Category: survivor micronesia

A tribe shuffle threw a wrench into the game in Survivor: Micronesia Episode 5. I still have to figure out who’s on what tribe. What I do know is that the favorites on Malakal went stupid and voted out a potentially big contributor in favor of the weakest person in the game, with Joel singing his swan song. In the dumbest challenge design I’ve seen since the crushed hand incident in Survivor South Africa: Malaysia, multiple people were injured, most notably Jonathan, who had a stick puncture his leg.

Tracy tries to convince Erik he’s the next to go. I wonder if he’s dumb enough to believe this. Then again, Cirie is trying to keep the weakest members of the tribe so she doesn’t go herself, so maybe this will be the plan. They’re hoping to find someone to flip. Ami is the only real outcast on the other side.

Eliza and Jonathan are happy to be on a new tribe. They’re not at all above going against the favorites, who would have been quick to vote them out anyway.

The reward challenge is for two native Micronesians to come to camp and help them learn. Natalie sits out for Airai, as Jonathan insists he’s good to go. First they must swim out then toss bundles of wood to be carried back to the beach. When they get the wood back, they need to start building. They have 10 minutes to build a blockade in the other tribe’s tunnel. Once they’re done, they switch sides and tear down what the other tribe has built. Now they need to get through the blockade the other tribe just created. Malakal gets off to a lead while Airai struggles to get through. Despite the early lead, though, Airai comes from behind to win reward. They send Chet to exile island. I think I get the theory now: send someone weak up against one of your stronger guys. Jason goes to exile for Airai.

Immediately after the challenge, the doctor comes in to take a look at Jonathan’s knee. She tells him it needs antibiotics and surgical washout. It won’t be a quick fix. She warns him that it’s potentially fatal if it goes into his bloodstream. With that information, he agrees to go to the hospital, and he’s out of the game.

Malakal’s surprised that Chet was useless in the challenge (again). Unlike the other favorites who are bashing the fans, Ami doesn’t feel secure with the favorites, so she offers herself up to the fans to give them a majority.

Ozzy really hopes Jason finds the fake idol. Chet’s whining about his foot hurting, so he’s not going to search for the idol, but Jason will search. He finds… a stick.

Having won the natives for the night, Airai gets a feast.

Jonathan is doing fine now, but he’s definitely out of the game. This brings the tribes even at 7. Jason tells the others at the immunity challenge that Ozzy has discovered the idol. Nonetheless, Jason appears to believe that the stick is an idol. Did he learn nothing from last season? In the challenge, tribes must move their teams across the water with two poles. Instead of using two poles and going from one to the next, Airai instead decides to carry Eliza and Parvati across using just one pole. Good thing they have big man James. Malakal can’t copy the strategy. Too bad they don’t have Joel any more. Airai blows Malakal out of the water to win immunity.

Chet, who’s been saved repeatedly thanks to the stupidity of both of his tribes, tells his tribe to vote him out because he’s too injured to go on. Erik hopes he’ll stick with them one more time to blindside Ozzy, who won’t use the idol because he won’t see the immediate need. Chet says he’ll think about it.

At tribal council, Ozzy says he’s not the one going home tonight, so who has the idol doesn’t matter. He says if Chet doesn’t go home tonight, he himself has no business being there.

Votes
Chet
Chet
Chet
Chet

The favor they could have done themselves by getting rid of Ozzy and his idol is huge, but they’re in such danger in the challenges now that there’s not much choice here.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 7 Like a Wide-Eyed Kid in the Candy Store, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

The favorites continued to struggle for power within their own tribe in Survivor: Micronesia Episode 4, but in the end, it didn’t end up mattering because they won immunity, sending the fans back to tribal council. Rather than booting off the weakest link, the fans turned on Mikey because the weaker members of the group plus Joel considered him a threat. Over on exile island, Ozzy managed to find the hidden idol, lamely replacing it with a fake.

Jason’s disappointed that his tribe didn’t make the right decision, keeping Chet in the game. Chet’s plan is to get rid of Jason next. At what point does their strategy resemble actual… strategy? At this point it’s all about living to fight lose another day.

The favorites are getting ready to kill a chicken. The guys find this all quite amusing, while the girls scream.

