Survivor: Caramoan

Hey there people!

We're getting tons of snow tomorrow, so winter finally decided to show up and be a bitch, it'd seem. Hadn't really snowed in like 200+ days and now we're getting tons of it. Ah well.

Regardless, Pete and Niki mentioned some about this upcoming season in February so figured there ought to be a proper thread for it! Philippines really impressed me, so this upcoming one'll have to be pretty damn good. Then again, last Fan Vs. Favorites, where Miss Parvati, Cirie, and Amanda (all chicks I love the hell out of) were the final 3, was one of my all-time favorite seasons.

Happy Holidays and shit to you all .



Eat, drink, be merry. Discuss Survivor: Caramoan.

Yay Happy Holidays everyone!

I am excited for next season of Survivor. Some of the returnees kinda suck though lol

What is everyones thoughts on the cast?

Love Malcolm! Looking forward to him, Andrea, Brenda, Dawn etccc
Yuck at Cochran.

I agree, Cochran, Brandon.....I will save us all from uttering his last name, and Phillip, egad. -shudders- Still, might be an OK season! Never know!

I am not a fan of those 3 either and not sure I wanna watch another season with any of them but who knows maybe we will like them more this time...yeah probably not but hopefully they don't ruin the season lol

Attention, SPOILERS for the 1st episode contained here.


















Well, I like Francesca, did 1st time, still do. But she's really got no one to blame but herself. She's too neurotic, she cannot calm down and let things take their course. You can't play too fast, too hard, nor can you be entirely in panic mode. So yeah, Francesca, this isn't the game for you. It's unfortunate you get the title of being the 1st one out, TWICE....lord that sucks, but don't try it a third time. It's just not in the cards for you.

Lauren and Sherri are my faves of the fans. <3 Hate the popular kids alliance

Malcolm, Brenda, Andrea and Dawn are my faves of the fans!

I like Lauren and Sherri but prefer Reynolds and Eddie over the other fans. I think the Popular Kids and Outcast separations are stupid and the fans are setting themselves up to fail by letting someone like Shamar stick around.

I like the same four Niki for the fav's. I actually like Brandon this time as well, I think him speaking his mind is making me like him more than before. I do think it was a low blow voting Fran out first again and don't blame him being angry about it.

Hoping that Phillip and Cochran go quickly

Not entirely sure what to make of this season so far. I'm definitely not liking it as much as last season, but I figured I wouldn't off the bat. It was cool to see the "cool kids" get picked on, but even that didn't entirely last, so I'm not sure. Brandon is a lunatic, but we already knew that. So far, Probst, you ain't impressing me.

Overall, have been disappointed with the first half of the season, but the last couple of episodes really have started to crank it up another notch. Corinne basically talked herself right out of the game, and then just this week, when Reynold was goin to play the HII on himself, Malcolm persuaded him to play it on him.

If only Eddie hadn't have blabbed to Andrea this might have ended up a genius move... but the question is, why the hell does everyone trust Dawn and keep telling her what's going on? Julia did it - got burned. Corinne did it - got burned. Now Malcolm does it - and although he didn't get voted out, he is in a very tough spot now.

Listening to Corinne exit interview and on the Survivor aftershow, it seems that Dawn's tears keep roping folk in, to feel sorry for her, so although sh plays as though she is contantly at the bottom of the alliance, people go to her on order to rally her for a move against SRU - only for her to go and tell everything to SRU.

Really looking forward to a better second half of the season than what the first half was.

Considering I started watching Survivor 3 seasons ago, these are pretty much all new faces except for Brandon, so far I like the season, lots of chaos. I like how they made Brandon think he was eliminated by doing the "tribal" at the challenge. I think they did it like that so Brandon didn't go nuts again XD. I wouldn't let him go back to camp, so even if they had continued on with the challenge and won, I think Brandon would of been taken out of the game after the challenge was over. Well I have no idea who I am going for but I don't know if the second half is going to be as good at the first half.

Hey Green Monster, and welcome to the site too if no one has?

I agree with you almost entirely. I remember Jeff Probst claiming this season was "going to be better than the last one" and considering I hate him, and essentially disagree with every move he makes as a producer, I figured if he's saying that it'll be just the opposite. So far, I'm right. This season might be a little more......loony, but that isn't a good thing.

