No need to bury the lead. One of my favorite moments of the entire season happened about seven minutes into this episode. Corrine’s reaction to Marcus being voted out. It was almost as good as waiting for Santa to come.
First the Macaulay Culkin "hands to the face" reaction made famous in Home Alone and then the verbal response that revealed the rest of her truth: "I’m pissed. He didn’t deserve to leave the game."
Which prompted Kenny’s very fair question, "Who does?"
This is why we are still on the air and why I still love hosting Survivor after 17 seasons. Human nature. It is nearly impossible to hide our true selves, especially in times of conflict.
"He didn’t deserve to leave the game." Only seven words. But judgingfrom Kenny’s clenched jaw reaction, those seven words might have justsealed Corrine’s fate. Charlie was less upset and less vocal, and yousaw what happened to him. Gone.
I fully admit that it is sooooo easy for me to backseat drive. I’m notplaying this game, living in the middle of Africa on nothing, my mindoverloaded with strategy, wondering who I can trust, dealing with thoseannoying bug bites and having an obnoxious host up in my face all thetime.
And hey, I’d be "pissed" too if they took out my ally. Marcus was good.Too good to let stay in the game. Corrine, Charlie, and Marcus had areal shot at going to the end and if so, Marcus wins hands down. He wasthat good. So I fully lay down and concede that I don’t think I couldhack this game, and as I have said hundreds of time, I have the utmostrespect for anybody who raises their hand to endure this thing calledSurvivor. Now that I’ve cleared my conscience…it’s time to get backto lipping off.
Corrine, it’s just a thought, but when you sense the horse is going ina different direction, it might be wise to lessen your hold on thereins and let the horse guide the way. This horse is definitely goingin a different direction and the person sitting in the saddle is Kenny.Kenny is…the new kid in town.
Watching Kenny come of age is reality’s version of watching greatShakespeare. He’s maturing from a young man into a leader…and in thisgame that means he may soon gain the throne. Ah, but if he gets toococky, the gods will descend and a beheading is soon to follow. Watchyourself Kenny. A healthy dose of humility could help win you a milliondollars.
I have to share a story about the golf challenge. There was much debatebetween the creative team about whether this challenge was going toprovide enough drama. We just weren’t sure, so we were hoping we mightcatch a break and get some really great reality during the challengeand as Survivor luck would have it, we did.
Thank you, Randy, for being so pushy, and thank you, Matty, for pushingback. "No, you can’t do it, Randy." Love that moment. If you werepaying close attention, Randy was absolutely right in what he wassaying. "Just hold it over the hole and drop it." Ah, but once againhuman nature takes over, and Matty couldn’t see straight to save hislife.
Personally, I’m just so glad I’m perfect and have no issues whatsoeverto deal with. I’m kidding. And while I’m at it, yes I read the commentsyou leave at EW.com, and yes, I know many of you think "Probst sucks."Whatever.
Man I love this blogging. Cheapest therapy yet.
Then there is the reward where once again, more human nature revealeditself. Corrine smiled! Corrine took the hand of a small child! Dare Isay, Corrine loved!! Let them eat cake!! She has a heart! She is human!Yeah! And when Corrine smiles, I am reminded, Corrine is pretty damnattractive.
The merge – finally. Nuff said.
Question: How often has being eliminated in a challenge or at tribalcouncil come down to making fire? Well, I don’t know the exact number,but…it’s a lot! I promise you if I was going to be on this show Iwould make certain I could make fire while blindfolded, untying knots,and solving a puzzle, ’cause that’s what we do on Survivor! REI sellsflint for five bucks! Order online and you don’t even have to leaveyour house!
My final observation: Bob should work in the Survivor art departmentbecause the fake immunity idol he made is incredible. Truly beautiful.Still not exactly sure how he pulled it off but there had to be a bitof smelting going on and I don’t even know what smelting means! Hisstudents back home in Maine should be proud! "Ole teach" is working itand the merge has given Bob new life!
Next time on…Survivor. One of the best episodes of the season. No hype. Pure truth.
Now check out our exclusive deleted scene from ‘Survivor’ and then read Dalton’s recap.
Comments (1-30) of 286 Add your comment
Not so much ‘Prosbt Sucks’ as ‘Probst likes to influence the game by giving away strategies during challenges, warn people (Matty) when their pole is about to fall so they can fix it, and manipulate the voiceovers into lies (Fang is the worst tribe? Um, you don’t remember Ulong? They won one reward challenge, that was it)’ Although, to be fair, the voiceovers are probably pre-written.
