many candidates to make a deep cut this season. The only ones I see have slim chances at winning the game would be Debbie and maybe Tai? I can picture almost all of the rest being able to have a compelling story at the FTC. There are however some with really big targets that need an extraordinary flawless strategy to get to it (mainly Ozzy).

I guess once we see the actual merge and what dynamics the group will have, we can eliminate some candidates of the equation, but now it seems like a very even field.

I keep feeling like Ozzy is getting a bad edit. I don't know what it is exactly but outside of competitions he seems to be completely lost all the time. Any time anyone is talking about getting him out he seems to just stare off into space like he has no clue what is going on. He doesn't say anything, he just looks scared and stares off helpless. Even when back at camp he's only shown worrying about feeding and providing for people so they keep him, but he's never really shown having conversations or relationships other than with JT early on.

His edit so far seems very weird.
 

llehuty

Member
I keep feeling like Ozzy is getting a bad edit. I don't know what it is exactly but outside of competitions he seems to be completely lost all the time. Any time anyone is talking about getting him out he seems to just stare off into space like he has no clue what is going on. He doesn't say anything, he just looks scared and stares off helpless. Even when back at camp he's only shown worrying about feeding and providing for people so they keep him, but he's never really shown having conversations or relationships other than with JT early on.

His edit so far seems very weird.

Maybe he is trying to lay low as much as he can. He has probably enough with the challenge threat target, not sure he would like to have a "social threat" target too.

But then, you have Culdpepper, which also seems like a challenge threat (although I don't think he is perceived that way) and has a very strong social game, as seems to be doing fine so far? We'll see.

Also, I had a look at the 2 starting tribes...


Starting Tribes


-NUKU-

PhYR86o.png


-MANA-

yUM26nf.png
Original Nuku has lost only one tribe member so far! This distribution was short lived, but I'm curious to know if they will stick to this.
 
Maybe he is trying to lay low as much as he can. He has probably enough with the challenge threat target, not sure he would like to have a "social threat" target too.

But then, you have Culdpepper, which also seems like a challenge threat (although I don't think he is perceived that way) and has a very strong social game, as seems to be doing fine so far? We'll see.

Also, I had a look at the 2 starting tribes...


Original Nuku has lost only one tribe member so far! This distribution was short lived, but I'm curious to know if they will stick to this.

Yeah, it could just be him wanting to lie low. For some reason it just comes off to me as disinterest and it feels like it comes across in the edit as if he's just lost or dumb or has no way to keep up with the conversation.

The way he's being shown just looks so different than his past seasons. It comes off really weird.
 

Kifimbo

Member
What Varner did was inexcusable.

At the same time, it's hard for me not to be cynical about the whole thing. Survivor very likely knew he was transgender, simply because they have to know people medical history before sending them on an island, right ?

And Zeke had to know there was a decent chance someone would find out, and some viewers did in his first season because of the scars. And his reaction after the outing was pretty mild IMO (especially compared to the other tribe members), like he was prepared for something like this to happen (he was probably more shocked that Varner was the one who did it).

That being said, I'm still keeping Sarah as my dark horse.
 
What Varner did was inexcusable.

At the same time, it's hard for me not to be cynical about the whole thing. Survivor very likely knew he was transgender, simply because they have to know people medical history before sending them on an island, right ?

And Zeke had to know there was a decent chance someone would find out, and some viewers did in his first season because of the scars. And his reaction after the outing was pretty mild IMO (especially compared to the other tribe members), like he was prepared for something like this to happen (he was probably more shocked that Varner was the one who did it).

That being said, I'm still keeping Sarah as my dark horse.

whether or not survivor knew. what's that got to do with anything? Varner should have stopped himself after talking about Ozzy/zeke - He seemed to be doing okay. The whole transgender thing did not happen last in the millenial season. Fact is, Varner wants to win and played a bit too hard.

Really vile what he did.

Btw, the variety article is a great read.
 
