Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Survivor 40: Winners at War - April 29 Blog Party


Will Tony be able to keep up the momentum of the past few weeks? I certainly hope so -- he's not only a fellow New Jersey person, but he's also so entertaining! 

I'll be updating this entry with the major events as the show airs here on the East Coast. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area -- please feel free to join in on the fun!

Here is the Lovely Lifeguard Laurie's latest blog pool update:

Ben Driebergen - Rbennie, Shannon
Denise Stapley - Becky, Jennifer
Jeremy Collins - Sharon N
Kim Spradlin-Wolfe - Dr_Celine
Michele Fitzgerald -Terry is a Texan
Nick Wilson - Barbara BW, Judi Sweeney
Sarah Lacina - SueGee, Cheryl in NC
Tony Vlachos - Karen in CA, Donna in Alabama

Extinction Island
Adam Klein - Lifeguard Laurie, Petals
Amber Mariano - Delee, Glenn Allen
Danni Boatwright - Jennasmom
Ethan Zohn - Rochelle, Jackie
Natalie Anderson - Nana in the NW

Parvati Shallow - Donna in FL
Rob Mariano - Auntie Leigh

Sophie Clarke - ChicMc
Tyson Apostol -Janice
Wendell Holland - Nickelpeed, PDX Granny
Yul Kwon - Ed in Ohio

Survivor fans ready?


Jeremy is ticked that he was targeted. Kim is ticked at Tony because she thinks he betrayed her trust. Ben isn't quite on the Trust Tony Train. He wants Jeremy out. 

Tony thinks he's in trouble. It's time for another undercover action! He's in a spy nest up in a tree. Only Sarah knows about it. She cautions him to be careful. Even though Jeremy remains a target, Kim starts a move to make the move to oust Tony. It seems a large contingent agrees Tony should be the next out. 

Or ... is it just the edit?

On Extinction, they have another grueling opportunity to earn fire tokens. Adam, almost predictably, is not doing well. Oh noes! Rob fell and "cracked" elbow, giving up. Sophie and Natalie are the best at it.  Despite his injury Rob ended up doing it with one arm. They all earned fire tokens, fewer for slower finishes.

Back at camp, Nick thinks he needs to make big moves. Lots of idol hunting going on. Oh, geez. Ben finds an idol right in front of Tony yet he tries to hide it from Tony. Now Tony knows that Ben can't be trusted. Tony calls them on it and they seem to make amends. But Ben is still considering going with Kim to vote out Tony.

Immunity Challenge time -- stand on narrow perch, balancing a bucket with arm tethered. Two winners, one male and one female. Two tokens each. Jeremy drops, Ben out due to touching the structure. Sarah drops. Nick tries to bribe Tony with the offer of a fire token. After 15 minutes, Jeff tries to bribe them with food. Kim goes for it. Michele goes for it. Nick gets Tony to offer him a token. Chocolate, peanut butter, cookies and milk.

DENISE AND TONY WIN IMMUNITY!

Now they all seem to be concentrating on once again targeting Jeremy. Ben tells Tony that Kim and company were talking about blindsiding him but he won Immunity. Tony knows Nick is lying to him. Tony does not want Jeremy to go now. Sarah thinks they need to stick with the numbers and vote out Jeremy. Tony goes to Ben trying to save Jeremy. Michele plans to write down Jeremy's name but give him her advantage. Since the edit is so focused on Jeremy going, he probably won't.

Tribal Council - Denise compares the return to camp after the last tribal to bad family therapy despite the calmness of the events prior to the vote. All kinds of whispering going on. 

The tally -- Tony tries to play his idol for Sarah, She declines. Jeremy plays nothing and declines Tony.

Jeremy, Kim, Jeremy, Jeremy, Kim, Kim, Kim, Kim

Buh-bye, Kim.

Two hours next week!


Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Survivor 40: Winners at War - April 22 Blog Party


I hope everyone is staying safe and well. I've battened the hatches here as my area has been getting hit very hard with COVID-19.

Will the remaining castaways be more psyched for the win now that they've had their family visits? In a side note, I saw that Sandra too got a family visit.

I'll be updating this entry with the major events as the show airs here on the East Coast. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area -- please feel free to join in on the fun!