Seemed like Kenny suggested Charlie more out of spite than strategy. You can only get away with those little lies just so many times, why waste them? Already Sugar revealed she doesn’t trust him even though she did swing their way. Which may have been dumb because she had a better chance convincing Randy and Bob of final 3, and their tribe doesn’t know she has the idol. I love seeing old Kota getting eaten alive though, it’s entertaining.
I don’t feel bad for Marcus and his alliance. There biggest mistake that likely cost them the final four or whatever was keeping Susie around instead of Dan who would have been loyal to them.
I hope you’re reading this Jeff.
Your’e the best!!! I love watching you, I love listening to your commentary, love you at tribal council and I always look forward to reading your blog.
I am loving this series of Survivor! It’s always great to see the mighty fall & the underdogs get the upper hand…will it continue?
And I would like to defend Crystal. Sure she was expected to be better at challenges – but she wears her heart on her sleeve, is honest and very entertaining!
does jeff still have that girlfriend who used to be on survivor?
when can we look at the ponderosa?
I have to agree on Bob’s fake idol, especially given previous attempts. (Though Yau-Man’s was never found to be tried.) I wonder if Bob will play one more level to it and offer it to someone to save them…as long as it’s not someone who knows Sugar has the real idol, he could put someone out easy. (Even better if he teams with Sugar…he has to know she has it.)
Man i CANT stand KENNY, CRYSTAL AND SUSIE i wish corrinne would just beat the **** out of them seriously kenny is full of himself, crystal is down right annoying, and susie is just a crazy b*tch. i love corrine, sugar and matty. those three should be final 3, then i don’t really care who wins. randy can get annoying at times but i loved him when he was picking on crystal this episode as for bob hes watever to me lol
and Jeff youre great theres the reason u won the emmy
Jeff, you are the man!
Marcus’ (and his Alliance) biggest mistake was almost their biggest success. They voted Dan off (probably a mistake as Dan was more gullible) in such a manner to make sure that Susie would go if Dan played an idol.
That seems smart, right? However, then you have just told Susie that everyone is fine with you going next. Doh! What they should have done is to have only one player besides Dan (Randy, perhaps?) vote for Susie. Then Marcus (not Corrinne!) can tell Susie that Randy was an idiot and take him to task (with his expectation of that). Then Susie would think that Randy was vulnerable and she may be “in”. Susie was next on the chopping block of that group and she knew it, so she switched.
To get Sugar on their side they may have needed Matty (her closest friend?) and may have wanted to vote whoever she suggested from the other group (Kenny, the liar?). They need to convince her that she would have been in the final 3.
I love having this blog to read this year! It’s great getting the inside scoop from Jeff Probst. Jeff – you’re the best reality show host EVER and a big part of why Survivor has lasted so long!
I can’t believe Charlie is gone.I had high hopes for him. I wanna grab Sugar by her lil ponytails and shake some sense into her.
Randy and Kenny need to go. Crystal and Susie are both useless. Bob is the man!!! He rocks his buff-tie!!
But all these seasons and Jeff is still as hot and sexy as he was during season 1. Who really cares about the contestants? They come and go but Jeff is what we gals tune in to watch. Smart,sexy,and a great ass…or a great sexy smart ass…take your pick on the descriptions.
Probst you officially don’t suck. Love the blog wish it was longer. Got a thing for Corrine huh? Beware the black widow…Randy is simply great TV. Keep up the good work.
I love how it’s the white Abercrombie folks against the people of color, Kenny, Crystal and Susie. No need to create artificial race tribes when self-segregation happens naturally!
I also loved how Randy told Crystal that she and GC ran the camp like a gang — priceless! I bet that made some white liberals feel queasy.
Also telling was Corinne’s comment that Marcus didn’t “deserve” to go and Kenny’s trenchant retort “Who does?”. It harkens back to the concept of white entitlement. I’m not saying that Corinne feels that whites are entitled to win but rather that when you have the current dynamics (i.e., a clique that is all white vs. a clique that is all minority), racial issues come to the fore. That’s why I love Survivor — a great analysis of human behavior, of which racial dynamics is ALWAYS a factor.
jeff–you’re the best! don’t listen to those haters. a n y w a y…kenny is playing almost brilliantly right now-if, like you said, he doesn’t get too cocky. crystal’s playing smarter than i thought she could. i HATE randy. almost hate corrine. i’m actually kinda hoping sugar pulls it off, but my #1 pick is bob. keeping my fingers crossed for him.
thx for your blog, jeff!!
I haven’t watched since Amazon, but this season I’ve been watching non-stop since the season opener, and every episode just keeps on getting better, it’s Survivor gold. Kenny and Crystal have to go all the way to the top, one of the two has to win. and if you’re reading this Jeff, you’re still awesome and the Emmy was greatly deserved.