Guys, I had to share this somewhere and none of my friends watch Survivor! I went to the open casting call in Florida today and there were some surprise guests! (Please note that these are NOT my angles and I was fangirling pretty hard)



Carolyn (Mama C), Kimmi, and Tina were also there! Everyone was extremely sweet. They hung out with us in line and talked about their time on Survivor and tips for auditioning. Sandra had a whole group gathered around and was telling us behind the scenes stuff from the current season. It was a great experience. Just meeting all of them was worth the drive!
What was she saying about the behind the scenes stuff if you don't mind sharing.
 

goonie

Member
What was she saying about the behind the scenes stuff if you don't mind sharing.
When I first started listening, she was talking about the goats, but I couldn't quite make out what she said. Wish I did, after reading what's been said about them. She also said Troyzan is close with Monica and Brad, and they go on family vacations together. So they'll obviously be pretty tight. As for Debbie's advantage choice: she thinks the idol kit would have been the best option, because there was enough material to make 5(?) idols. She talked about Michaela a bit and how no one knew what she was capable of, so they didn't really put her in crucial roles. They had also stereotyped her, so they didn't want to put her in the water a lot.

I'm trying to remember more, so I might update this post. It was also hard to hear at times since there were so many people!
 

Krogan

Member
I hope it didn't fuck up Zeke's chances of winning on top of everything, but I think everyone on that tribe would vote for him to win if he at final tribal.
 

Parch

Member
That's a pretty epic episode. The shock value and reactions were something.

So many seasons and so many episodes, but Survivor can still surprise and just might have stumbled onto the most memorable episode ever.
 

yyzjohn

Banned
Just saw the episode, what a scumbag move by Verner. I love how Probst handled it and at the end he's like "yeah we don't even have to vote, get the fuck out Jeff"
 

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
That's a pretty epic episode. The shock value and reactions were something.

So many seasons and so many episodes, but Survivor can still surprise and just might have stumbled onto the most memorable episode ever.

Eh, idk about most memorable episode ever. Not even sure it's the most memorable of the season. I think JT starting the insanity with Culpepper a few episodes ago was infinitely more interesting than Varner being a dumbass, immediately regretting his dumbassery, and inadvertently digging himself further into a hole with every word.

Memorable in that it was the most awkward thing I can remember seeing on Survivor and maybe you've got a point.

In the other thread about this I said I give Varner a pass on his remarks. Pass maybe wasn't the right word. I can understand especially after watching his day after comments how his fear and paranoia could have led him to say what he did. It's not excusable and doesn't warrant a 'pass' but I can understand it. I also don't like the idea that someone can be forever defined by the worst thing they have done in life. Of course I don't know Varner or Zeke personally but I get the sense that Varner is genuinely sorry and devastated with his behavior and the way he outed Zeke.

I enjoyed Varner as a game player and didn't watch last season that Zeke was on so I know next to nothing about him so maybe that's effecting my judgement. But again I think it's sad that oftentimes we are forever judged by what we did at our worst. I hope both Zeke and Varner are able to move on with their lives.
 
Eh, idk about most memorable episode ever. Not even sure it's the most memorable of the season. I think JT starting the insanity with Culpepper a few episodes ago was infinitely more interesting than Varner being a dumbass, immediately regretting his dumbassery, and inadvertently digging himself further into a hole with every word.

I don't know if it's the way you phrased it, or something else, but when I started to read this I legitimately was confused on what you were talking about.
 

Ensirius

Member
I know I am late on this, but I just watched the episode and I feel like this one moment got me to say "what the fuck" out loud for the first time.
All I can say is I really hope Zeke wins this.
Varner you are a piece of shit.
 

llehuty

Member
I hope this incident has no influence on the game. I wouldn't like to see people changing their strategies to compensate for what Varner did. It will also be more satisfying if he ends up winning this way.

He is probably guaranteed to get called for another season anyway.
 
Unfortunately, the most likely outcome of this incident is that the people on Zeke's tribe won't want to let him get to the end because he would demolish them with an emotional journey speech in final tribal council.
 
