First off, I want to thank all of the Survivor fans who voted for the People’s Choice nominations. Read the full post.
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Well, this has to be the best surviour I have watched. Russell is by far the best player I have ever seen. I love it, and can hardly wait for next week.
Russell deserves to win. It is so exciting watching him play this game.
I totally agree I hoping next week he takes them all out with fake idol. Tooo Funny
THAT. WAS. AWESOME. Okay, I totally respect Natalie after her rat triumph. Yes–she’s in it for real, and I also am SO glad that her sneaking out of the shelter as Russell approached was apparently NOT to share the news with Laura about HII #2. I was nervous. RUSSELL ROCKS!!!!! I got over my initial distaste after episode one, and really started to like him, but now–in the words of Jaison, “I’m really beginning to love that guy.” TOTALLY. Rooting for him so hard. And Shambo. I would love to see him and Shambo in the final two (or will it be a final three? Seems like maybe it will be with so many people kicking around at merge-time). Did you see Shambo’s game-face come out tonight? I did. I think she is DEFINITELY getting strategic. Her social skills are improving, and now that there are people she can actually work WITH, I think she’s gonna rock pretty hard in coming weeks. I hope so anyway. I would love to see Monica and John consider turning on Dave Ball since they BOTH urged him to consider a plan B in case Russell had another idol, and he poo-pooed that thought away. Well, he was as surprised as he said he’d be. Dum-dum. Jeff, I have to disagree with you on Laura’s cocky swagger. I find it to be such a turn-off, and I think her karmic return is not far off. I hope not, anyway. But aside from that I love ya! LOL. Thanks for the insight on your not mentioning the HII during recent tribals. It’s that kind of stuff that we’re really here for: ya know, the Probst Perspective. Can’t wait for next week! I hope that on top of a record number of people searching for the HII all at once, I hope there are a record number of fake idols planted throughout camp. That would be fun.
Great episode. With the monumental target he has on his back I’d be surprised if Russel can make it to the end. Even if the Foa Foans get the numbers I can’t imagine they’d keep him until the end realizing that he’d probably win the jury vote considering how well he’s played the game (I mean Eric was fist pumping for him at tribal). I just hope based on the previews for next episode that the next idol is hidden really well and not found, because it looked really lame all of them chasing Russel while he searches for the idol. Also, I’m not sure if Kelly was the right move. I’d of taken out Dave Ball who is probably the most strategic Galu player and the bridge between the male and female Galu members. Plus by taking out Kelly you make an enemy of Laura whom Natalie seemed to have some sway with before this latest vote. I can only guess they’re targeting Laura and her posse to please Shambo and further pull her into their alliance, but Shambo stopped being a Galu member a while ago.
On a Survivor-unrelated side note: I hear you read these commments sometimes Jeff. Great job on Celebrity Superfan Roundtable, hope you do it again soon.
I hope Russell sticks around. I think Foa Foa may need to keep their numbers (if they ever can get the upper hand) badly enough to hold onto him. And I don’t know if he’d really be a threat to anyone in the final TC–it seems most of the time no one on the jury has any respect for how anyone played the game. They’re just bitter and go for whoever was on their original alliance, or whoever is the lesser of two evils. So it will be interesting. Erik was fist-pumping because he got betrayed by the same people that Russell & Co. blindsided. So Russell might get HIS vote–but in the end if it’s a jury full of Galu members, I doubt any of them would vote for him out of “respect.” Though I am always wishing the votes were based more on that idea, and how well someone played the game.
Agreed x 1000! I was screaming at the TV – TAKE. OUT. DAVE! YOU IDIOTS!
At lease from my perspective – that which has been heavily edited by CBS – Dave is public enemy number 1 for Foa Foa. He’s calling the shots and his brain power seems to be the cause for the majority of Galu wins. I wonder how long it will take Foa Foa to figure this out…
Sorry, but Dave was the one who talked the rest of Galu to vote Russell instead of Natalie. John is a heck of a lot smarter than Dave. Dave’s a pretender!
