Shannon Nutt

The smart move is to not smash the hourglass - she'll pretty much guarantee herself getting voted out if she smashes it, while if she doesn't smash it, she still has a slim chance of staying onboard if those winning players know she didn't throw them under the bus.

GuessWho

For the immediate vote, if she smashes it, she (and the others without buffs) flips to the the winning side and will be immune. So she'll have one council's worth of safety.

AaronHernandez

She's like 95% the next person voted out if she doesn't smash it. No one is gonna blame her for taking immunity and smashing it. 1 tribal councils worth of safety is far better then 0, she would almost ensuring her elimination and as foolish a player if she doesn't smash it.

Double_Oh_7

Seems like a no-brainer to me... smash it.

Goldberg74

Either way, my time in this game is almost over.

Bill Needle

Yeah, sadly the most interesting tribe was immune every week so we barely saw them, and now they are merged away into the blob.

They did finally try to put some "survive" back in "Survivor" but they also put in a ridiculous number of trinkets, many of which could be easily tailored to steer events as they are introduced into the game.

Damfino

I hope Erika smashes it. The show needs the drama.

Jeremy517

I assume she'll smash it. If she didn't smash it, I think they leave all the hype talk on the editing room floor.

I think it is a pretty awful twist though. Win immunity and your reward is to... not have immunity?

Bill Needle

It makes zero sense for her not to smash it. Never not take immunity when it is handed to you. And especially for the first vote after a merge.

davidh777

Yeah, I can’t imagine her not smashing, which is a bummer because my player in the DVDTalk game and some other interesting folks won the immunity. And she knows she’s at the bottom of the totem pole even if she didn’t see all the interviews with other players targeting her.

Shannon Nutt

I didn't hear the part where she gets immunity if she smashes it. I didn't know she was considered part of the "losing" team.

Damfino

I’m glad she smashed it. It led to one of the most dramatic tribal councils ever.

Decker

I mean, why on God's green earth would she even consider NOT smashing it? It gave her immunity, and if she hadn't, it would have pissed off almost as many people as she did by smashing it and would certainly have spelled her Doom. There wasn't ever really a choice to make, which made it weird to act like it was this huge decision on her part.

Inhumans99

I know I am in the minority, but if it takes Jeff creating 50 new "twists" to the game each season to keep it interesting, I am down for that. It was fun to see one "advantage" after another fall apart last night. We did lose some eye candy, but I will survive (pun not intended), even with her face all scratched up the contestant who left last night has a body that is impressive to stare at. I am aware that she is also a narcissist and even said in one of the in-game interviews that she knows she is great looking and that makes her a threat in the game, subtle about how vainglorious she is she was not, lol.

The game starts with the hourglass being smashed (yay to that), and ends with 2 advantages falling apart once they were used, loving it.

ETA: Sydney's interview with Dalton is kind-of awesome. I love that she is all like nope, how I acted during the game is basically how I am real life. For better or worse, she is who she is and it did make for good tv and a pretty good and refreshingly not completely scripted interview with Dalton.

Cardsfan111

I thought the episode last night was lame with everyone making choices that left me scratching my head. As was mentioned, it came as no shock that Erika smashed the hourglass. And like Decker pointed out, I couldn't figure out why Erika thought she had made some kind of big move. I wasn't impressed with Xander/Evvie and how shrewd they considered themselves for passing along a fake idol. It would have been more impressive if he hadn't said it was fake and allowed them to proceed if their plan was still on. I couldn't figure out why Liana and her crew didn't have a backup plan in place or why they seemed to be caught off guard by things. Ask Xander for his idol and if he doesn't have it, vote for him. I found myself rolling my eyes frequently, more than any previous episode that I could recall.

Shannon Nutt

I don't like the idea that if you win a challenge it can be taken away from you. I did like the idol swap thing though - I mean it was pretty obvious that Xander was going to give the idol to someone else after he announced it both back at camp and again at tribal - but, I'll be honest, I would have guessed Evvie had it - so I would have looked just as stupid as Liana did.

DWilson

She's amazingly candid.

cdollaz

That was my initial thought - why not make her think she had a real idol, which she might erroneously play later. However, after thinking about it, and realizing that the ultimate goal was to protect Evie, the way they played it was correct to accomplish that goal. If Liana and company thought it was real, they would have thrown all of their votes against Evie, sending her home, assuming Tiffany did not play the idol for her. Calling it a fake left Liana et al. with the possibility that Evie actually had the real idol. If she did, and they thru all of their votes on her, then Deshaun (or someone else in their group) would have gone home. Instead, they had to split their votes and give more to someone other than Evie, to ensure that it was not a 4-4-4 split, which it likely would have been had he not used the extra vote and Sydney had not risked, and lost, her vote.

BDB

This show is now far too over complicated

Double_Oh_7

Agreed. By far the worst season of the show ever. It's like every idea they've ever had over the last 20 years they decided to try all at once this season.

DWilson

It doesn't help that they've changed the story-telling of the show, adding flashbacks and asides.

Decker

Some complications are necessary due to the shortened season. It has to be a harder experience since it's a week shorter and Tribal is more often.
But the hourglass thing was BS. And like I said, not a real choice. They should at least have made it so that the decision didn't affect Erika's immunity either way. That would be a choice.
BTW who thought it would be a good idea for Erika to compete on Survivor in a Snow White dress? That outfit is really bugging the shit out of me.

Finisher

Sydney's exit interviews are trending. Really had no idea she was so bitchy/funny. They kinda wasted her, probably because she didn't go deep/wasn't vital to outcome this season. Still, on a season devoid on personalities their million retarded twists got rid of the only eye candy/semi interesting player.

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertain...st-after-exit/

“I was like, “Shocker, you broke it.” I would have done the same thing. Jeff wouldn’t have even had to be done explaining it before I’d be like, “Alright, break. Next. Easiest decision of my life.” I just think the whole point of the advantage was to get out a strong player because that challenge was meant to be won by strong players,” she said. “And then that twist was meant to get a strong player out, and congrats, CBS, it worked.

Sydney added, “And now your ratings are gonna fucking plummet because your big personality is gone.

The only way they could’ve gotten me out was with, like, 15 advantages and a twist, that’s like the stupidest shit ever. So yeah, that’s sick. I wasn’t outwitted, outlasted, outplayed. I was out fucking lucked.

I was supposed to be the beneficiary of that [Xander's fake idol] plan. So I was, again, not surprised because nothing surprises me at this point. But I was like, “Go Xander.” He just clowned her. Like, as much as it sucks to be me yesterday, it’s sucks to be Liana. She got out f—king clowned. I got out-collateral damaged. But, she got clowned."

Decker

Maybe it's because she never went to tribal before but she never seemed like that interesting a personality to me.

cdollaz

Yeah, she is not interesting or funny at all. Just seems like a self-absorbed bitch and acts and talks like a teenager. Not a big personality, just annoying. Can you imagine having to be around her in real life.

And I am sure their ratings will be fine.