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[BowieZ]

Russell isn't the greatest player ever. He totally sucks ass at the challenges, the only thing he has going for him is the tenacity to find the hidden immunity idols without a clue. When it came down to competing for individual immunity he failed at every single challenge except one at the very end.

I thought Russell was renowned for doing well at challenges. He came close to winning most of the individual immunities last season (pipped at the post by ragamuffin Brett etc), and won the all-important final one. He lost most of his tribal immunity challenges early in the season cos he was with a bunch of weak idiots... EDIT: And, well, because he tried to lose challenges :lol

You may be thinking of Coach, though, who is renowned for sucking at challenges but putting an ego spin on it to make it seem like he's better than he really is. :lol

 

[Manics]

I thought Russell was renowned for doing well at challenges. He came close to winning most of the individual immunities last season (pipped at the post by ragamuffin Brett etc), and won the all-important final one. He lost most of his tribal immunity challenges early in the season cos he was with a bunch of weak idiots... EDIT: And, well, because he tried to lose challenges :lol

You may be thinking of Coach, though, who is renowned for sucking at challenges but putting an ego spin on it to make it seem like he's better than he really is. :lol

I don't recall Russel getting close at any of the individual immunity challenges. He only won the very last one that he had to win. He dropped out of a lot of individual immunity challenges fairly early.

 

[Galang]

Why is Candice on the heroes team? I'm completely baffled by this. I think she may have been an alternate..

I would of put Candace on the villains tribe after her and Jonathan switch tribes so quickly.

Out of the heroes Sugar would of been my first choice to go. I didn't mind her on her season because almost everyone on that season was so unlikeable to begin with.

I loved James comment to Amanda about that being her best tribal. :lol Still would like to see either win. I like most of the heroes so far and it's shaping up to be a good season. The villains tribe is made up of pretty much every cast member I hated from past seasons. Only like Russel and Parvati. Coach actually didn't annoy me as much this time around, but I still can't stand Tyson, Randy or Courtney.

 

[RS4-]

Villains I'd like to see do well: Rob and Parvati
Heroes: Pretty much all of them :lol

God, I don't remember Amanda looking this good. Needs more Amanda vs Parvati.

edit - Ugh, supposed to be Amanda, not Amber

 

[suaveric]

I have to think they showed them last season before it aired and before they left so that everyone would know who he is to give everyone a fair chance. The way they were speaking about him was as if they did see his run on the season.

They may have shown them some clips, but there's just no way they could have seen Russel's entire season. It was only about a month before this new season started that his season had finished filming, there's just no way they the Survivor producers had the whole thing edited yet.

At best, the HvV cast got to see the first few episodes of Russel's season. They also might have been told that he was good at finding idols and even though his tribe went in to the merge down 8-4 he ended up in the final three.

 

[bill0527]

Russell isn't the greatest player ever. He totally sucks ass at the challenges, the only thing he has going for him is the tenacity to find the hidden immunity idols without a clue. When it came down to competing for individual immunity he failed at every single challenge except one at the very end.

Russell did a lot of things that made him the greatest player ever.

He found all of those hidden immunity idols without clues, and this is no small feat. It had never been done before. Hell, it had never even been thought of before - to just go looking for them without having any clue.

Not only did he find all of those hidden immunity idols, but he played one (maybe two) of them when he had to play them. We've seen a lot of players over the years get voted out at tribal council while sitting on a hidden immunity idol because they thought they were safe.. or in the case of James, who had a hidden immunity idol in each pocket when he got voted off. Russell was smart enough to play idols when he had to play them, sit on them when he had to sit on them, and make sure the right people knew that he was holding them.

He also masterminded the elimination of every single member of the opposing tribe, which should have never happened considering it was 8-4 when the merge took place. He had some help, but anyone that makes it very far in the game has to have help. Make no mistake though, once Russell targeted someone for elimination, he got it done and it didn't matter if he had the numbers or not. He found a way to sway the right people to vote the way HE wanted the vote to go.