I know I am late on this, but I just watched the episode and I feel like this one moment got me to say "what the fuck" out loud for the first time.
All I can say is I really hope Zeke wins this.
Varner you are a piece of shit.

I agree with the reaction and assessment of Varner. But Zeke doesn't deserve to win for this. And he probably won't. He's a vicious backstabber with no loyalty at all who'll do anything it takes to be king.
 
Unfortunately, the most likely outcome of this incident is that the people on Zeke's tribe won't want to let him get to the end because he would demolish them with an emotional journey speech in final tribal council.

At the same time some are also thinking do they want to be the person to vote Zeke out.

I feel like this whole thing is a complete cluster fuck to the mental aspect of the game. It is undoubtedly going to fuck with the season in a way they really can't even edit in because I'm sure the players don't even want to vocalize some of the stuff they're thinking about. Would they really want to go into a confession and talk whether or not they want to vote someone out because of this whole thing?
 
Unfortunately, the most likely outcome of this incident is that the people on Zeke's tribe won't want to let him get to the end because he would demolish them with an emotional journey speech in final tribal council.

Indeed, that's what I'm afraid of. Varner probably succeeded in totally fucking Zeke's game, and it didn't help Varner at all. Zeke deserved better.
 

llehuty

Member
At the same time some are also thinking do they want to be the person to vote Zeke out.

I feel like this whole thing is a complete cluster fuck to the mental aspect of the game. It is undoubtedly going to fuck with the season in a way they really can't even edit in because I'm sure the players don't even want to vocalize some of the stuff they're thinking about. Would they really want to go into a confession and talk whether or not they want to vote someone out because of this whole thing?

Yeah, voting him off right after last tribal could be interpreted in a different way :/

I lost track already, was Probst hyping this season or not?
 
Yeah, voting him off right after last tribal could be interpreted in a different way :/

I lost track already, was Probst hyping this season or not?

I feel like it wasn't very hyped. They seemed to be more focused on the people they were bringing back (Tony, Sandra, Sirie) than really the season itself.
 

llehuty

Member
I feel like it wasn't very hyped. They seemed to be more focused on the people they were bringing back (Tony, Sandra, Sirie) than really the season itself.

Yeah, I remember it being a bit awkward in the Gen X vs Millennials finale, where they were highlighting only some of them. Might be interesting to have a look at it now, was Varner even there?

Also, I'm curious if we are ever going to see the consequences of the "no revote after tie" in action. And also the legacy advantage. I wonder if there will be any special twist post merge? I'm assuming they will get someone to "Redemption" "Island" somehow. I could see also a potential "demerge" that will totally screw some of our favourites, since it's game changers.
 
Yeah, I remember it being a bit awkward in the Gen X vs Millennials finale, where they were highlighting only some of them. Might be interesting to have a look at it now, was Varner even there?

Also, I'm curious if we are ever going to see the consequences of the "no revote after tie" in action. And also the legacy advantage. I wonder if there will be any special twist post merge? I'm assuming they will get someone to "Redemption" "Island" somehow. I could see also a potential "demerge" that will totally screw some of our favourites, since it's game changers.

Think it was Ciera, Tony, Sandra, Ozzy and Sirie and then Probst said Mckaela was going to be there. Don't think anyone else was mentioned at the time. Ozzy and Sirie may not have actually been there and I may be mixing it up with the people on Price is Right, can't recall. Know for sure Sandra, Tony and Cierra were brought out.
 

llehuty

Member
Think it was Ciera, Tony, Sandra, Ozzy and Sirie and then Probst said Mckaela was going to be there. Don't think anyone else was mentioned at the time. Ozzy and Sirie may not have actually been there and I may be mixing it up with the people on Price is Right, can't recall. Know for sure Sandra, Tony and Cierra were brought out.
Did they mention Zeke at all?
 
I'd have to go back and watch, but I really only remember Mckaela being talked about. Probst like grabbed her and said she was coming back.