I truly hope Randy and Crystal make it a few more weeks. That is a truly entertaining dynamic. My wife says I just like to watch people argue – maybe that’s it, but it sure is fun. And Corinne makes it interesting, too. I guess I’m still rooting for Matty and Sugar to win it all, though. Not voting out Matty last night was a dumb move, because he seems to be the only really physical player left.
The look on Corrine’s face…that was so sweet it just HAD to be fattening. I loved Randy at the beginning but he’s getting a tad to big for his britches. I was happy to see Ken start to man up and prove the OUTWIT portion of the mantra. Brawn isn’t all there is to this game however I hope he doesn’t get to cocky as well. Pride goeth before the the fall.
I’m sure Charlie is happy now he can cuddle up next to his crush on the jury bench. Kenny may have gone for Charlie out of revenge however I think it was better. Corinne is more polarizing and it may be easier to get her out.
Also, while I love the beautiful locations have you ever thought of changing it up and doing Survivor Antarctica? Perhaps not that extreme but something similar. Granted you wouldn’t get your bevy of half naked women but I’m sure something could be arranged (sweat lodge?). I think it would be an interesting change up and I’d love to see the contestants faces when they didn’t land in tropical paradise.
Jeff Probst is a major reason why this show has continued for so many seasons. Keep up the good work! And your blog is great, too.
It didn’t surprise me to see Crystal, Kenny, Susie, Matty and Sugar stick together but I truly thought that their first target would have been Randy. Oh, that surprising Kenny; he managed to get the other four to vote off Charlie whose slight Kenny wanted avenged. Beware of Kenny – he’s the major player in the game as of right now.
I do think it’s unfair to mess too much with the structure of the tribes simply because the producers are unhappy with the direction of the game. It often makes weak players strong and vice versa, simply by a stroke of good / bad luck. A player like Marcus who had played a great game and strategised well, sees all his good work come to nothing. A hopeless player like Crystal finds herself in a strong position by doing nothing. It does take something away from a great Show in my opinion. There should be no random shuffling of the tribes after day 10.
Also, it would be interesting to see the game played in reverse to normal. Begin with one big tribe so everyone gets to know one another. Play for individual immunity. Then when it gets down to 10 people left then split the tribes into two for the run up to the million dollars. Just a thought.
Stating it now – love ya Probst!!!! Haters to the left.
I don’t mind changing the structure of the tribes. “Survivors” need to know how to adapt to changes in the environment. If Marcus was truly a great player, he would have adapted to the tribe switch by guaranteeing Susie that she would be in the final 3 (of course, making this guarantee would mean that he’d have to break his word to Corinne and Charlie). Unfortunately, Marcus didn’t know how to adapt and he continued to believe mistakenly that he was in a position of power.
A good contrast is Matty. Matty was in a good position but once the tribes switched, he became vulnerable. He realized this and made sure that he won the immunity challenge. Matty adapted and Marcus didn’t.
Crystal wins my award for Best Hot Mess of the Year!
I absolutely love you, Probst!! Survivor wouldn’t be half as awesome without you. And next week is amazing? CAN’T WAIT THEN! Last years four-week-blinside period was the best ever!
Here’s how I see things playing out (of course, I won’t know who wins immunity challenges from here on out):
Corinne, Randy, Bob, Matty, Sugar, Kenny, Crystal, Susie are left. Corinne finds herself in a uneasy alliance with Randy and Bob. Kenny, Crystal and Susie are tight, with Matty and Sugar still in their alliance.
The Corinne group’s goal is to create dissension in the other group. But because they have to turn 2 players to get a majority (which is impossible), the only strategy is to have Kenny’s group cannibalize one of their one. The smart tactic would be to argue that Sugar needs to be voted out because she has the idol.
Kenny’s group, on the other hand, needs to realize that they don’t need to flush out the idol just yet so they can take their time in picking off Corinne’s group. I think Randy is the next to go — Crystal and Sugar don’t like him and Randy simply doesn’t have the social skill to pull a blindside.
Jeff,
Your blogging has made this the best season yet. I’m not sure which I like best, the show or getting the inside gossip from you. This season has been fascinating and everyone I thought might win has been blown out of the water. Question – from your blog it sounds as if you are falling for Corinne they way you did Julie… well?
Love your blogs Jeff, keep ‘em coming!
Hi Jeff – nice dedication to Rudy’s wife. Loved the golf challenge. The alpha male bickering was hilarious. Nice to see Crystal being helpful in a competition.
It is really getting predictable and boring. Charlie was gone in the get go. The producers are punishing strategy for dumb luck. Survivor is really no brains strategy, just be there with no thinking needed.
Jim Nantz look out! Probst for CBS’s Masters Coverage!