Bill Needle

Too true. Their incredible stupidity resulted in him needlessly getting the boot, and then the three of them (almost certainly at this point) following one two three right after him. Also couldn't help but notice that Kelly didn't seem to be enjoying the goings on from the jury seats nearly as much as Erik was.

taa455

OK, so Russell has made this promise to John that the next one to go had to be a FoaFoa. I'm thinking all Russell has to do is vote with the Galu people for a FoaFoa (whoever) and secretly give that person the HII and tell them to play the idol. FoaFoa (besides the one he gives the idol to) can still believe Russell is voting with them. Russell then plays dumb to John after the vote and comes out clean while keeping his word to John. Russell really is playing this game well. I hope he doesn't make any boneheaded moves like trusting the wrong person. I loved how Russell knew Monica was full of crap trying to fake that sneaky play (voting off John). It was funny because Monica thought it was soooo brilliant.

taa455

I wouldn't call Russell fat. He is athletic enough to beat Dave in a foot race for sure. Russell has a great chance to make it to the end. All he has to do is get the numbers on his side and then win maybe 1 or 2 immunity challenges at the right time. The rock clearly had a lot of moss on it from what I saw in the picture. So he just went to a place with lots of mossy rocks stacked up. Not that hard to believe. It was pretty easy to see that Laura was conceited, arrogant and probably stuck up to people that were not her "friends". Classic snooty popular girl. Maybe I'm wrong, but that is how she came off to me. I share the dislike for Shambo, but Russell is using her to get what he wants, which is smart.

cdollaz

My only problem with Laura was that she had an entitlement thing going. "How dare anyone else play the game and try to take us down." I hate players who have that attitude.

darkhawk

I would say that Russell didn't eat as much as the others did on the reward trip. Also, when they returned to camp, Dave and they others were drinking alot of water. Russell came back and told his teammates what to look for and they took off looking for it. He wasn't bloated.

superfro

Also he's a hillbilly ninja.

dino88

Or he could just vote off John and not give the idol away. That sounds much easier.

zuffy

It would be crazy for Russell to give up the HII. He has a huge target behind his back. Don't trust Foa Foa either.

Senor Javi

I don't know why I was even worried. Russell is everyone's daddy.

Howie2000

Other than Shambo who's entire whiny goal in the game was to outlast 1 singular player Laura we have not seen people claim any dislike for Laura both in post shows interviews or in any tv show footage. While Laura is not really a personal favorite of mine other than Shambo's manipulatedly favorable confessionals we have yet to see anything this season of any Mean Girls stuff.



As far as "Eric got screwed" he is equally at fault for Galu's downfall.

Him and John were idiotically short sighted at the merge thinking Laura/Monica had to be broken up when it's as simple as math(4 Tight Foa Foa = Bigger threat than obvious 2 person alliance
) they should have knocked out a few Foa Foa's first then imploded as a tribe.

Not to mention it was equally as stupid not to vote off Shambo instead of the Black girl and nip her in the bud right away when it was pretty obvious she was not willing to work with people on the tribe at the merge.

taa455

Sure but that's a great way to make a big enemy on the jury. Russell just promised John he would vote off a FoaFoa in exchange for John changing his vote to Laura. Why would Russell want to stab John in the back when what I described gives Russell a way to keep his word while still eliminating another Galu member? It's easy to say screw promises in this game but it could come back to bite Russell if he makes it to the jury vote.

dolphinboy

Bitter jury won't beat Russell. No way. The only scenario in which he loses if he makes it to the final vote is if someone totally dominates from here on out and can make a case for it. Otherwise, he needs to be taken out. Russell will have no trouble articulating things that some others in past seasons, who might have had a chance to win but didn't, just why he has done the things he's done and why they'd be fools not to reward him and he'll do it artfully.

By the way, Russell is very much a fat guy. It's no judgment on his athletic ability.

Howie2000

I totally disagree . By and large Russell or anyone else sitting in the f2/f3 will win or lose the game predominantly by the personal relationships they did or did not make over 39 days and the manner in which they sent people to the jury.

While as viewers we can sit back and look at the game analytically almost like it was a game of chess if you spend 39 days 24/7 eating,breathing and living the game an atypical juror more often than not will take things personal because the game is a personal one. Russell can find a HII every round from every episode on out but if people on the island flat out just don't like him or they flat out like someone like Jaison ,Natalie or the other guy more then no case he can present to the jury will win him the game. After all the jurors are giving someone a Million Dollars with their vote essesentially. People rationalize things any way in their head if they flat out hate someone and do not want to reward them money like that.

taa455

I have to disagree. You always have to consider the jury and how they view you. There was that season with Stephanie when she was winning challenges and just being physically dominant, but she stabbed half the jury members in the back with broken promises and outright lies and she lost the final vote. (I think I am remembering that right.) But I agree that Russell is a great persuader and he might be able to overcome broken promises in the end.


Uh, I think you did make a judgement based on him being a "fat guy". Yeah, obviously he is overweight, but he is a stocky build and you can tell he's got a lot of muscle. Based on what you said there is no way he should be able to beat a thin guy. Dave is not the most agile dude, and you can't assume he is "in shape" just because he is thin.

mosquitobite

Russell will need to take Shambo, Mick or Jaison to the F2 in order to win, imho.

The Galu tribe, as John said, is pathetic wrt analytics. They will vote for any Galu (other than Shambo) over the old Foa Foa (well possibly Natalie).

Mick & Jaison might pose a more physical threat, so, Russell just needs to figure out how to take Shambo to the F2 if he wants this thing wrapped up. Jaison would be the second choice since he hasn't really shown himself strong in competitions.

Red Dog

This is going to be a bigger jury than the past right? Usually it's 7, right? This will be 8 or 9 depending on whether it's a final 2 or 3.

TimeandTide

I hate you.

Plus, you have to consider the amount of time Russell spent exploring the area for the other HIIs. Not too big a leap to think he knew exactly where there was a pile of moss-covered rocks.

bdshort

That was brilliant! I said this last week, but I can't believe how much I love watching Russell now considering I couldn't stand him in the first episode.

Some speculation on the next episode (which looked to me like it was next week but maybe I wasn't paying attention?):

JuryDuty

Yes, usually it's 7. I'm guessing it'll be 9 this year.

Senor Javi

I was thinking of who needs to get voted off next and it has to be John. Let's say that Russell et al decide to keep their word and throw a Foa Foa under the bus, say Jaison. You would still have Russell, Shambo, Natalie, Mick, and John vs. Monica, Brett, and Dave after the vote. Sounds pretty good if you are part of the first group. That is if you trust John, which you can't. Before the vote goes down John will approach Jaison and tell him that his head is on the chopping block. John will tell Jaison that the only way to save himself is for both of them to join up with the remnants of Galu. This would form groups of John, Jaison, Monica, Brett, and Dave vs. Russell, Shambo, Natalie, and Mick going into the vote. Ex-Galu would jump at the chance to regain the numbers lead and they will go down the line eliminating Russell's group like they should have right after the merge. Pretty smart idea from John and the question is whether Foa Foa + Shambo will realize that their collective gooses will be cooked if they don't get rid of John.

I haven't watched Survivor since the first season so I don't know when they do final 2s and when they do final 3s and why. With this many people you would figure they would do a final 3, no? If that's the case, Russell should form a hard alliance will Shambo and Natalie now. Shambo is the most loyal to Russell and isn't likely to try to vote him out at any point. Jaison will turn on anyone tomorrow and Mick doesn't seem bright or forward-thinking enough to keep a hard alliance. He will likely make the classic mistake of turning illogically because "it sounded like a good idea at the time." That leaves Natalie. She is more devious than she lets on, but who else can you trust if you are Russell? He needs to keep Foa Foa + Shambo intact until the final five. They need to go John, Monica, Brett, and Dave in that order. If John gets immunity, screw him. Once they get rid of one more Galu he can't save himself.

So, the final five should be Russell, Shambo, Natalie, Jaison, and Mick. Russell, Shambo, and Natalie are in a hard alliance and Jaison and Mick are too lost to even know what's going on. Get rid of Jaison, then Mick and you have a final three. Jaison and Mick will surely vote for Russell out of pure gratitude. Dave will likely respect Russell's great play and Erik will vote Russell because it would piss off Galu the most. Laura, Monica, and Kelly will vote in favor of Natalie because they all hate Russell and Shambo. John might vote Shambo because he probably can't vote for a Foa Foa after getting burned by them. Brett is wild card, but I still think Russell will win.

If it's a final two then it will be Russell (due to Hidden Immunity Idol) plus whoever of Shambo and Natalie wins the final immunity challenge. If Russell wins the immunity challenge then he should choose to vote off Natalie. Laura and Monica both hate Shambo and will probably vote in favor of Russell. Erik probably can't bring himself to vote in favor of a Galu member even if it is Shambo and Dave will vote for Russell out of admiration. At least one, but probably two or all three Foa Foas will be loyal to Russell. So if comes down to Russell and Shambo then Russell should will easily. With Russell and Natalie, I'd say that Mick, Jaison, Shambo, Erik, and Dave vote Russell while John, Monica, Laura, and Kelly vote Natalie. That goofball Brett is a wild card, but I see either him voting Russell or John changing his vote.

Christ, I'm loving this show.

mosquitobite

According to after elimination videos, Laura said in an interview that the edits didn't show it but that her and Brett were really close. She said she knew John was going to flip based on Brett telling her. They still hoped Monica's plan would possibly work, but she knew once the second Laura was read she was going down and knew John would flip on the second vote.

NiCK Crush

Ah, really? I wish she had had no idea. Ah well, she's gone and I'm happy.

Goldberg74

We get the Thanksgiving Re-cap ep this Thursday.

This sucks...

... but the great thing is that it will be "The Evil Russell Show"!

mytzplyx

For those of you who think Erik shouldn't have been that upset, go watch the latest Survivor Ponderosa clips. Laura admits that the decision to vote Erik off was bone-headed and stupid, except, she never accepts blame for being part of that decision. Instead, she makes it sound like it was everyone else's decision but hers. Erik is still pissed about it. And pissed about Laura's self-righteousness.

dolphinboy

So what, Erik's a twit and he belongs where he is. Last season everybody put the game behind them when they got to Ponderosa. They got along, appreciated the time they had in the game, and it was fun to see that.