He may not have done very well in the challenges, but this is actually a positive instead of a negative. He didn't present himself to be a physical threat because he either intentionally, or unintentionally, never won anything until the final challenge. He did just enough in the physical challenges to make sure people didn't call him a weak link, but he also made sure he didn't do too much so that people would think he was dominant and put a target over him because of it. The final immunity challenge was one that he had to win. He had to win it or he was out. So he went out and won it.

 

[ErasureAcer]

Sad to see Sugar go as she IS the most attractive of the bunch.

At least we still have Amanda.

 

[RubxQub]

Sad to see Sugar go as she IS the most attractive of the bunch.

At least we still have Amanda.

...and she got topless out of nowhere on the show. What a shame that survivor stuff doesn't leak out like crazy.

Anyone else think that Survivor overly censors stuff to make it seem like people are getting naked all over the place? I swear, they're just censoring people's crotches and cleavage lines for no reasons most of the time :lol

 

[Shabadoo69]

Tyson is by far the funniest and best survivor. i know him personally and he is so awesome. you can't ever take him serious and he jokes around a lot. but you have to admit that his confessionals are the best ever. i hope he wins it all!!

 

[J-Rod]

Sugar is ugly, dumb as a rock, and crazy as hell. Glad she got gone so we didn't have to see her cry every five minutes.

 

[Brian Fellows]

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20343684,00.html

* As some of you may know, often when there is a challenge on Survivor that is presented as a ''first team to three wins,'' in actuality, it was something much longer. Take this reward challenge: What you saw on TV was a ''first one to three wins.'' But in reality, the teams actually played all the way to five. Remember how the Villains went up 2-1 after Coach dragged Colby back to the Villains mat? In actuality, the Heroes had a whopping 4-0 lead when that contest took place, and that Coach victory merely got the Villains back to 4-1. But this was just the tip of the out-of-order iceberg, and what I am about to tell you is so convoluted and confusing we may need Lostexpert Doc Jensen to decipher it. The first-round match-up you saw with Stephenie and Cirie vs. Parvati and Danielle was actually round six and got the Villains back to being down only 4-2. But wait, it gets even more confusing. Remember how you saw Stephenie dislocate her shoulder and Probst remarked how she injured herself in the very first round of the very first challenge. Well, that was true, but it wasn't the round you saw. The actual first round (that you did not see) featured the exact same match-up (Stephenie and Cirie vs. Parvati and Danielle) and it was actually a Heroes victory. Not only that, but the injury appeared to occur while Stephenie was slapping the mat with her extended arm to give her team the win. So, the round you saw presented as the first match-up was actually a rematch that Stephenie was participating in after she had already dislocated her shoulder! (How tough is she?) So, the injury happened in one place, but was edited into another. Now because this is all a bit hard to follow, let me be clear about one thing: There is no monkeying around when it comes to Survivor challenges. The teams compete and the winner is the winner. Nothing is rigged. When you saw people winning rounds, they were winning rounds, maybe just not in the exact order it actually happened. Like all elements of the show, the producers just often record much more than can actually show so then have to figure out the best way to condense it all. (For example, the one round where Coach dragged Colby to his mat took over nine minutes by itself. It was an epic duel that was mesmerizing to witness, but simply too long to show in its entirety) And Stephenie did injure her shoulder in that competition against those same players, just not in the round they showed us. I'm actually surprised they edited it this way because watching Stephenie dislocating it as she won, and then coming back to compete after injuring it was pretty dramatic in itself. Again, just not enough time.

Tyson is by far the funniest and best survivor. i know him personally and he is so awesome. you can't ever take him serious and he jokes around a lot. but you have to admit that his confessionals are the best ever. i hope he wins it all!!

He's pretty entertaining but Sandra's confessionals in the Pearl Islands were better.

 

[Zombie James]

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20343684,00.html







He's pretty entertaining but Sandra's confessionals in the Pearl Islands were better.

Pfffft, that's lame. Time? It was a two hour show with only two challenges, they padded most of it with double the amount of "setting up the camp/i'm not here to make friends" fluff we're used to seeing.

