everyone thinks that a tribe has to have the majority at the merge for any of its members to win it all, but thats not the case.

i think in every season so far after the merge, some people changes allegiences and voted off their old tribe members.

If there is a I really feel sorry for whoever goes to the ....it's like going to the dark ages

I have to agree..what an arrogant biatch! The "pretty young people" and the "nasty old people"....what in the heck have they been smoking in the amazon??

The women have turned into a bunch of crack ho's..

I was hoping that somehow Heidi, Shawna, and Joanna would get voted off last night.

Cute girls? Get over yourself you silicone bimbo. And yes she does look like an alien, with an annoying voice to boot. Heidi that is.

Joanna needed to go away with her jesus loving bullshiznit.

Shawna, I liked until last night. Then she became the ultimate crybaby loser.

Blah, what an unlikeable batch of girls.

I like Christy. I don't agree with her not insisting on getting involved because she is deaf, but it's a small point. She seems the most positive (and not in a absolute religious sense) person on that tribe. At the same time, she seems down to earth, not vain like some of the other girls on the tribe.

I agree with Patman, the girls did make a tactical mistake in voting off the most annoying Joanna. I can understand why they did it, but you have to look past your annoyance with a person, if they help you win the challenges. If the 4 in the alliance stuck together, it would not matter, they could agree to vote Joanna off later, unless they do indeed merge next week, but there is no way they would be thinking that. It's too early based on past survivors.

But then again, most of these peope don't seem to have ever watched Survivor as they don't learn from past mistakes. We see some common things. The workers vs the non-workers. And in this case, I guess it's easier for the non-workers to think that the only reason the workers are unhappy with them, is that the non-workers have such fabulous bods... yeah, it's not because you are lazy.

The other thing, do not make it known that you are sick and want to quit, unless you really mean it. Dumb move for Shawna.

I like Deena for seeming to have a clue about what she is doing and for her bio "If she wins the $1 million, she's getting new flooring for her house."

And....maybe it's just me, but I keep thinking Heidi is really Skeletor with implants.

No, I'm saying Survivor is purposely making the challenges non-physical so the men don't win them all.

Yes, there has always been a mix of physical and non-physical challenges. So far all we have is non-physical. Why ?

There's nothing wrong with alternating them.
That's the problem they're not alternating them.
They are all non-physical.

To illustrate my point that Survivor 6 isn't doing any physical challenge look at these challenges from previous Survivor shows:

Survivor 1
A treasure chest is submerged 150 yards off the Sand Spit. Each tribe must swim out to the treasure chest. Once the entire tribe has arrived, they must dive down and work as a group to drag the chest along the ocean bottom back to shore. First tribe to haul their chest ashore and open it wins.



Snake Island Relay: A combination breath-holding competition and underwater swim race.




Survivor 2
Day 4 began with both tribes receiving tree mail summoning them to the upcoming reward challenge. Atop a 30-foot rock cliff, host Jeff Probst explained the rules of the "Butch Cassidy" challenge: Leap off the cliff into a deep pool of water, swim to a floating crate, and—once the entire tribe arrives at the crate—unhook it from an anchor, swim with it through rapids, and carry it to the beach. The first tribe to cross the finish line with the crate would win its contents: warm blankets, useful especially during the frequent rain.

The tribes received tree mail, notifying them of their next reward challenge, "Triage." Before the game, each tribe had to build a travois (triangular-shaped stretcher) sturdy enough to hold and transport a person.
The tribes met host Jeff Probst at the Triage challenge site, where he explained the rules: Each tribe must select two rescuers, while three other tribemates wait at pre-determined "accident sites." The rescuers had to find each of their tribemates and transport them one at a time on the travois back to a first-aid tent.


Survivor 3

The contestants arrived at Challenge Beach to meet host Jeff Probst, who explained the rules of the challenge: The tribes must drag a heavy fire caldron cart over rough terrain while lighting a series of torches along the way. The first team to successfully light all of the torches and cross the finish line wins.



Survivor 4
After receiving tree mail notifying them of their first Immunity Challenge, the tribes met host Jeff Probst at Tribal Beach, where he explained the rules of their next Immunity Challenge. Carrying an outrigger canoe outfitted with two torches, the tribes had to swim with the canoe out into the ocean, light the torches from a fire cauldron, then race back to shore while lighting a series of torches along the way. The first tribe to have successfully lit all the torches and cross the finish line would win.

After receiving tree mail, the Soliantu tribe met host Jeff Probst at Challenge Beach, where he explained the rules of the Challenge and revealed the next reward: a day on a private cruise ship, complete with a hot shower, a change of clothes, and a hot meal. To win, the Survivors had to successfully complete a challenge much like musical chairs. Starting from a floating dock, the seven castaways had to jump into the water and retrieve six large shells at the bottom of the ocean. The Survivor who did not surface with a shell would be eliminated. After three rounds, the four remaining Survivors would compete in a final sprint to the shore that would require them to carry a 40-pound stone. The first person to transport their stone and bring it to Jeff would win.


Survivor 5
The two tribes met host Jeff Probst at the Reward Challenge location, where he explained the rules of Palanquin Slalom. Each tribe would have to pick one person to act as a guide, while the others would be blindfolded. The blindfolded tribe members would have to carry the guide in the Palanquin. The guide would navigate them through a course. Along the way, they would find several stations with a tribal bag hanging from them. First tribe to have completed the course and collect their bags would win. The reward: one lantern, fishing line and hooks, and a 30-meter fishing net.