Ozzy hides his idol, although I really don’t know why he hides it in a random place rather than keeping it within his possessions (people will snoop in that case, but they probably won’t take it). He also runs the risk of some twist screwing him over, or of Jeff Probst merely waking them up at 5am one morning and telling them they have 5 minutes to pack. He doesn’t want to show anybody the idol, but he tells James, Parvati, and Amanda, who should know from experience better than to let the idol go to your head.

Jeff says the words you probably don’t want to her pre-merger: “Drop your buffs.” Ozzy and Natalie have been randomly selected as the captains. Here’s the bad news. I actually have to learn the names of the tribes. At least I learned there’s somebody named Natalie in this game, though.

The captains get to choose the first person from the opposite tribe, and the tribes keep going back and forth, with each person who was previously picked getting to make the next choice (favorites choose fans and vice versa).

Malakal: Ozzy, Amanda, Cirie, Ami, Joel (aka Troy), Erik, Tracy, and Chet

Airai: Jonathan, James, Parvati (aka Poverty), Eliza, Alexis, Natalie, Jason, and Kathy

Now it’s time for a challenge, which is for a feast. Nobody will be heading to exile. It’s a race through a maze. Teams will rotate as people trying to chase and those being chased. Joel and Erik score as chasers for Malakal. Eliza and Parvati score for Airai (Parvati busts up her lip). Ami and Amanda score for Malakal (Ami injures her leg). Jonathan and Alexis score for Airai (Jonathan injures his knee), so the score is tied at two. It’s sudden death. Parvati and Eliza are the first couple to avoid being captured, as they outrun Joel and Chet (Chet hits his head… Joel says he doesn’t care), winning reward for Airai.

Joel, who made the stupid decision of getting rid of Mikey, is still stuck with Chet. Ozzy’s not happy about it either. Chet tells us about how chickens peck the weakest one until they’re killed.

Eliza’s not happy when she arrives since the fans haven’t done a very good job with their home. James is thinking along those same lines.

Following his challenge injury, Jonathan is limping around. A stick went into his leg, making a puncture wound. The medics come in and stitch him up, but they warn that he may become infected.

Ozzy wants to drop Chet first. Joel prefers to get rid of Cirie first. Both know that somebody needs to flip.

Favorites are taking control over at Airai, making quick work of improving the camp.

Amanda grabs a 4 foot shark that’s stuck in the net, giving Malakal a good meal that should put them on equal footing with the other tribe.

The immunity challenge is a combination rock throwing/puzzle challenge. Tribes will first throw rocks to break tiles and free puzzle pieces. Ozzy takes a lead for Malakal, and Tracy makes it two. Jonathan gets one for Airai. Erik takes out the fourth for Malakal, and they’re ready to work on the puzzle. Airai’s getting screwed by an apparently poorly designed challenge. They keep hitting the tiles, but they’re not breaking (Probst tells us that James, the biggest Survivor ever, isn’t throwing hard enough). They do finally get all their puzzle pieces, though, and despite the slow start, Airai is the first to solve the puzzle and wins immunity.

Joel and Erik don’t want to keep Chet around, whether they give up the numbers or not, simply because he’s going to make them keep losing. Joel’s in line with the Chet then Cirie then Tracy plan.

The concept of getting rid of the weak is a problem for Cirie because she knows she’s useless to the tribe as well. She plots with Tracy and Chet to get rid of Joel, then she pitches the idea to Ozzy and Amanda. Joel is dangerous in the longer term, but it’s way too early for playing with that thinking.

Votes
Joel
Chet
Chet
Joel
Joel
Joel
Joel

Wow. I expected this type of stupidity from the fans, but I’m surprised the favorites fell for it. Granted, by favorites, we are talking about the likes of Ozzy, who had 0 strategy last time.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 6, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Cirie, the one nobody could care less about the first week, went on a power trip in Survivor: Micronesia Episode 3. I still haven’t yet figured out what her point was, but she got her way, and the favorites voted out Yau-Man.

The fans are still concerned that Chet’s useless. I don’t know why they didn’t get rid of him when they had the chance.

Eliza’s struggling on her camp and feels really sick. James is pissed off that they got rid of Yau-Man just because Cirie said so. He and Ozzy just go right up to Eliza’s face and tell her they should have gotten rid of her instead.

