davidh777

Episode 34: "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" followed by live reunion show

REMAINING CONTESTANTS:
Aubry Bracco
Brad Culpepper
Cirie Fields
Sarah Lacina
Troy “Troyzan” Robertson
Tai Trang

EPISODE DESCRIPTION: The season of “Game Changers” draws to a close and one remaining castaway will be crowned the Sole Survivor.

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TomOpus

Interesting change to final TC. As much as I hated to do it, had to vote Brad.

AaronHernandez

One of the things I think Production will never show since they want ex athlete contestants is Brad being rich af works against him and he had no shot to win unless he had 2 Troyzan/Phillip like players in f3.That said Sarah killed this game strategically so Brad would have lost against her if he was a Manager at Lenny's.

buckeyes8604

Every week I kept hoping things would turn around, but this was just a bad season. Probably in the bottom 5 for me. It was a real chore to finish. Cirie getting 'voted out' without actually getting any votes sums it up.

The only good thing that may come of this, after Malcolm and Cirie left the way they did, is for production to reign in the advantages, idols, and twists.

AaronHernandez

Yeah 3 people get votes you get 0 votes..................you are eliminated

Outwit,Outplay,Outlast should be changed to Outscavenger,Outdig,Outlast

wirefan

This season was trying so hard to be historic, it may have been historically bad. Maybe not all time worst, but up there. There was very little that will be memorable other than maybe Culpepper's run of challenge wins.

Cirie being voted out without a vote was the chickens coming home to roost for all the gimmicky stuff they put in play. Having the potential for 4 active immunity idols out at once was insanity. The same scenario could also have happened at final 5 with potentially 3 hidden idols in play and the actual challenge immunity.

This show needs to get back to basics, but clearly Probst, et. al. is worried it could lead to a boring season where a strong alliance just rides things out for long stretches of time.

Finisher

All the strong players except Brad were booted early so we were left with a bunch of unlikable idiots.

This season had too much idiocy to process. Brad taking Sarah to finals over Tai. Brad treating Tai like shit when he could've locked down final three. Cirie trying to play Sarah's advantage. Sarah giving and even awaring Cirie of the advantage in the first place. Sierra telling Sarah about her advantage. Michaela being too much of a pouting bitch to see the advantage at her feet. And a bunch more.

Bill Needle

Horrible ending to a horrible season.

Cirie must be holding a close relative of Probst's in a secret location and part of the ransom must require him to non-stop hype her as some sort of folk hero. Please, please never come back to Survivor.

Did not care for the final tribal format. After a couple minutes of the rambling, sanctimonious, and hypocritical jury speeches I ended up ff'ing through the rest of it. At least in the normal format Michaela would only speak once. I laughed when during the reunion Ozzie talked about how great the new format was but then it became clear once he turned it into a ridiculous political call to arms.

Sarah played a decent game and got the winner's edit, but Brad dominated the game. That's why they tried getting him out for most of the season. But he was always able to do enough to stay and by the end controlled the game completely.

Even with a third of of the time dedicated to Zeke's reveal the reunion show still felt far too long. That says all you need to know about the season right there.

Next season's tribe makeup gimmick is the dumbest one yet. But as we know from previous season's it means almost nothing and disappears pretty quickly. Hopefully we get a classically good season in the fall.

creekdipper

I agree with pretty much everything everyone has posted so far. Well-said observations about new final format, bad gameplay, over-hyping by producers (Probst desperately trying to stir the pot at times), overuse of gimmicky rewards, etc. Probst's gushing over his favorites both when snuffing their torches and at the reunions got old quickly.

I did enjoy Aubrey's calling attention to Probst's man-crush on John Cochran, who seems to be permanently attached to the show.

But we did find it disingenuous for Probst to use Cirie (Remember...she got off the couch! ) to encourage "everyday people" to try out. Unless things have changed, hasn't it been established that many or most of the contestants are cast through agencies looking for participants? I remember reading about one season in which most of the cast were approached by the show, not the other way around.

Regardless, I thought both Sarah & Brad were deserving. Brad shot himself in the foot with his surly attitude. I'm not surprised that he didn't have a lot of personal details about Michaela given their ornery "relationship," although I wonder how much more Troy could have provided. Sarah was a worthy competitor...strong in challenges, strategic and cunning in her deceptions, and willing to make risky moves.

Troy? Well, it's a real shame that he didn't get to have his moment in the sun if the vote had actually been tied (which could always be avoided by reducing the jury to nine members). It would have been fun to see. And it was a little disappointing not to see a fire challenge, too, although Sarah made the smart play once again in voting off Tai. Brad was already in, and Troy was no threat for votes.

Strapped4Cash

I thought it ridiculous that they had a call to the every day people of the audience to audition at the end a season in which no one new was allowed.

Last week I said:
So I guessed at the possibility of most of the Cirie "vote", which was absurd, but maybe'll cause them to think about reigning all of those immunities in. We can only hope.

Of the available options then I guess Sarah was most deserving, but it's tough to find enough enthusiasm to care much. Hopefully we can have a decent season in the Fall.