Dave thinks he is smart, but totally blew Monica off when she suggested that Russell could have this plan. She was right and Dave’s an idiot.
It was all over Monika’s face at Tribal Council she was so guilty when really it was the rest of the tribe (or their respective “brain” in the body of Galu, Dave) who completely discounted her concern about the possibility of Russell having the immunity idol, as he had found in the past, without any direction whatsoever. Fool me once… The hustle was on in the preview for next week’s edition – they’ve apparently sent spies after Russel they’re not going to let him find it again. I wonder how that’s going to work since they can’t physically pry him from the objects he’s searching. I wonder what the survivor rules are for fighting over the immunity idol. Finder’s keepers or whoever muscles it into their possession wins?… Hah. Funny thought. It must be finder’s keepers in which case all they’d be doing is watching Russel find the idol yet again. Smarter then not to surveil him but just to start their own investigation for their beloved game saving prize in hopes of finding it before he does.
so, how long are the producers going to keep showing Russell where the immunity idol is?? sorry, but it is getting a tad bit obvious. to those of us with brains that is.
you mean people with brains who know they have to make the clues findable in order for that part of the game to be viable? that kind of brains?
I know the producers aren’t showing Russell anything. As Russell mentioned last night (and Jeff mentions here), you know that the Idol has to be hidden near certain landmarks because it’s what the clues will refer to. Russell picks a landmark and hunts around it and shortens the amount of time he spends looking for the Idol.
more like people who can form coherent sentences. those kind of brains. Good lord, if anyone actually believes Russell found those idols on his own and the cameras just HAPPENED to be there both times and the producers just HAPPEN to have a massive idiotic and utterly baffling love for the creep in question, then I have some swamp land to sell them. seriously.
Jeff,Would you swear on a stack of Bibles that Russel found all the idols without help from the crew?
Sara, The cameras follow them around ALL THE TIME. It’s a reality show, there are cameras there.
I thought it suspicious the first time he found the idol, if only because of he way the producers of Survivor were championing their new ratings savior, Evil Russell. Now, from what I’m hearing, they asked him (paid him?) to be on the next Survivor! Even if they didn’t “tell” that troll where the idols were, they certainly made it easy for anyone to find it. I’ve read in the blogs where every week watchers have no idea who: Kelly, John, and a few other players are? This is directly a consequence of giving sooo much face time/ air time to the psychopath.
With you 99% on this one. Means I give him a 1% chance that this hasn’t been scripted in his favor.
All it takes is a helpful nod from the boom mike guy. That and helpfully not hiding the idols all that well.
The immunity idols suck as a plot device anyway. And now that the cat’s out of the bag, they’ll have to get rid of them. Or find better hiding places.
jeff – you don’t know ahead of time if an idol is going to be played, right? i’m wondering how you arrange the parchments to cause so much suspense when they’re read. had russell not played it, you would’ve read all 7 russell votes in succession and the tribe would never have known that kelly was foa foa’s target. did you rearrange the parchments after the idol was played?
As reported by Jeff in an old interview…After the voting -the production staff lines up the votes in the “best” order so when Jeff finally reads them it will create tension and drama.There is a time out after the votes are cast and before Jeff reads them.
Yes, I noticed he carries the votes offscreen just before the final commercial break.
JEFF – PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS ONE.
Susanna- great question.
ery obvious for Years that the votes read by Jeff are strategically arranged in an order that will produce the most dramatic effect…Like, “DUH”!!
That’s true but they did that before the idol was played. Did they then go back and rearrange them after Russel played the idol?
Did the staff know that Russell would play the immunity idol and not give it to say, Natalie, who also seemed to be a target? How about the previous episode? Did they know Russell would play the idol and Erik would not play his idol?
DUH, paco … anyone with half a brain understands that jeff arranges the parchments. if he didn’t, the 7 galu votes would have been read last because they were the first ones in the container. if you read my question, you’ll see that what i’m asking is how he knew to put them in that order without knowing that russell was going to play the idol. if russell hadn’t played it, we would have never even heard kelly’s name.