 

[RS4-]

I liked the 2 hour premiere wasn't bothered by any of the "dead" air time or whatever the writer mentioned.

Some of the insights into the challenges were nice though.

 

[BowieZ]

I really think this was one of the greatest episodes of Survivor ever. It had pretty much everything that makes Survivor so great -- epic challenges, comebacks, relationships, camp life struggles, humor, tears, humiliation. It was a little lite on the scheming and stuff, but for a first episode, that was acceptable.

I liked that they spent so much time on the camp life and developing characterizations, both of which are unusual for All-Star seasons, and even the recent few seasons in general. Plus these "heroes" and "villains" were unexpectedly all portrayed as human in one way or another... Rupert struggling with fire and being embarrassed, Colby being pwned in the challenge, Sugar desperate and weak, Sandra and Boston "Bob" making stupid bets like drinking mates, Boston also talking about being a father and apologizing for not being patient to Amber, Coach and Jerri torn between showing affections and smart gameplay, Amanda admitting her flaws at Tribal Council and James laughing about it, Tom and J.T. coming together kinda like father and son saying "we need each other," there were a lot of great moments, many of them heartwarming in an oddball way.

This will be a very good season

 

[Brian Fellows]

I liked that they spent so much time on the camp life and developing characterizations, both of which are unusual for All-Star seasons, and even the recent few seasons in general. Plus these "heroes" and "villains" were unexpectedly all portrayed as human in one way or another... Rupert struggling with fire and being embarrassed, Colby being pwned in the challenge, Sugar desperate and weak, Sandra and Boston "Bob" making stupid bets like drinking mates, Boston also talking about being a father and apologizing for not being patient to Amber, Coach and Jerri torn between showing affections and smart gameplay, Amanda admitting her flaws at Tribal Council and James laughing about it, Tom and J.T. coming together kinda like father and son saying "we need each other," there were a lot of great moments, many of them heartwarming in an oddball way.

These two might make the entertaining duo ever. Hopefully Rob is ok next week.

 

[Vinci]

These two might make the entertaining duo ever. Hopefully Rob is ok next week.

Me too. As for the earlier conversation about the best Survivor player ever? I'd say Boston Rob. Think about it: This guy not only engineered getting to the finals for himself, he also got the girl he was romantically involved with there as well.

 

[BigDug13]

It's not necessarily what Russell did, it's how he did it. He found immunity idols, with one time leaving it there so he could run the rest of the tribe into the woods to get them off the scent of it's location.

Then wearing the immunity idol around his neck as he talked to tribemates to see if they would notice. Basically being a cocky f@$k around people and having them unable to do anything about it.

Everyone else who behaved the way he did got eliminated in past seasons. He was cunning and didn't even hide it. People knew he was the devil and they still didn't eliminate him.

But playing with real veterans is the true test. If he makes it really far, like all the way to the final 3, then he truly is the best IMO, whether or not he actually wins.

 

[BigJonsson]

Me too. As for the earlier conversation about the best Survivor player ever? I'd say Boston Rob. Think about it: This guy not only engineered getting to the finals for himself, he also got the girl he was romantically involved with there as well.

And he almost won the Amazing Race

 

[Brian Fellows]

Then wearing the immunity idol around his neck as he talked to tribemates to see if they would notice. Basically being a cocky f@$k around people and having them unable to do anything about it.

Shit like that is what cost him the million dollars. Getting to the end without people hating you is a huge part of the game and he failed miserably.

 

[Codeblue]

Back on the topic of people not knowing who Russell, I don't think anyone was shown anything about him. Colby said he didn't know who he was in an interview. So I really don't think anyone has any idea who Russell is, but I think everyone realizes that if you are on that villains cast a season after you just played you must have pulled some underhanded crap.

Getting to the end without people hating you only becomes a factor when the jury acts like a bunch of bitter jerks. My point is, had he played any other way, I doubt he would have gotten to the final three. His massive ego is what allows him to be so confident in every bold move he makes, and it definitely works for him, and it is entertaining as hell.

 

[WiaRS]

Russell irritates me just because it seems like he believes if he keeps saying he is the best ever then everyone will believe him. He was playing with a group of players who: 1. Had never played before. 2: Were mostly recruits who weren't really fans of the show. I'm sure I too could say I am the best player ever if I competed with 3rd graders.

 

[Brian Fellows]

Getting to the end without people hating you only becomes a factor when the jury acts like a bunch of bitter jerks. My point is, had he played any other way, I doubt he would have gotten to the final three. His massive ego is what allows him to be so confident in every bold move he makes, and it definitely works for him, and it is entertaining as hell.

Yeah it worked out for a second place finish. Which is what he was playing for the entire time. I saw it coming a mile away. Why didn't the greatest player ever?

 

[BoboBrazil]

How funny was it that Sugar couldn't even figure out how to use the pen at the end?:lol How come noone on Survivor has had sex yet out there in the jungle? You would think someone would have done it by now in 20 seasons...

 

[Brian Fellows]

How do you know they haven't?

They do give them condoms after all.

 

[BoboBrazil]

They would have aired it if it would have happened. They wouldn't edit out something that huge. That is a for sure ratings grabber to promote.

 

[BowieZ]

They would have aired it if it would have happened. They wouldn't edit out something that huge. That is a for sure ratings grabber to promote.

How can they "show" that, though? I'm pretty sure it's been alluded to once or twice before, and that's enough. Pretty sure Amanda and Ozzy got jiggy in Micronesia, for one. Cirie referenced it as "those sounds".

 

[BoboBrazil]

How can they "show" that, though? I'm pretty sure it's been alluded to once or twice before, and that's enough. Pretty sure Amanda and Ozzy got jiggy in Micronesia, for one. Cirie referenced it as "those sounds".

Well they wouldn't have to actually show the act. They could do like on Real World or Big Brother when they show people having sex. Have they alluded to it before? I have only seen a few seasons of Survivor. I think the last one before last season I saw was with Rupert. Russell brought me back into Survivor.

 

[ErasureAcer]

Colby said he didn't know who he was

Colby didn't know who anyone was. He was asking Candice who people were and I was :lol He obviously doesn't watch the show. And refusing Sugar's touch... :lol He has more strength than I do.

Pretty cool info on how the first challenge went down. That makes sense cuz there was 9/10 lanes and that didn't add up until now. Steph is pretty tough hearing this new info.

I'm hoping Tom wins again, as he's the best survivor ever. And I hate Cirie. She needs to go next. Bitch will fuck things up.

 

[Codeblue]

Cirie is probably the only person of the Hero side that can compete with the Villains strategically. Given that I find the Hero tribe really boring, I too hope she gets voted out pre-merge.

 

[pel1300]

Tyson is by far the funniest and best survivor. i know him personally and he is so awesome. you can't ever take him serious and he jokes around a lot. but you have to admit that his confessionals are the best ever. i hope he wins it all!!

How do you know him? What does he do for a living..besides cycling, in interviews he talks about how he never worries about losing money until he has none left.

 

[Bauer Action Hour]

Cirie is probably the only person of the Hero side that can compete with the Villains strategically. Given that I find the Hero tribe really boring, I too hope she gets voted out pre-merge.

She's not one of the best-of-the-best but Amanda can hang w/ them. She played strong strategic games in her previous 2 seasons.

 

[Hours Left]

I would of put Candace on the villains tribe after her and Jonathan switch tribes so quickly.

I agree, I don't recall anything Candice did as being heroic, quite the opposite really.

Man, I hate All-Star seasons, and the theme of this one makes it even worse. So many people this season I'd rather never see again. The only person I really would like to see win is Courtney.

 

[Codeblue]

I almost forgot, was anyone else wondering what the hell was going on when the camera pans over to Russell and Coach see-sawing on a plank of wood mid-show?

 

[BowieZ]

She's not one of the best-of-the-best but Amanda can hang w/ them. She played strong strategic games in her previous 2 seasons.