Now compare these challenges to the ones from this Survivor.


To be fair the challenges should be the same as on the other Survivor show. They shouldn't be made easier just because it's men vs women.

To be fair? Why does one edition of Survivor have to be as fair as previous editions? The thing that keeps Survivor fresh is the changes they make between each edition.

Ease is in the eye of the beholder. Obviously walking across a balance beam or cutting a rope was not very easy for the men.

does anyone know if probst reorders the votes before he shows them so that he can make it as suspensful as possible.

e.g. lets say there were 4 votes for A and 3 for B...never ever would you see like 3 or 4 votes for A come out first.

and how they didnt show shawna's vote last night. stuff like that.

Yeah - I assume that before we see him set the vote canister down; he rearranges the ballots off-camera to generate an order which creates the most suspense.

Why should they change the challenges just because it's men vs. women ?

The challenges never change from show to show.
They alternate between puzzles and physical challenges.
This time we're just getting non-physical challenges (puzzles, guessing games...)

I've watched every episode of every Survivor, the thing they keep changing is how and when they split up the teams not the challenges.

Why haven't we seen a swimming race yet ?
Every Survivor has about half of their challenges involving swimming.
They haven't had it because the men would easily win.

You know when we will see swimming, right after they merge !

I hate when shows or contests say it's going to men vs women then change the rules to make it easier for the women.

If there is one thing that Survivor has taught us is that there are no rules when it comes to Survivor.

Struz just wants to the the physical superiority of men to manifest itself in the game of Survivor.

I like the mental and sociological aspects that this season's Survivor is more focused on.

The past physical-laden events were "fair" because both men and women were on the teams that competed against each other and there wasn't a "disadvantage" between the teams.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or Dave) to figure out that if you have an event where the object is to carry 6 logs from point A to point B that a team of men will beat a team of women (unless you made the men have to walk on a balance log to carry the logs).

I don't know if we will ever see swimming in the amazon...all the piranha would make for an interesting challenge...

The less physical the challenges, the greater chance the women will win, and therefore more suspense. If the men were going to win them all, that would be boring. Who wants that? Besides, the more the men lose, the more entertaining it is when they have to sulk back to camp in disbelief.

Of course we knew that they would alter the challenges because of the gender division. To not do so would have been stupid and bad television. As it is, the men have managed to still screw up the physical challenges and the women have managed to prove relative incompetence at basic survival skills. Both groups seem flawed.

I am glad they changed the challenges. I have always assumed they did to make things as interesting as possible. I always keep in mind the one driving force behind all the decisions. Is this better TV or not? That is why we don't have a Survivor Antartica. That is why when one tribe is starving to death, the next reward challenge is a barrel of rice or fishing equipment. Or how a reward is fire when they did not have it. The reward challenges are the way the producers have of evening things up and keeping it good TV.

I also assumed that was the reason Jeff "tallied" the votes. The word tally in this case means to arrange in the best sequence for good TV.

I feel bad that such a detailed post is so waaayyyyyy off base!

The ideal challenges are those where the competition would be close, so both sides would have an equal chance of winning. Your opinion seems to be:
1. Physical challenges favor the men - true
2. Non-physical challenges favor the women - NOT TRUE!

The non-physical challenges make the competition even, so NEITHER side is favored!

How competitive would it be to have a challenge where they have to roll a huge boulder uphill...not at all, that favors the men.

They COULD put physical challenges in for prior seasons because the teams were a mix, and the challenges would be competitive...who would they want to put in challenges that would overwhelmingly favor the men?? Unfair, and lousy TV!

Hell maybe they should, the men couldn't even win the ones that WERE physical anyways! How hard is it to get two guys across a balance beam??

FS

Yeah, it's not as if they are having competitions which involve shopping, scrapbooking, and accessorizing.

THEN it might be unfair.

I never said the non-physical challenges favor the women.
I said not having physical challenges favors the women.

Please, walking across a log (balance beam) is not physical !
Maybe they should have a sewing contest next, would that be physical too ?

I just don't like the game of Survivor being lowered because they have men vs women this time.

That's next.

How does not having physical challenges favor the women? You are implying that physical challenges the only things men are good at? Are you saying that women are more intelligent than men?

Your statement really makes no sense. There has not been a challenge yet that has favored the women. In fact, alot of the challenges have involved items that men generally have had more experience with (fishing, using knifes, etc.), therefore favoring the men.

I thought they usually varied the competitions based on the series locale. For instance, they often incorporate cultural things that pertain to the area.

They did not have swimming in Africa since they were in the middle of the desert.

I think being in the Amazon, which has pirahna-laden waters and lots of jungle prevents them from doing some of the same competitions they used to.

It seems like the challenges now are in smaller areas and not as spread out, probably because of the geography of the area.

If Jeff does "tally" the votes, why would he not reveal that one other person voted for Christy while the rest voted for Joanna and Shawna? Seems to me, if you "tally" the votes, letting the women know that one of the girls is a "turncoat" would make for more friction in the tribe, and better TV.

While it's totally possible that Jeff/the producers arrange the votes to be read aloud, why did they miss this opportunity to inflict more doubt among the women, unless they took a week off and just left the "tallying" to chance?

The previews look good for next week...Jenna in the shower...

*grunt*...men good...wohman bad...ooga. ooga.