The challenge is a diving challenge. Teams will dive for coconuts to get ten lettered coconuts, which will then be used to spell out a word. Reward is three egg-laying chickens and a rooster. Chet sits out for the fans. Ozzy’s got a strategy of moving a bunch of coconuts at the same time, which gives the favorites an early lead, which they never look back from. James solves the puzzle (he can’t believe it either), and favorites win reward. Kathy gets sent to exile island again (and again I ask why?), along with Ozzy.

An interesting point is raised. Kathy couldn’t care less about finding the idol (again). Kathy says she appreciates learning from the favorites, though, and wishes she was on their team. Ozzy manages to find the hidden immunity idol, which is apparently not that difficult to find (shocker) and something that Kathy could have easily found by now if she actually tried. Ozzy decides to make a fake idol. Dude, we’ve seen this plot before. More than once.

Eliza approaches Parvati to see if they’ll get rid of Jonathan instead, who we learned during his season was a rat. Parvati knows better than anyone else Jonathan can’t be trusted, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll make a move just yet.

6 people from each team will be locked up and need to find the keys to unlock themselves. Fans sit out Tracy. Favorites are locked up first and get off to a 3-0 lead of people unlocked. Favorites are first to be all unlocked and must from there head to a course, where they will figure out how to maneuver to collect necklaces. Fans finally get unlocked, behind by 4 necklaces. From there, they hand off the necklaces to the two remaining teammates, who will solve a letter puzzle. Favorites win immunity. It’s never even close.

Mikey B wants to work with Joel for now… until such time as he has to stab him in the back. Chet’s closest allies try to talk to him, but it’s obvious he’s already checked out from this game. Tracy’s not willing to give up that easily, though. She’d rather support him, despite the fact that he’s a liability, so that she can have the numbers she needs (not that she has the numbers to begin with, nor will keeping Chet around help her to get them). Chet expects to be booted out tonight, but Tracy tries to convince Joel to get rid of Mikey while he has the chance.

Jeff Probst asks the question at tribal council who hasn’t been pulling their weight in challenges, and Chet raises his hand.

Votes
Chet
Chet
Mikey
Mikey
Chet
Mikey
Mikey
Mikey

Wow. That’s uh. Wow. While it is true he was indeed going to stab someone in the back eventually, I don’t get what purpose Chet serves, particularly since he’s already given up.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 5 He’s a Ball of Goo, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

The fans were still trying to get it together in Survivor: Micronesia Episode 2. After they lost the challenge, it looked like a pretty obvious choice: get rid of the weakest link. Instead, with Joel’s blatant taking of control, they decided to get rid of Mikey’s biggest ally, Mary, because Joel didn’t like that Mikey seemed to be in control. Over on the other camp, life was good, and there was more than one pair that needed to get a room.

Mikey immediately knows who’s to blame. He’s unimpressed with the strategy of not voting out the weakest players.

Eliza, who they were talking about getting rid of not long ago, decided to go along with an invitation from the couples to take a walk with them, as they want her to join their side. They’re discussing taking out the weakest ones (Yau-Man and Cirie). She listens but doesn’t trust them at all. Cirie, meanwhile, is trying to make a decision between the two camps as to which one suits her better.

In preparation for the challenge, the tribes get warpaint. It’ll be a battle because they’re allowing all sorts of physical contact here. Favorites are playing for shelter, lighting kit, and survival kit. Fans are playing for fishing kit, shelter, and kitchen set. Tribes will charge from their endzone to the opposing endzone in an effort to get 5 of the 6 bags in the endzone, and the other team is allowed to steal bags even after they’re in the endzone. It quickly becomes a wrestling, shoving, and tackling match. Not shy of going after the women, Erik dumps Amanda over his head, causing James to get up and get him to see how he likes dealing with people three times his size. It’s back and forth, but in the end, favorites win 5-2. They send Kathy and Ami to exile island. Kathy’s not happy about going there again, but Ami’s looking forward to it.

Cirie says she doesn’t feel relaxed and needs to keep scrambling. It’s real simple. She needs to pick a side, and pick the right one at that. If she doesn’t, she could end up like Christy from Survivor: Amazon. She has a chat with Amanda and Parvati, who say they’d lose against James or Ozzy in a second in the finals, which is true, although that didn’t prevent Amanda from dragging Todd along multiple too many times in China.