Yeah, in fact, I don't get the "Heroes are boring/aren't strategic" complaint. Apart from Rupert and Colby -- the two 'prehistoric' contestants -- the 7 remaining Heroes are pretty devious and would do anything to stay in the game -- and pretty much were able to do so:

- Cirie and Amanda... the two players who have lasted the longest cumulative time in the game (Cirie -- 4th place and 3rd place respectively; and Amanda -- 3rd and 2nd place respectively)
- Two winners in Tom and J.T. -- who were both masterminds of their season, although their fellow contestants fawned over them which helped, but they played to their strengths and it paid off
- Stephenie... constantly defying odds to stay deep into the game, pushing buttons, crafting her image, making deals, to the point of running-up in Guatemala only losing perhaps thanks to a slightly weak Tribal Council defense... she's survived the game the 4th longest out of anybody
- James made a stupid mistake in China, yes, but that one mistake capped off a series of excellent gameplay moves to be sure... and he did well in Micronesia before an injury cut his adventure short -- finished 7th place both times, 5th longest 'surviving' contestant ever
- Candice actually played a very strong game considering she was perennially sent to Exile Island and had little to work with being away from the game so much.

I almost forgot, was anyone else wondering what the hell was going on when the camera pans over to Russell and Coach see-sawing on a plank of wood mid-show?

What do you mean? I thought it was cute.

 

[Galang]

^ Well said about the heroes.

Russell irritates me just because it seems like he believes if he keeps saying he is the best ever then everyone will believe him. He was playing with a group of players who: 1. Had never played before. 2: Were mostly recruits who weren't really fans of the show. I'm sure I too could say I am the best player ever if I competed with 3rd graders.

I can perfectly understand the hate against Russell. Love him now, but initially he got on my nerves more than any contestant ever has. I rarely do a complete turn around on a character, but his scheming and just something about him eventually won me over.

One of the things that surprised me watching was that a few of the contestants didn't seem to do their research that well before coming on the show. Even if they didn't have a list of the contestants beforehand a lot of the people there have already been on the show twice or are pretty popular.

 

[ShyGuy]

I have to say that after watching it, I was interested why Jeff didn't do his usual and eke out of the Villains the fact that they mad their own fire before the Immunity Challenge.

Normally Jeff gets the survivors to reveal stuff like that as a chance for one tribe to "give it" to the other tribe....

I figured it was a perfect opportunity for the villains to stick it to the heroes right before the challenge, just for psychology's sake...

 

[Foov]

It's not necessarily what Russell did, it's how he did it. He found immunity idols, with one time leaving it there so he could run the rest of the tribe into the woods to get them off the scent of it's location.

Then wearing the immunity idol around his neck as he talked to tribemates to see if they would notice. Basically being a cocky f@$k around people and having them unable to do anything about it.

Everyone else who behaved the way he did got eliminated in past seasons. He was cunning and didn't even hide it. People knew he was the devil and they still didn't eliminate him.

But playing with real veterans is the true test. If he makes it really far, like all the way to the final 3, then he truly is the best IMO, whether or not he actually wins.

That's all true about Russell, but that's also a good summary of why he lost. It was too obvious that things were going to go that way. Hence why I and others have a hard time understand all the adulation.

On another note: the music when the villains were exiting the helicopters was hilariously amazing, I really hope that play those melodramatic angles up more in future episodes. I was laughing my ass off.

 

[BowieZ]

One of the things that surprised me watching was that a few of the contestants didn't seem to do their research that well before coming on the show. Even if they didn't have a list of the contestants beforehand a lot of the people there have already been on the show twice or are pretty popular.

Do you mean Colby and Candice, when they were seen fetching bamboo in private?

Candice may genuinely know little about the other players as she's the least successful and least known of all the returning players, but I doubt Colby hasn't done his research.

Colby is a self-professed fan of the show who loves the game so much; I suspect he was cunningly trying to form a bond with Candice by "empathizing" with her on feeling like an outsider (as he has no other bonds on the Heroes tribe)... and crafting a perception of yourself that you're not much of a schemer who doesn't know the ins and outs of the other players and their likely strategies might seem 'trustworthy'.

