Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Survivor: David vs. Goliath - Season Finale Blog Party!


As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be live-blogging the events -- refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area. Feel free to join in!

Tonight is the big three-hour season finale/reunion night! In my opinion, we're wrapping up one of the best seasons ever on the show. I like being blindsided -- shows need to blindside me more often!

Here's the blog pool news from Lifeguard Laurie herself (she rocks!) 

Alison - Cher C, Jenna G, Renee
Angelina - Donna in FL, Margo, Vicki Volk
Davie - CherryPie, KelseyNY, Robin Allard
Kara - David, Karen in CA, Sharon N
Mike - Ed in Ohio, meb, Tammy
Nick - Brian, Jennasmom, Paula Bell, Silk

Jury:
Elizabeth

John
Dan
Alec
Carl
Gabby
Christian

Survivor fans ready? Six are left. Who will be the sole Survivor tonight?


Why am I not surprised that Christian is wearing a bowtie?

Davie is searching for an idol. Wait, they're all looking, it seems.

Angelina found a clue to the idol. Now she just has to get to the idol -- easier said than done. She has to haul a ladder and climb for it. D'oh! She lost her clue when she went to check to see if the area is clear. Scared that someone else will find the clue, she decides to climb for it. Now she's stuck. She gets down and runs into others. She cries to them and tells them she fell from a tree. She vows to us that she will return for "her" idol.

Immunity Challenge time -- over obstacles, toss ball to get puzzle pieces, puzzle steps to make staircase, 63 piece puzzle. Rewaed is spaghetti, garlic bread and dessert.

NICK wins Immunity!

He invites Angelina, saying she'll eat the vegetarian stuff. For a second, Davie tells him not to choose him as he went on the family visit. Nick chooses Mike to join him. Alison is the person left behind every time and she cries to us. 

The feast is near where Angelina lost her idol clue. It's all she can think of. At camp, Davie is sure that Nick is on his side. Alison thinks so, too. Nick tells us that he wants Davie to stay.

Whoops! Angelina is telling Mike and Nick about the clue because she needs help. Mike finds the clue and … she gets the idol!

Alison tries to work with Angelina. Alison says Davie has to go. Angelina tells her that she's (Alison) going. Mike doesn't want Alison gone -- he's pushing for Davie to be the target. Kara is on board with the Davie ouster. Mike tries to work on Angelina to target Davie. 

To the Tribal Council -- Jeff starts with asking about the Immunity Challenge. Alison tells him that only two names were brought up for voting out -- her and Davie. Davie says he isn't comfortable. Nick says he wants people to be on the same page as him. Mike says they need to think of what will make you go further.

The tally:
Davie, Alison, Alison, Davie, Davie, Davie

Rats. I liked the dude! But, then again, I don't mind Alison. Davie tells them the person who orchestrated this gets his vote for a million dollars (unless someone makes a bigger move).

Jeff talks to him at the finale. Davie says more black kids need to watch the show. Jeff brings up that Davie wasn't supposed to be on the show but was called in last minute to replace someone who dropped out.

Back to the island … Nick is ticked! He's so upset they didn't back him up with keeping Davie. Angelina tells him it was all Mike. Now the others are all talking about how badly Nick is handling it. 

Right to Immunity --
Perch on a pole in the ocean, fill bucket, pour water from leaking bucket to raise key, get key, swim to shore, unlock and get puzzle pieces, solve puzzle.

Alison gets her key first. Then Nick. Then Kara, then Mike. Finally Angelina.

NICK wins Immunity again! 

He tells us revenge will be sweet.

Angelina wants to target Alison. (Well, duh.) She tells Nick and Mike that she wants to have two vote for her (so she can use her idol to save herself and be queen). Mike isn't keen on the idea. Tonight is the only vote she can use the idol so she wants to show off with it. Mike tells Kara that Angelina has an idol. Jara tells us that she thinks Mike is the bigger threat and she thinks of flipping the script and get Nick involved. Alison talks to Nick. He's considering it. Huh? Now Angelina is finding a fake idol in front of Alison? Girl is whack.

Tribal time. Jeff mentions that Nick was blindsided and they talk about that. Heh. Alison says Mike is a threat and he plays dumb. 

Mike votes Alison.

To the tally -- 
Wait!
Angelina makes a show of playing the fake idol.
Then she plays the real idol.

The tally:
Mike, Alison, Alison, Alison.

Well, they finally got her. 

Immunity Challenge has them repeatedly dropping and retrieving a ball in a maze doohickey, one arm only. Additional balls will be added and direction will switch.

Angelina is out first. Mike is out. Kara out.

NICK wins the final Immunity Challenge!

He will choose one to take with him and the other two have to compete in a fire challenge to join the final three.

So the three others all work on Nick to take them. Nick tells them that he's more likely to win against Angelina, so he's taking her. Mike and Kara will do the fire challenge. I personally think he made the right decision although I think Mike would be the biggest threat against him.

Final Tribal Council --
Nick announces that he's taking Angelina (for the same reason he told the others before). 

Mike and Kara are going to make fire. MIKE wins! He will be in the final three with Nick and Angelina! 

The three feast and each tells us how they feel and why they should win. I'm still rolling my eyes at Angelina's delusions.

Off to Tribal with the jury questioning --

Outwit first:
Elizabeth - We're undecided. Christian wants them to each tell outwitted move.

Nick - Information and timing, alliances (named), build personal connections, John says the finish is important. What did he do after John? Reconnected with other allies. 
Angelina - Fallout with Elizabeth, reputation in dumps, picked self up, adaptable social game. Davie brings up the rice bragging. 
Mike - Wanted final two deals with people. Wanted threats that were willing to work with him rather than otherwise. Alison brings up his sarcasm. He feels bad. He felt like the introverted writer kid and outcast. Influenced the game after nine people.
Nick brings up the fact his game was pretty much the same but he had to rely on himself. Gabby tells Angelina that women are treated differently in the game and gives her kudos. Kara gives them all kudos. 

Outplay:
Dan tells Mike that the first time he made fire was last night. Mike says he tried and didn't do horribly. Davie wants Angelina and Nick to reverse tribes and tell. Angelina tells about her idol search faux pas. Out of comfort zone. Alison brings up the fake idol to embarrass her. She denies that's why. And her theatrics … and keep Mike safe.
Nick says he has some Goliath traits, tells of winning immunities, people skills. 

Outlast:
Angelina -- Realized why she was a Goliath in the beginning. But she ended up feeling beaten down, damaged goods, rise and pick herself up. Most battle-tested player in the three.
Nick -- Swapped to tribes with few Davids, only David at the end. Has always fought his way out things, mother died of overdose, he fights to save others who have drug problems, had to do everything to get to this point, was underdog.
Mike -- Never felt real nervous. He wanted to PLAY the game. What does he stand for? What does coming into the show mean for him? Not a saint, feel like it's a worthy endeavor to win the game.

Christian voted for Mike. John voted for Nick. 

The tally for the winner:
Nick, Mike, Mike, Mike, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick.

Yep! Although I'm a Mike White fan, I think the right person -- Nick -- won

And, as I predicted in comments -- no one voted for Angelina. 

Congratulation blog pool winners -- Brian, Jennasmom, Paula Bell, Silk

Next season -- Four returning players included Joe and Aubry.

Survivor: Edge of Extinction.

Sounds interesting.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Survivor: David vs. Goliath - December 12 Blog Party


As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be live-blogging the events -- refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area. Feel free to join in!

Next week is the big finale night! Oh my, where does the time go?

Here's the blog pool news from Lifeguard Laurie herself (she rocks!) 

Alison - Cher C, Jenna G, Renee
Angelina - Donna in FL, Margo, Vicki Volk
Christian - ChicMc, Judi Sweeney, Sharon C
Davie - CherryPie, KelseyNY, Robin Allard
Kara - David, Karen in CA, Sharon N
Mike - Ed in Ohio, meb, Tammy
Nick - Brian, Jennasmom, Paula Bell, Silk

Jury:
Elizabeth

John
Dan
Alec
Carl
Gabby

Survivor fans ready? Seven are left. Who will be voted out tonight?


Christian knows from the last vote that he's in trouble. Nick, knowing that no one has found his fake idol, puts on an act that he himself found it. That's to throw off anyone (including Christian) from searching for the idol. Davie is suspicious and goes off looking for an idol. He knows Nick already has one idol, possibly two. So Davie goes to Christian and tells him they should target Nick next.

Reward -- attached to rope, gather rope, obstacles, sandbags to knock over stack of blocks. Helicopter ride to glorious food. 

DAVIE wins Reward! He chooses Nick because Nick chose him for the family visit. Angelina tries to play the rice card to go. Instead, he goes for Kara because she looked out for him once the tribes switched up. 

At camp, Angelina cooked up a big pot of Revenge Rice. Davie plans on enlisting Kara into his Get Nick Out Plan. He tells her that Nick might have two idols. She seems to be on board. Yes, she even tells us it's a plan that works for her own game. 

Back at camp, Kara enlists Alison into the plan. She doesn't want Angelina or Mike to know because they might tell Nick. She likes the idea and is happy her own name isn't up. She runs and tells Mike. He's once again torn. He knows Nick is a big threat for the win, but he's also close with him.

Davie started idol hunting once again. Instead he finds a clue to an advantage. He has to go to where the merge feast was held. He has an idol that can only be used at the next tribal, but he can increase the power of the idol. Is he feeling lucky? He could also lose his vote. Out of four urns, two hold advantages. He asks for a sign from the lord. He keeps the idol safe and doesn't play. He doesn't dare lose his vote.