I wish they could go back to just 16 regular people, a final TWO not three, no hidden immunity idols, no redemption island, ugh. If you get a good enough cast, you don't need all of that crap. Philippines was a diamond in the rough, the first one that was reminicent of one of "old seasons" in a loonngg time.

I have loved the last two episodes and enjoyed most of the season, actually. I agree it started a bit slowly, but we've seen worse

I think the shifting dynamics are very interesting, and I have no clue who's leaving from week to week, which is refreshing!

True enough, Michael! Yeah we've seen worse.....way worse. Last post made it sound like I despise this season, I don't. Just wish the whole show would go back to how it was and I know that won't happen.

I think the main problem is that what I liked about the show at first was the sense of adventure. I wish they'd have the first challenge be a hut-building challenge that lasted like two days so we could see them interact in a way more than just "who are we voting off".

I remember Greg on the coconut phone, mud baths together with face painting, deep conversations about personal interactions/ interpersonal dynamics... the good stuff!

Now I don't feel entertained unless the vote switches seven times and I end up blindsided! The game, for the most part, has gotten predictable, and I think all of the special twists were meant to spice things up to keep people on their toes.

Give me 16 people who have never heard of the show, classic format, and let me watch the magic unfold. The best part of watching Richard Hatch's plan unfold was the originality and drama of a few people banding together despite their differences, not "pretty people" voting against the other "nerdy people".

I swear, the biggest flaw is the casting. Too many "camera-ready" people and not enough Rudy Boesch, Susan Hawk, or Marilyn "Mad Dog" Hersey types! I enjoy the eye-candy, but there used to be like 1 or two hot people of each sex mixed with regular joes, and that was wildly more successful than this current format of The Bachelor meets Survivor.

*end of rant*

PRECISELY, Michael. Couldn't have put it any better myself. That's why I hate what Jeff Probst is doing to the show and am nostalgic for the old days when the show was unique and interesting. The contestants spoke about real things, not just game-game-game. Anyone who hasn't seen the first couple of seasons, try to do so. They're excellent for the reasons Michael outlined.

Can only echo what Henry & Michael have written here. Since Probst took over with the production duties the show has definitely lost quite a bit - not to mention production interference has been on the rise also, not to mention the massively uneven edits that have become increasingly prominent in recent times.

As a host I don't mind Probst, but his influence beyond that has certainly had a detrimental effect. We all know that it takes a considerable crew to put this show together and it is one he has a considerable interest in it's continued success, but this does not mean all those decisions have been correct and should have been delegated. Take the casting for instance. Every season now there are probably no more than 5 that are genuine contenders to win, 5/6 that are there to cause drama & the same number that are there to add eye candy & showmances.

Even the choice of returnee casting virtually every season - the novelty of that being a one off back in Guatemala - is also the only one to feature a female returnee in a non FvF/HvV season. Probst's sexist remarks about their storylines being played out is just an excuse, because what did Ozzy 2.0 do that merited a Ozzy 3.0? If anything he lost more crediblity over the course of 3 seasons.

The disaster that was Redenption Island was a perfect example of interference, all engineered to pretty much hand Boston Rob his win. Samoa was the same - except the outcome was not the one the producers had been hoping for.

Before that you would have that 'adventure' that was mentioned above - the Lions encircling the parimeter in Africa or elephants virually walking through the camp site in Gabon. In Australia there were 7 - count them - SEVEN different camps having to be built by the players. Elisabeth Hasselbeck - regardless of her politics - was on a drip for quite some time after that season, yet the thought of 'quitting' never crossed her mind. That was just the attitude of the old school players. Now, every season there always seems to be one - and for far less - mostly just crybabyitis.

You rarely see the players ever going to collect firewood or go fishing -
how much time did we see Richard or Rupert doing that in their seasons?
Or collecting firewood even. Seriously? Some of these people (at least)
are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, so why not
show them doing the strategizing whilst they are doing something, such
as collect? Why?

The few fans that actually do get cast on the show often get overshadowed by 'characters' etc that have little or no idea how to play the game. Back in the old school seasons the producers instructed players not to reference previous players etc, yet now Phillip has so enshrined the BR Cult that Boston Rob has had so many more mentins than half the players actually out there. It's pathetic.