Here is the Lovely Lifeguard Laurie's latest blog pool update:

Ben Driebergen - Rbennie, Shannon
Denise Stapley - Becky, Jennifer
Jeremy Collins - Sharon N
Kim Spradlin-Wolfe - Dr_Celine
Michele Fitzgerald -Terry is a Texan
Nick Wilson - Barbara BW, Judi Sweeney
Parvati Shallow - Donna in FL
Sarah Lacina - SueGee, Cheryl in NC
Sophie Clarke - ChicMc
Tony Vlachos - Karen in CA, Donna in Alabama

Extinction Island
Adam Klein - Lifeguard Laurie, Petals
Amber Mariano - Delee, Glenn Allen
Danni Boatwright - Jennasmom
Ethan Zohn - Rochelle, Jackie
Natalie Anderson - Nana in the NW
Rob Mariano - Auntie Leigh
Tyson Apostol -Janice
Wendell Holland - Nickelpeed, PDX Granny
Yul Kwon - Ed in Ohio

Survivor fans ready?


Jeremy left Tribal using his advantage, so is back at camp awaiting their return. He's upset that his "meat shield" Tyson is out again. His move did save his skin in the game, but left his allies to the wind.

Tony thinks he's playing smarter but it's time to go idol hunting. Oh, geez. Nick shows up so Tony sends him off to an area he had already searched. And he finds one while trying to contain his glee.

They must need filler this week. Sarah has started her own line of clothes. She's trying to create runway models. Tony likes Jeremy but feels he must go. He talks to Jeremy as he goes undercover. I realize many aren't huge Tony fans but I get a kick out of him. But Tony's act with Jeremy might be getting bought by Jeremy ... but not all.

Over on Extinction, Tyson thinks Adam will have a hard time. Natalie finds a wine bottle with a clue. She's sharing it with Parvati. They determine it's under the bed. It's an extortion advantage -- they could sell it to someone who  an target someone else to not only sit out of a challenge, but lose their vote.

TONY got it! Oh noes! He was gleeful until he finds it is being played against him and he needs to pay the extortion fee of six fire tokens. He only has three. He shows his new fake allies hoping to beg for tokens. Jeremy mistakenly trusts Tony and gives him one of his two tokens. Ben and Nick each give him one. 

Immunity Challenge time -- stand on narrow beam balancing a statue on a pole. Periodically, they will move back on the beam. Winner also wins two fire tokens.

Kim out. Denise, Michele out. Sarah out. Nick out. Sophie out. Ben out. Jeremy drops. TONY WINS HIS SECOND IMMUNITY IN A ROW! He once again wants to target Jeremy.

The consensus seems to be leaning towards voting out Jeremy but throwing a few votes to Michele in case he has an idol. Jeremy and his crew think they're targeting Ben. Now Tony is turning more towards a Ben ouster? Oh, wait ... now he's thinking Sophie! He gets Nick aboard. He thinks their four is stronger than the split vote for Jeremy/Michele. He went to Jeremy who's a bit leery about the whole thing. Tony is right that Jeremy is the target and could very well go home.

Tribal Council time. Jeff brings up two advantages and an idol played. Jeff refers to them as landmines as he talks to Ben. Jeremy talks about half-truths and the need to be careful who you trust. 

The tally: 
No idols are played.

Jeremy, Michele, Jeremy, Michele, Jeremy, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie

Tony did it! Sophie is OUT! She gives her fire tokens to Sarah and Kim.



Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Survivor 40: Winners at War - April 15 Blog Party


Good evening! I hope everyone is safe and well tonight. As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be updating this entry with the major happenings. Please refresh the page to get the latest updates! As always, the real party is in the comments section -- I hope to see you there!

Lifeguard Laurie has given the latest blog pool update. Of course. technically we're all still in it with the exception of those unfortunate enough to have drawn Queen Sandra. Here's the latest standings --


Ben Driebergen - Rbennie, Shannon
Denise Stapley - Becky, Jennifer
Jeremy Collins - Sharon N
Kim Spradlin-Wolfe - Dr_Celine
Michele Fitzgerald -Terry is a Texan
Nick Wilson - Barbara BW, Judi Sweeney
Parvati Shallow - Donna in FL
Sarah Lacina - SueGee, Cheryl in NC
Sophie Clarke - ChicMc
Tony Vlachos - Karen in CA, Donna in Alabama
Tyson Apostol -Janice

Extinction Island
Amber Mariano - Delee, Glenn Allen
Danni Boatwright - Jennasmom
Ethan Zohn - Rochelle, Jackie
Natalie Anderson - Nana in the NW
Rob Mariano - Auntie Leigh
Yul Kwon - Ed in Ohio
Wendell Holland - Nickelpeed, PDX Granny
Adam Klein - Lifeguard Laurie, Petals

Survivor fans ready?