He was also trying to plant into her head the idea of forming a bigger alliance with some of the other "twofers" (Stephenie/Tom, Amanda/James) which probably does not include Cirie as he was part of the catalysis with Tom to discuss a scheme to vote her out.

And at the end of the day, Sugar pissed off Colby and Sugar is gone, so there's a good chance that Colby was pulling most of the strings at camp, despite coming off as just following what was happening.

I have to say that after watching it, I was interested why Jeff didn't do his usual and eke out of the Villains the fact that they mad their own fire before the Immunity Challenge.

Normally Jeff gets the survivors to reveal stuff like that as a chance for one tribe to "give it" to the other tribe....

I figured it was a perfect opportunity for the villains to stick it to the heroes right before the challenge, just for psychology's sake...

I suppose the Villains all decided (upon Rob's suggestion, presumably) that they wanted to maintain the illusion that they're weak, most likely because the Heroes won't perform as desperately if they think they have the upper hand.

It worked out well for them, so far, I guess.

 

[ShyGuy]

It's on soon, so I'll just quickly throw out there that I think the villains will lose the immunity challenge, and if so then Russell will do his thing! hehe

 

[Galang]

Do you mean Colby and Candice, when they were seen fetching bamboo in private?

Candice may genuinely know little about the other players as she's the least successful and least known of all the returning players, but I doubt Colby hasn't done his research.

Colby is a self-professed fan of the show who loves the game so much; I suspect he was cunningly trying to form a bond with Candice by "empathizing" with her on feeling like an outsider (as he has no other bonds on the Heroes tribe)... and crafting a perception of yourself that you're not much of a schemer who doesn't know the ins and outs of the other players and their likely strategies might seem 'trustworthy'.

It worked out well for them, so far, I guess.

Ah, makes sense. I never saw the season Colby was on so I didn't know much about him.

It's on soon, so I'll just quickly throw out there that I think the villains will lose the immunity challenge, and if so then Russell will do his thing! hehe

I expect and hope for the Heroes to win most of the immunities. I just hope Russell doesn't get kicked off in the process since he's one of the only two tolerable villians for me.

 

[BigJonsson]

Uh oh ROb

 

[goldenticket]

I stepped away for a sec. What happened to boston rob?

 

[BigJonsson]

Collapsed and looks extremely weak

Awesome, hes good to go

Spoiler

Heroes are so dumb

 

[Galang]

Wow Heroes lost again. Stephanie is probably going to go home this time, hopefully.

Would love for JT to side with James, Amanda, Candice, Cirie and Rupert.

 

[ccbfan]

Wow Russell really got in shape from Somoa. He looked completely different from that.

Anyone else routing for the vilians instead?

 

[BigJonsson]

Wow Russell really got in shape from Somoa. He looked completely different from that.

Anyone else routing for the vilians instead?

I'm rooting for Russel, Rob, Rupert, Amanda

Spoiler

God damn! Steph is gone far too early.......

 

[RS4-]

Lol Steph reminds me of Chris Bosh for some reason.

Sweet Jesus, Amanda with glasses. So good

 

[Galang]

Heroes are actually pretty dysfunctional so far. Was worried about Amanda for a second, I think Cirie and Candice could be carried much farther by James/JT so their decision is wise for the time being. They obviously have to switch later on if they have any hope of winning.

James also need to watch his back, dunno whats up with him this season.

 

[VGChampion]

James' comment at the end had me cringe a little bit. Definitely some stuff they didn't show to have that much hatred at a person. I liked Steph though. Problem with all-stars is I like almost everybody so it's tough when I like people on both sides of the alliances.

 

[yellowjacket25]

James was insane tonight. Im not that big of a Stephanie fan but come on, just vote her out and be done with it. There was no need to ride her ass the entire last half of the show. What do the heroes do if they lose next week? Vote off Tom or Colby and leave Candace, Amanda, and Cirie there? They are digging there own grave right now.