Cardsfan111

Lots of random thoughts:

It would have been convenient to have known that Jeff was going to continue to lavish praise on Cirie, so I could have fast forwarded past it. It made it difficult to enjoy seeing her walk off at TC.

Brad did have the game in control until he started verbalizing it and was so blinded by his bitterness of Tai.

Ozzy was so vocal about Brad's domination, but then in Jeff's attempt to show Brad's mistake and asking who everyone would have voted for if the F3 were different, I believe Ozzy raised his hand for Tai. Not that it makes a difference, but I don't get it.

Was it just me or did Brad look like a high school social studies teacher at the reunion show?

I'm a little undecided on the new final TC format. At first, I didn't like it. But it did seem to be more like a jury, being able to deliberate. I wonder if they ever edit out certain comments or feelings that are expressed to add suspense. It didn't take long to know that Ozzy/Deb were voting for Brad and Michaela/Zeke were voting for Sarah. If a few others expressed certaintly or allegiance to a certain contestent, the final vote would be a foregone conclusion.

I'm not as hard on the season as many of you. It was enjoyable overall. And Sarah was a worthy winner.

Jackskeleton

yeah, that was a pretty blah end to the season. Brad's moves towards tai were down right appalling. Yeah, this season was putting the "historical" moves over actual entertaining show.

AaronHernandez

In 4 seasons of Survivor Cirie has only ever recieved the majority of the votes 1 time(Micronesia) and in that season she would have won if they had stayed with a f3 instead of switching to a F2 after James got pulled for a late injury. The stuff with the cheering for her after that swimming challenge was unneccesary for tv,but she deserves any praise of her game she get's as she is hands down the best player to never win Survivor and probably one of the best social players ever.

Bill Needle

Probst made speeches and created a spectacle out of her on three different occasions in one season. Maybe he does this for everyone and it is cut for broadcast, but I doubt it.

Bill Needle

I chuckled at the same thing. On the island he looked like a former stadium athlete. At the reunion he looked like a former stadium usher.
I agree Sarah was a worthy winner, but would have been my second choice after reading between the lines of the show's edit. But the season overall was a big letdown.

Finisher

Yeah Brad looked worse with the porn stache. Went from jock to creepy perv. Probably wants less people recognizing him after the crappy end game he played. Still insane to me he took Sarah to finals over Tai. Also his treatment of Tai probably cost him his three fans. Other than Jeff Probst, who forever has a hard on for the Culpeppers, for no apparent reason. They should have a "Jeff's Favorites" season, with Cirie, the Culpeppers, John Cochran, and a couple other overrated players Jeff loves talking up to mythical status. It'd be awful but it would make more sense than "Heroes, Healers and whatever the other H is". Seriously, did they just pick three random things that start with H? Will the season after be "Smokers, Subway Employees and Surfers"?

I'm sorry but anyone with half a brain out there is feigning friendship and pretending to care about the other people. What exactly does Cirie do that is so worthy of Jeff tongue bathing her asshole?

Cardsfan111

I was actually impressed with Culpepper's game up until the end. He seemed to be a much calmer, in-control version of himself compared to his first time out there. The prime example being when Deb was screaming at him for no real reason and he resisted the urge to put her in her place. And subsequently, he had her vote in his hip pocket at the end. But he certainly faltered at the end. Perhaps the 30+ days of being out there affected his ability to keep his emotions in check.

Strapped4Cash

Personally I'm hoping for Somnambulists, Socialists and Sociopaths.

AaronHernandez

It's very possible he was an asshole all game but they only kept the bullying Tai footage for the final episode to explain his loss in the and so their weren't 2 goats in the edit going into f3.

GuessWho

My jaw dropped when I saw Cirie's crazy elimination.

Check last week's thread--I described the exact scenario AS A JOKE!

Holy shit the joke became real.

creekdipper

When that happened, I turned to my wife & mentioned your post.

I didn't use your exact words, but I did express amazement that it actually happened.

Well, she managed not to drown. That's something.

I think Ozzy might be the best not to have won.

I was the same. At first I didn't like it, but it grew on me. It was more like a real TC with the back-and-forth. The interruptions were annoying at first, but no one person monopolized the conversation.

And the old taking-turns format was getting stale and a little canned with typical cryptic question, anger-venting, gushing praise, arguing, grandstanding statement, etc. each time. This seemed more like honest conversations with a more natural flow.

creekdipper

Who else would make the list (assuming not too old)?

Boston Rob.
Ozzy.
The Chick With All the Teeth.
Tai.
Coach.
Debbie.
Malcolm.
Andrea.
Zeke.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, I have to wonder if that isn't the case, too. I've always gotten a bad vibe off of him, even though they didn't show anything until that point.

I am pleased that Sarah won.

DWilson

I thought from the beginning of the season they were pushing a "Culpepper's learned his lesson" theme and he was behaving better. However, over time, -particularly under these circumstances, -your true nature will always come out.

GuessWho

Culpepper at finale show: