Bill Needle

The game has become a convoluted mess. Why on the 40th celebratory season bring in even more of the sort of over-complicated game manipulation that has damaged recent seasons?

The thing that helped make Survivor a phenomenon was the seeming simplicity of it which drove players to develop their own strategies. Now just sit back and wait for idols and tokens to drop in your lap. What a disappointment.

mwbmis

I was super borderline coming back this year after what happened last year.

Great to finally see Yul back, and immediately grabbing Sophie and Wendell was a good call. I wasn't ever really an Ethan fan, but it's hard not to root for him now. Hope Jeremy can blow up the other tribe.

Jeff continues to try to make this game have nothing to do with strategy.

mwbmis

Oh...and you can tell this is not a normal season of Survivor because about half the cast isn't at all in shape.

dolphinboy

Not Amber on the very first show.

I knew my 3 favorites (Rob, Amber, Parvarti) were EXTREMELY unlikely to win but I wasn’t expecting to lose one this soon.

Sandra is such a petty person. If it was really about breaking up a couple, at least I could understand but it was because of something so stupid as Rob not telling her he was coming back.

I hope he gets revenge before he gets the boot.

Bill Needle

There's still hope with the Edge of Extinction and perhaps three or four other as yet unknown ways return to the game.

Shannon Nutt

I hate Sandra. And her getting to buy that idol? That stinks of producer manipulation. Why wouldn't Natalie sell it to Jeremy?

mwbmis

It had to go to the losing tribe.

DWilson

The Entertainment Weekly site has a lot of information about what wasn't shown on last night's episode (reporters got to sit in for this one). Apparently there was a lot of players going up to each other and whispering throughout the first tribal.

Yul did his research and told people before he went in that he was going to target "The Poker Alliance", and it worked.

mwbmis

Given that she's the next logical target, I worry that Sandra's magical out of nowhere idol will end up getting Yul idoled out of the game.

Brian Gentz

Conspiracy theory

Rob and Sandra have a pre-game alliance, and this story about him saying he wasn't going to be on Season 40 was cover to put them on opposite sides and to try and lessen their target for having just spent a whole season together. Why would he lie about being on? There's no strategic benefit. Amber was a sacrifice to solidify the story. Maybe she wasn't that interested in playing? Maybe she liked the idea of going to ponderosa early and having a month+ vacation? Of course Edge of Extinction threw a wrench in that part of the plan.

GatorDeb

This has been one of the most fantastic delicious awesome hour and a half of television I've ever experienced. When everybody at the beginning was like yeah everyone here is out to stab everyone in the back and this will a bloodbath etc. I was like heck yeah!!!

DWilson

And everybody gets $25K just for showing up.

There are a couple of things I wonder about. Though Probst frames it otherwise, I thought "Edge of Extinction" was known about going in, since it was an incentive to get some of the star players, who didn't want to be voted off quickly and have no shot at the prize.

Also, did Rob and Sandra not know about Season 40, since Survivor seasons are essentially shot back-to-back. Probst alludes that he talked to Rob about "Winners" after he did "Island of Idols". On the other hand, we have Sandra barking about Rob not telling her he was coming back, which I agree sounds a bit overly dramatic.

Cardsfan111

I usually catch up with Survivor on the CBS app and stayed up late until it was available because I was so anxious to see it.

I thought it was a fantastic start. You could sense the tension from the beginning regarding the speed of the game. On a typical season, the first TC or two is often times to get rid of a weak link or an annoying presence. When you start with none of those folks in the cast, things escalate quickly.

My 2 least favorite players would be Natalie and Sandra. Never liked them when they played before. I was tickled that Natalie was voted off, but rolled my eyes at the advantage given to her and then put in Sandra's hands. At least it's only good for a couple of tribal councils. And though Sandra would seem to be a huge target, she may not even need it. I wasn't shocked by Amber being booted. I didn't want to see it happen, but it appeared as if she was too passive, perhaps overwhelmed by how fast things were going.

I thought the editing was very well done. Little things stood out--players checking out the champagne glasses as if there might be a clue (and the EW recap indicated a few were looking around at the voting urn), the saracastic surprise verbalized when Sandra sat out at the first opportunity, Sandra calling out Tony while she was sitting out observing him looking back at the other team, Rob looking back when leaving the challenge out of obvious concern for his wife knowing he couldn't help her, the clip from the poker game being inserted...the whole episode was packed with solid moments. And Rob's play on Ben and the way it was portrayed was masterful. And Ben describing how it happened and how he felt powerless to stop it. Good stuff. I also really like Yul & Ethan. I've seen 30+ seasons but missed the ones early with those guys. Very impressed with their personalities and game play in the early going.

Looking forward to how this will all play out!

Bill Needle

I thought that was the best part of the premier, especially Ben's confessional of shame afterwards.

mwbmis

I'm just tired of Rob. I acknowledge that if they were going to do this then he probably needed to be there, but he's a player that didn't even make the jury two of the four times he played. While he kind of a memorable character on Marquesas, the fact that he voted out so early meant he really didn't have any business being on the first "All-Star" season. Then, no question, he strategically dominated the All-Star game, but did so by taking advantage of and then torching pre-existing relationships to the point where he lost to a do nothing like Amber, who was only there because Coleen and Elisabeth said no.

We look back on it like it wasn't a blunder because he ended up marrying her. How likely was that? Then he didn't even make the merge in HvV. Finally, he won his fourth time playing against some competition who spent most of the game in awe of him.

DWilson

Speaking with Rob Cesternino at the show's premiere this week, Probst says "Extinction" will be taking a rest for the next few seasons.

Bill Needle

Rob was voted out one spot short of the jury twice (so not that early) including in an all-star season precisely because of his ability to control previous seasons. Rob also won a season, and in another only lost to his fiance who he placed in the final two next to him. One of those was an all-star seasons played with experienced players and after his style of game play was well known. I think minimizing his ability to play Survivor is unwarranted. He is easily one of the best to play.

Brian Gentz

I found it hilarious how in a season of all winners so many people were worried about being taken out because of their reputations based on their prior winning strategies and feared because of their prior connections, and then there's Wendell "I don't want to be seen as the guy that makes furniture!"

Shannon Nutt

Ahh...I missed that caveat. Okay then, that makes more sense now, since she probably guessed Sandra was "most likely to get voted out" and is looking for a strong ally if she ever gets off Extinction.

mwbmis

Rob and Amber's relationship began while they were filming All-Stars; they didn't get engaged until finale night months later. That why I asked how likely is that a relationship that was going to last. I think we think of that as his winning because his wife won, but at the time they voted for the winner she was someone he was sort of...I guess...dating for a few weeks in an extreme circumstance. Even if he knew after that short of a time that she was "the one" how does that translate to real life.

The first time he played he was memorable, but part of the reason was because he blew up his own tribe. Sure, he eventually won in completely dominating fashion, but it was on his fourth attempt. Most Survivors don't get that many tries. Especially if they didn't even make the jury the first time they played.

Josh-da-man

I missed that, too.

All I knew was that Sandra all of a sudden found a HII in her bag, and I thought, damn, the producers aren't even trying now.

Bill Needle

The season Amber made the final two and beat him she was only there because Rob wanted her there. He completely controlled that season. In a way he chose the winner...actually in a couple of ways

Bill Needle

Sadly it was a plausible assumption.

Bill Needle

That's what makes a winners season so interesting. It is one thing to fool people who don't know you but once the cat is out of the bag to do it again you have to come up with something new as well as defend against your well publicized history.

mwbmis

No doubt that he was the dominant player that year, but he did so at least in part by burning down pre-existing personal relationships to the point where there was almost no chance he could win. And there was a far greater chance that Amber would have dumped him after the show then there was of them getting married and having four kids. Kudos to them for making it work, but I just don't think that anyone could or should have been relying on that. Rob was playing for himself to win.

Like I said when I first brought it up. It would be hard to do this season without him, but I'm just tired of him.