We start with the family/loved ones fest o' tears at a site with a challenge set-up. Oh, geez. Kim's whole family, including kids, is there. Now. it's Ben's family. I guess we'll get a slew of guests and tears tonight.

Challenge -- There is no challenge. All are going back to camp.

They're all thrilled that it's family time. In today's world, they probably are wishing the family time was back on the island!

A ship is coming to Extinction. It's their families, as well. They just visit and don't stay.

Immunity Challenge time ... without the family members. Pull on a rope balancing a wobbly table, collect letter blocks, stack them to spell IMMUNITY. The winner also wins two fire tokens.

TONY wins Immunity, his first ever!

Heh, Tony can't believe he won by being slow and steady while he's more of a fast and sloppy kind of guy. He would like to see Tyson out while his female advisor (Sarah?) want to target Kim. Jeremy is on the target list, too. Ohh ... Sarah is on the line, too.

Jeremy is torn whether he should save his butt by using his advantage that allows him to leave Tribal or stay to be a vote with his allies.

Tribal Council time. Let the whispers commence. Jeremy uses his advantage. He cannot vote nor be voted out. More whispering. His five have to scramble without his vote. Sarah uses her steal a vote advantage and steals Denise's vote. Sarah gets to vote twice.

The tally --
Kim plays her idol for Denise.

Denise, Denise, Sophie, Sophie, Tyson, Tyson, Tyson, Tyson.

Tyson is out again.

Aw ... a group hug for Jeff from the Extinction people for their visits.




Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Survivor 40: Winners at War - April 8 Blog Party


Okay, so last week Tyson won the challenge to leave Extinction and rejoin his newly-merged fellow castaways. Then he managed to get through the first Tribal unscathed and not even coming off as a threat. Can he continue to hang in as the sole old school Survivor? I guess we'll see!

I'll be updating this entry with the major events as the show airs here on the East Coast. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area. I hope to see you there!

Before we get started, Lifeguard Laurie has updated the blog pool:
And now the fun begins!!

Adam Klein - Lifeguard Laurie, Petals
Ben Driebergen - Rbennie, Shannon
Denise Stapley - Becky, Jennifer
Jeremy Collins - Sharon N
Kim Spradlin-Wolfe - Dr_Celine
Michele Fitzgerald -Terry is a Texan
Nick Wilson - Barbara BW, Judi Sweeney
Parvati Shallow - Donna in FL
Sarah Lacina - SueGee, Cheryl in NC
Sophie Clarke - ChicMc
Tony Vlachos - Karen in CA, Donna in Alabama
Tyson Apostol -Janice

Extinction Island
Amber Mariano - Delee, Glenn Allen
Danni Boatwright - Jennasmom
Ethan Zohn - Rochelle, Jackie
Natalie Anderson - Nana in the NW
Rob Mariano - Auntie Leigh
Yul Kwon - Ed in Ohio
Wendell Holland - Nickelpeed, PDX Granny


Survivor fans ready?

Adam thinks Jeff himself is hiding an idol. Nick want to go for revenge against all who mentioned his name. 

On Extinction they got a clue about history repeating itself. Danni finds an advantage which, if sold for a fire token from the castaways, allows the owner to flip it, lands on heads, the person has immunity.

The Reward Challenge reward is Chinese take-out. Two teams of five. Denise is sitting out. They have to swim to a net of fish, untie it, get it back to shore, carry the heavy fish, untie them, put them on hooks, carry it to two puzzle solvers on each team. Puzzle.

Kim, Sophie, Ben, Michele and Sarah win. Sarah gives her reward to Nick because it's his birthday. Tyson thinks it puts a bigger target on her back. I think so, too.

Sarah thinks it was just a move which showed people should be nicer. Tony tries to school her on what might be the repercussions of her choice. Nick doesn't feel he can trust Sarah despite the gift and thinks he owes her nothing.

Michele has four fire tokens since Wendell left her one. She also finds the clue and advantage coin in her bag. It will cost her four fire tokens, Should she go for it? Yep, she does. It's good until seven are left at Tribal.

Immunity is an oft-seen endurance standing hands free with smaller and smaller footholds. Michele out first. Denise out. Second round -- Tyson down. Jeremy out. Tony out. Round three -- Adam, Sophie, Nick, Sarah out. Ben out. KIM WINS IMMUNITY!

Once again, Nick and Adam are targets. They talk about throwing Michele in there. Tyson warns Nick and now Nick thinks he needs to take the game over. He pushes for a Sarah ouster. Tyson tells others that the Sarah plan came from Adam. He tells Sarah that. He's really getting them all riled. Ben confronts Adam. Heh. Things are going all kerflooey. I love it.

Time for Tribal Council ...
The jury is brought in. Sarah claims all is chaos. It was. Nick thinks he's not being treated right. Heh. Uh-oh ... the whispering commences. Adam whines about Ben while Ben defends himself. As Ben and Adam argue, the whispering keeps on going. 

The vote tally ...

Adam tries to take the idol from Jeff's podium and fails. It's not an idol.

Sarah, Adam, Nick, Adam, Nick, Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam ...

He's out.



Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Survivor 40: Winners at War - April 1 Blog Party


Good evening! I hope everyone is safe and well tonight! It's on the scary side here in the NYC Metro Area, but I'm hanging in.

Tonight's show should be action-packed. In addition to the merge, one person will be coming back from Extinction. I'm not sure how it will be worked -- a separate challenge? Losers from that challenge stay on Extinction to try once again? And, what about those fire tokens? I have lots of questions and few answers. Hopefully most will be answered tonight!

I'll be updating this entry with the major events as the show airs here on the East Coast. Refresh the page to get the latest updates! As always, the real party is in the comments area -- please feel free to join in on the fun!

Here are the latest pool standings from our dear Lifeguard Laurie:

DAKAL
Denise Stapley - Becky, Jennifer
Jeremy Collins - Sharon N
Kim Spradlin-Wolfe - Dr_Celine
Tony Vlachos - Karen in CA, Donna in Alabama

SELE
Michele Fitzgerald -Terry is a Texan
Nick Wilson - Barbara BW, Judi Sweeney
Parvati Shallow - Donna in FL
Wendell Holland - Nic+F10:F30kelpeed, PDX Granny

YARA
Adam Klein - Lifeguard Laurie, Petals
Ben Driebergen - Rbennie, Shannon
Sarah Lacina - SueGee, Cheryl in NC
Sophie Clarke - ChicMc

Extinction Island
Natalie Anderson - Nana in the NW
Amber Mariano - Delee, Glenn Allen
Danni Boatwright - Jennasmom
Ethan Zohn - Rochelle, Jackie
Tyson Apostol -Janice
Rob Mariano - Auntie Leigh
Sandra Diaz-Twine - tbc

Yul Kwon - Ed in Ohio

Survivor fans ready?


On Extinction they can use their fire tokens to buy an advantage in the return challenge or an idol. Amber gave Rob her idol.

Meanwhile, Jeff gathers the tribes for the Immunity Challenge and tells them the merge is on. Then he tells them one more will be with them and brings on the bunch from Extinction. No one seemed surprised that Sandra had left.

Rob brings up that it's all the old school players. Race through obstacles and maneuver a ball to top of a track. The advantage is that they don't have to dig for a rope. Some -- Amber, Parvati and Yul -- don't have the advantage. 

TYSON is back in, just barely beating Rob. The others head back to camp -- there will be one more shot at returning. They will be going to Tribals as some will be on the jury.

Back at camp they have their feast plus the option to buy stuff with their tokens. Denise explains how Sandra went down. It might backfire on her. Tyson has to mix and mingle with the younger crowd. He thinks they will underestimate him. 

Ben thinks it will be big targets against little targets. Tony, Tyson, Jeremy and Ben want to target what they perceive to be the lesser players. I guess we'll see how that works out!

It's raining as they start the Immunity Challenge. Sophie is shivering. It's endurance -- holding onto a pole, get a fire token with a win, two winners -- one male, one female.

Michele is out first. Adam out. Sarah out, Tyson out, Wendell out, Tony out. Sophie down. Kim out. DENISE WINS FOR THE WOMEN!

The men are down to Jeremy and Nick. JEREMY WINS FOR THE MEN!

It seems like Nick seems to be the main target. However, we know from show history that editing will imply one person and it's actually someone else. Adam and Wendell are brought up, too. Jeremy does not want Wendell to go and tries to push for an Adam ouster. Interesting that no one is talking Tyson.

Time for Tribal. Jeff asks about Tyson's return and it does appear that they are not targeting him. Adam is way paranoid and probably should be. 

The tally 

Adam, Wendell, Adam, Adam, Wendell, Wendell, Wendell, Wendell, Wendell, Wendell.

He's out and Jeremy won't be too happy!