Al I think that they had a good idea that Galu was going to vote for Russell, and that he was going to play his idol. Probably based on what the contestants were saying. That is why they put them in that order.
People – do you not watch the show? They always arrange the votes for dramatic effect! They also usually show the two names of the people being voted for. They showed no one this time! It was great!
Of course the staff knew he would play it they are filming it!
Yes, it’s clear the votes are always pre-arranged in the container for dramatic effect when Jeff reads them. And yes, the production staff knew Russell had the idol, BUT they had no way of knowing if he was going to play it or not. There were only two sets of names in the container. All Jeff had to do in the commercial break was to organize the votes into two piles – one all Russell and one all Kelly. If Russell had NOT played the idol, I’m sure Jeff has the brain cells and counting skills that he would be able to pull the votes out in an alternating manner (to create drama); and they’re also arranged so that if Russell DID play the idol, then Jeff can pull out all the Russell votes first to create the drama (as we saw.) Give Jeff some credit here — the man won an Emmy for best reality host, didn’t he?
Good question, though, Susanna.
Thank you to SURVIVOR for not “spoiling” Natalie’s rat kill. It was priceless. Yes, loving Russell more and more!!
Jeff, enough of the rat scene, an animal being killed, ok, but by an
“extremely attractive” woman, who cares? Trying to coax the Cinemax crowd? She’s just a broad, and it wasn’t a big thing. If anything, heartless on her part, she wasn’t starving. And it wasn’t like she was a broad scared of things.
Jeff, you are becoming too involved in the questioning of tribal, you are influencing them at this point. When you double questioned, Natalie, you bring outside ideas. You should be a sounding board, that’s it.
Russell deserves the win, hands down. And no Jeff, I never hated him or wanted him to lose, I thought he was playing the game from the beginning. It’s not a beauty contest, in spite of your comments about the female’s looks…
And I will say it’s about friggin’ time we had a contestant that was street smart, and scrappy…..enough with the brain smart, and the social ones…the people that make the money in this world do so because they know how to do it…….hence Russell.
Are you one of Jeff’s Exs’ Cathy?
He has been doing this for 19+ seasons’ “To Involved” “Sounding Board” Its called hosting! and she is “Extremely Attractive”….
Wow, is this your first season watching? Jeff is a master at stirring the pot and causing drama! And I am a straight female that also thought Kelly was hot!
It’s funny, but I’ve never really seen anybody react or take anything Jeff says into consideration in any kind of obvious way. And nothing’s ever been mentioned after the fact–like, “Well, when Jeff asked that question I KNEW I had to change my vote” or whatever. It always seems so obvious to me watching the show that OF COURSE he’s leading them right down the garden path if they’d just listen, but I think that’s the beauty of it all. Somehow they seem to miss everything. We see all the lead-up that the contestants aren’t privy to, and then we see ten minutes of what is a two-hour conversation at TC. I think Jeff knows what he’s doing by now.
Great episode Jeff! All the way from that Arkansas Cutie Natalie slaying the rat to The Strategic One once again proving he is the only one playing The Game. This episode should be nominated for an emmy!
How dare you question Jeff Probst! Seriously.
Nat is hot…. it draws in crowds. Its a no brainer… the only people that wouldnt like that sort of thing is probably fat chicks.
hush! genius has spoken……..
not.
John I didn’t like Cathy’s post and I don’t like yours either. There is no reason to insult a persons appearance.
Being a female, I am surprised that you could be so derogatory towards your own sex. How can you call her a broad, that is so insulting to another female. Its not the word so much, its how you used it. You went out of your way to insult her sex, not the person but her sex. Do you hate all women or just beautiful ones?
This statement is a response to Cathy’s post.
Fiona, you must be a FAT Broad. Natalie IS Hot, but I do like a little junk in the trunk. Not BBW mind you. Just what I like.
Just so you know I like Natalie as well. I hope either Mick or Natalie win it all.
I can respect liking skinny woman or men, but don’t see the point of insulting anyones appearance. What does it prove insulting someone, does you make the person feel superior. To me it makes a person very small and insecure.