Immunity Challenge time is here! It's raining. Stand on a narrow perch while balancing a ball on a disk. As time goes on, more balls added. Hmm. Why so many of these kind of challenges the last several weeks?

All make it through to the second ball. Kara out, Angelina out. Davie out. Christian out. Nick out. Mike and Alison get to the three ball round. Alison out. 

MIKE wins Immunity!

Mike thinks he can now do what he needs for his own game. Meanwhile, Nick is thinking of how dangerous Alison is in the game, plus it would be another Goliath out. And Mike is geeking out Survivor-wise. He thinks that they should get Christian out rather than either Nick or Alison. He talks to Nick about the Christian move. Mike is getting a bit dismayed that people aren't jumping on his Oust Christian Plan.

Nick goes to Davie and tells him the lie about the fake idol. Now he's not as much of a threat to Davie. He thinks they should get Alison out. Mike tells Nick that Davie and Kara want him (Nick) out and they should get Christian out. Mike just can't get a handle on things and is bewildered as to what's going to happen.

Tribal time! Jeff starts out asking about strategy and voting changes as the numbers dwindle. The questioning period itself was far from epic and things are all still confusing as to targets.

Davie (has to) play his idol. For himself. Nick gets up, plays his idol. He played the fake idol to get a read on people. Plays his real idol for himself.

The tally:
Davie, Davie, Alison, Christian, Alison, Christian, Christian.

Aw, there goes Christian. I'll miss him!

 

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Survivor: David vs. Goliath - December 5 Blog Party


As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be live-blogging the events -- refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area. Feel free to join in!

Only three episodes left! We're getting down to the wire here.

I put up a cheat sheet with names and images at this link

Here's the blog pool news from Lifeguard Laurie herself (she rocks!) 

Alison - Cher C, Jenna G, Renee
Angelina - Donna in FL, Margo, Vicki Volk
Christian - ChicMc, Judi Sweeney, Sharon C
Davie - CherryPie, KelseyNY, Robin Allard
Gabby - Cheryl in NC, Krysta Gibson, Rochelle
Kara - David, Karen in CA, Sharon N
Mike - Ed in Ohio, meb, Tammy
Nick - Brian, Jennasmom, Paula Bell, Silk

Jury:
Elizabeth

John
Dan
Alec
Carl

Survivor fans ready? Eight are left. Who will be voted out tonight?


Nick isn't happy that Gabby and Christian voted out Carl, a David. He thinks that now the Goliaths will go after the remaining Davids. He says he won't hesitate at the chance to blindside Christian now. On noes!

Okay, the Reward Challenge starts out with the loved ones sappy reunions. Of course, they haven't seen these people in 100 years! 

Race through water and obstacles in pairs, dig in sand for keys, unlock balls, each has to land a ball to win. Angelina and Nick win it!

They can choose one other  ... Davie. One more ... Mike. 

Angelina thinks the four on Reward should be the Final Four. Davie is uncomfortable with the alliance. 

Back on the island, Gabby thinks Christian acted like he was comforting his girlfriend. She doesn't want that to happen to her. It makes it look like she does nothing without him. She decides she needs respect and should go after her main ally. Of course, Kara is for the plan although shocked that Gabby is suggesting it.

Immunity Challenge time -- balance on narrow perch holding a pole connected to a bucket of water. 

Mike out first. Into the second phase which makes it more difficult, harder to hold the pole. Gabby out in the transition.

Alison out. Angelina out. 

Making it more difficult again, more pressure on the arm. 

Nick out. Christian out. It's down to Davie and Kara. A bug kept landing on Davie's face. Oops! He twitches due to the bug and he's out.

KARA wins Immunity! She likes Gabby's idea of getting Christian out. Uh-oh!

Gabby thinks she needs to make the big move to get rid of Christian. Christian meanwhile wants to vote out Alison. Gabby keeps rationalizing to us why she needs Christian out. I think it would be a bad move on her part. The shame of it is that so many others want Christian out. Nick is mad at him over the Carl thing. 

Davie isn't as convinced. He suggests Gabby as a back up as Christian has an idol. Davie tells Christian that Gabby's gunning for him. Christian is stunned. He thinks he needs to mend fences with Nick. Unfortunately, Nick isn't as keen on working with Christian as Christian thinks he is. Christian is reluctant to use his idol. Hmm. 

Tribal Council time. Jeff asks about the Carl blindside. Nick is vocal in the fact that Christian betrayed his trust. Nick claims that they made up. Gabby is asked about "big moves." She wants to do something with gumption. Hmm. 

Gabby does vote for Christian. No other votes shown as they're voting.

Christian tells Jeff he isn't sure, then plays the idol.

The tally:
Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Alison, Gabby, Gabby.

Yep, there's her big move -- Gabby got herself voted out!