Just screen grabbed this from this video. He also mentions Michaela who was a part of the MvGX reunion. So we have Ozzy, Cirie, Tai, and Michaela left. 4 pre-merge boots, and 4 entering the merge of who we were shown on stage. The trailer does show other people like Malcolm who obviously also didn't make it.

 
Just screen grabbed this from this video. He also mentions Michaela who was a part of the MvGX reunion. So we have Ozzy, Cirie, Tai, and Michaela left. 4 pre-merge boots, and 4 entering the merge of who we were shown on stage. The trailer does show other people like Malcolm who obviously also didn't make it.

Ugh, forgot they felt the need to bring out Caleb.
 
I wouldn't read too much into who they brought out. It was probably a mix of who felt like showing up for the reunion and hyping without spoiling all of the contestants. For instance, Zeke was there but was not called up. At the time there was plenty of talk regarding whether or not he was going to be on this season since he was clearly a big player and we knew they had two from Gen X v. Millennials.

Plus, whoever they brought out would have absolutely been based on hype going into the season, not whatever they did this season.
 

llehuty

Member
I wouldn't read too much into who they brought out. It was probably a mix of who felt like showing up for the reunion and hyping without spoiling all of the contestants. For instance, Zeke was there but was not called up. At the time there was plenty of talk regarding whether or not he was going to be on this season since he was clearly a big player and we knew they had two from Gen X v. Millennials.

Plus, whoever they brought out would have absolutely been based on hype going into the season, not whatever they did this season.

Oh, I sometimes forget that the cast is not officially revealed months in advance. I was legit wondering why they wouldn't name Zeke... Yeah, nothing to see here
 

llehuty

Member
WAIT, wait, I finished Survivor: Samoa (Season 19). Like what? #blindside (Spoilers I guess...)

I wasn't enjoying the unalanced edit up until the final, but I thought it will make sense at the end. Like... what? Why would you do that? Just to piss the audience?

Anyway, it's a really interesting season. I was so convinced that Russell would win, but, despite of how the season was framed (the Russell show), it was quite satisfying at the end. Good underdog story, and some amazing "finding cracks" job by Foa Foa.

Also, damn at Russell being super salty in the reunion. You could already see the switch on his face as the FTC progressed, but he was legit pissed at the reunion. I guess I'll watch Heroes vs Villains next. I do know the winner of this one, but will be interesting seeing the old school legends battling it out.

Samoa is a good example (the best?) of why winners win and losers lose, so it's a good season for instructive purposes. I did NOT enjoy it at the time and despite fans having warmed up to it, I've never found it a particularly enjoyable season. Not many characters I enjoyed watching, and it typified the absolute worst editing trend of obsessively focusing on a tiny handful of players for the entirety of the season. Good winner, though.
I'll co-sign this, although that first sentence threw me off during the whole season, somehow reinforcing the idea of Russell should win (it makes sense now seeing the whole picture).
 

kirblar

Member
WAIT, wait, I finished Survivor: Samoa (Season 19). Like what? #blindside (Spoilers I guess...)

I wasn't enjoying the unalanced edit up until the final, but I thought it will make sense at the end. Like... what? Why would you do that? Just to piss the audience?

Anyway, it's a really interesting season. I was so convinced that Russell would win, but, despite of how the season was framed (the Russell show), it was quite satisfying at the end. Good underdog story, and some amazing "finding cracks" job by Foa Foa.

Also, damn at Russell being super salty in the reunion. You could already see the switch on his face as the FTC progressed, but he was legit pissed at the reunion. I guess I'll watch Heroes vs Villains next. I do know the winner of this one, but will be interesting seeing the old school legends battling it out.


I'll co-sign this, although that first sentence threw me off during the whole season, somehow reinforcing the idea of Russell should win (it makes sense now seeing the whole picture).
Samoa is a WHY X LOST season. Guatemala and ASS are other examples of this.

Gabon and MvGX were edited very similarly due to having bizarro winners. (very heavy group-focus on strategy/rooting-interests instead of on the eventual winner.)
 
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