I took it as complimentary towards females, such as she being a regular woman, killing a rat wasn’t a big deal, as a woman doing something like that is something a guy could do, etc. Hence why make such a big deal about it, as a man wouldn’t have gotten the same reaction. It’s all in how you view things, and I took the post as positive, not negative.
Sounds like someone is a little jealous of Natalie…get over yourself.
People are entitled to their opinion on this blog. Perhaps instead of disagreeing with a person and making ridiculous comments, people should make their own comments to Jeff…
Cathy -Jeff knows what he’s doing! I watch this show because Jeff is a master of this game and knows the questions to ask and the comments to make. He stirs the pot and points out their weaknesses. He’s just as much a part of this game as the hidden immunity idol, tribal council, starvation, and the rain. Without Jeff doing what he does the best, Survivor would not have lasted 19 seasons. Go Jeff – don’t listen to the haters! You are the best and still hot after all these years!
Russell has definatly grown on me a guy you love to hate no more!
That’s not Russell, that’s a tick!! Take a bath once it awhile, gheesh!
That would be one ugly blowhard tick.
Foa Foa eternal love!!
I didn’t like Russell the first couple of episodes, but I too like to root for the underdog, and I love to see blindsides. It is priceless to see faces turn from cocky to surprise to anger. I like that the idols are hidden at camp and made easily accessible. This way is better than exile island, in my opinion. I don’t know if foa foa will be able to swing Shambo. I don’t know if she would want to go into a tie-break situation.
so jeff likes laura being cocky but not any of the other players… interesting… trying to make another julie berry play?
This was definitely one of THE BEST Survivor episodes EVER!! I will admit that Russell finding those idols with no clues is pretty darn incredible, but, sorry, Jeff, he’s just never going to grow on me. He’s still a lying, creepy guy and I am still looking forward to the day he is FINALLY voted out!! He does bring excitement to the game, but I don’t want to see him win. I am all TEAM NATALIE!! She is great!!
Dave is just an arrogant idiot like Erik was. He should have listened to Monica and John with that “what if” scenerio” since Russell DID ene up finding the idol. I just wish that the idol was not being hidden again and just be done with the hidden immunity idol for this season. Next week should be interesting with them all chasing Russell to find it, though. GO NATALIE!!
The “what if” scenario would not have panned out. They had 7 votes, Foa Foa had 4. If you split 7 votes, for Russell, 3 for Natalie, 4 for Kelly, Kelly still goes. It did not make sense for them to split their votes, and if you feel that Russell is the bigger threat and could find the immunity if he sticks around, you have to make that vote. And honestly, what Russell did finding it without a clue is unprecedented, so who would have thought that he would find it again. I would not be surprised to find out that Russell is a geocacher, as he definitely seems to have the skill set that helps them in their hobby.
i was thinking the same thing about the splitting of votes, but what they could have done was pulled a surprise vote by voting for mick or jaison which hadn’t really crossed the foa foa’s minds. that way, russel plays the idol, 7 votes go for jaison, 4 votes go for kelly (or whoever)…jaison goes home.
Shambo would have told Russell if she knew.
I have to admit, I’m with you Probst… Russell is playing Survivor. I don’t know what everyone else is up to. I didn’t like him from the beginning but he has won me over with his intelligent scheming. He is definitely one sneaky snake!!! I just wish he wasn’t so sexist.
I laugh every single time you guys put up his name with Rocket Scientist next to it!! It’s giving me chuckles just thinking about it!
P.S. John is THE SEXiEST Rocket Scientist Ever
He’s no Rob C from Amazon or that little guy in China who won. All he did was find two idols and played them, that’s it. I’m not seeing what you morons are seeing, make because I watch it sober, I don’t know. But he’s not callin the shots or anything. He will go out next if he doesn’t find that HII. Sorry Russ fans, you lose!
i really hope you’re not referring to todd from china…that guy should never have won
Russell did call the shots, everyone he wanted out…are out unless they have immunity ofc=)