That said, it is the only show that I will tune in on a week to week basis, season after season. Other shows, yeah, I can easily sit back and wait til the season is over and then get it all in one hit, but Survivor remains the one show that I genuinely look forward to, season after season, year after year. Game of Thrones is the only other show I can think of that I've done this for, for over a decade.

Considering Survivor has not aired on UK TV for over a decade and I've been forced to find streams or downloads ever since, this is the commitment & connection I hold for the show. Indeed, it wasn't til about a year ago that I became aware of there being much in the way of an online community that enjoyed the show as much - and went byond, to playing ORG's based on this.

Again, I am so happy to see I'm not the only one who feels this way. Green Monster, I agree with everything you've said. I suppose perhaps, maybe we can't have back what we once did, in terms of just now that Survivor has become a part of modern culture that people know what to expect, so everyone'll be gaming all the time.
Either you could say, well then go out and find a buncha nobodies who know nothing about the game.....or... I think conversations about religion and sexuality and everything else those earlier seasons brought up DO happen on Survivor, it's just footage that ends up on the cutting room floor. CBS, or someone, has decided what it is the viewers like, so that's what they show.

All that being said, tonight's episode was good and had a result I've been desperately wanting since the very first week. Now there'll be a massive shifting of power and stuff, so that's always great. I am against hidden immunity idols re-entering and re-re entering the game, yet if that wasn't in play, tonight wouldn't have came out like it had.
Bottom line, thank God this season decided to finally get interesting!

Agreed. Favorite tribal so far, second favorite episode after Corrine's exit.

Also, spolier, I suppose, if you haven't been watching for the past few weeks. If that's the case, then you're not reading this "spoiler" anyway.

LOVED this week's episode!!! :D Best tribal we've had in a while!

On the back of a sring of strong post-merge episodes, hopefully tonight can continue to build on this trend. Still needs a lot of work to salvage what was a pitiful excuse for a first half, but it is possible.

I don't think Malcolm's double HII play has done enough to change the course of the game - he played that situation wrong to really make the absolute most of it.

Especially since Erik voted Phil and they could've kept both of the HII... but hindsight, I know.

I'm afraid you're right again, Green Monster. I mean it was a cool episode, and great to see Phillip toast like that, but it might have just been the one trick pony and the rest ends up precisely as we figured it might. And I still say Phillippines was a good, good season. This one, even with last week's outsting, that doesn't make up for the rest of it.

Henry wrote:

I'm afraid you're right again, Green Monster. I mean it was a cool episode, and great to see Phillip toast like that, but it might have just been the one trick pony and the rest ends up precisely as we figured it might. And I still say Phillippines was a good, good season. This one, even with last week's outsting, that doesn't make up for the rest of it.

The ideal way to have played that, if he was going to play the 2 HII's was to keep quiet about it, let SRU vote as they were going to, ie, split beteen Malcolm & Eddie and then the 3 Amigos all vote for a different person, say Andrea, Cochran & Phillip. So the vote would have been 4 - Eddie (DNC), 3 - Malcolm (DNC) & 1 each for Phillip, Andrea & Cochran... then let SRU really rip itself to shreads as the 3 scramble to save themselves and these 3 all at the mervy of the other 4 - and then if the Amios had their heart set on voting Phillip do it then. It also would have meant there were cracks all over the place to work with when they got back to camp.

This most recent ep pretty much played out as you expected - that last week was a flash & good TV but not great gameplay. Malcolm not being able to find that HII was pivotal, but WTF wa Eddie thinking, not going for the immunity challenge advantage, FFS? I cannot think of a single time when someone has got an advantage at a immunity challenge and not won. Hell Abi-Maria won hers last season with a torn ACL - that is how much of an advantage it can be. Eddie has to be close to the biggest knucklehead that they have ever cast on the show. You would think, even if you are a recruit that in prep for it you would watch a bunch of seasons, just as required homework, to get an idea of what is in store.

IDK...

This week almost certain to be a double boot. There are only 2 more Weds before the finale is scheduled & there are still 8 people in the game.