Even though she found all four clues already, Kathy doesn’t care and lets Ami look for clues as if she doesn’t know where they are. Kathy couldn’t care less about finding the idol. Due to the weather, they decide to abandon their searching anyway.

The fans are uncomfortable in the rain, but the favorites have the perfect cover for this weather and couldn’t be more comfortable. The struggle continues overnight, and the fans wake up demoralized.

The bad news for the fans is that they must now head to the immunity challenge. Tribes will hold on to a rope net, while members of the other tribe shoot coconuts into it. Jonathan refuses to shut up, an easy way to make some enemies on the other tribe. It’s becoming more and more obvious that the fans are going to win this, and they do.

Jonathan insists on taking out Parvati. The couples are discussing Yau-Man, since Cirie wants him out. However, they’re not so sure, and they try to convince her about Eliza. Cirie has a discussion with Jonathan and his alliance, and she makes it apparent she doesn’t trust the bonds between them. Everybody starts to get concerned that Cirie’s voting Yau-Man, no matter what, which appears to be true. If she keeps this up, they’ll be more willing to risk a tie in the next vote by just getting rid of her. Lucky for her, though, more than one person seems dead set against a tie. Jonathan’s got a hope that voting as a block for Parvati will be able to overcome the other side that’s arguing on how to vote.

Jonathan and Cirie continue their spat at tribal council. She tells him she doesn’t trust him.

Votes
Parvati
Yau-Man
Yau-Man
Parvati
Cirie
Yau-Man
Yau-Man
Yau-Man

Yau-Man has been eliminated. By taking such an unnecessarily strong stance, I’m not real clear how Cirie did herself any favors, or for that matter what she was trying to prove. She’s set herself up to go far, but I can’t figure out why anybody would actually trust her going forward.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 4 That’s Baked, Barbecued, and Fried, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

There was a lot of plotting and scheming in Survivor: Micronesia Episode 1, and it was all fairly interesting. Then Jonny Fairplay, who both sides on the favorites camp tried to bring in as a fifth member, stepped forward to be a quitter, and, well, that all went out the window.

Even though they won the challenge and have flint (but are struggling to get fire), the fans are still in chaos and learning what the heck they’re doing. To be expected, but it still gives the favorites a leg up. In addition to all their other problems, there’s a generation gap forming, with Tracy, Chet, and Kathy being shunned.

Ozzy and Amanda are getting closer. He wants to stay away from her, though, because if he doesn’t, he’ll have a giant target on his back (dude, you’ve already got a giant target on your back, but at least this time you’re socializing with someone). Amanda’s worried about this screwing up her game. She didn’t have to worry about this last time and played a great game. It will be interesting to see what impact a relationship has.

After wasting a lot of their flint, the fans finally make fire. They claim now that they’re more unified. Once that’s said, Joel makes it known he wants to get rid of the three outsiders.

Mikey B is flirting with Mary, giving hope for another possible relationship.

Cirie hears the sounds of jungle love during the night. This scares her about the couples. Interestingly, nobody has to even approach her, as she’s taking it upon herself. Jonathan’s also up, and they start to chat. This should make for a solid 5 to compete with the couples, but ultimately, Cirie is the power player since nobody bothered to approach her before.

The favorites get applause from the fans for taking out Fairplay. It’s an immunity/reward challenge. Immunity, fishing gear, and exile island up for grabs (yeah, the damn hidden immunity idol’s still alive). Kathy sits out. The challenge is largely about swimming. Ozzy takes a quick lead over Jason. Ozzy’s lead is pretty much maintained, until Chet can’t find his key in the water, giving the other team a huge lead. It’s obvious this challenge is over. Jonathan screws up and is unable to find his key as well, but it’s still not enough. Once they get five keys, they need to work on opening a chest with five locks. Probst tries to convince us the fans are still in it. Once the chest is open, they then need to solve a puzzle, a map of Micronesia. Favorites win immunity and reward. They send Kathy to exile… why? Now the favorites must choose someone from their own tribe. Cirie volunteers.

Here’s the really odd thing. Cirie and Kathy are working together. They get the first clue. Kathy gets the second clue and shares it with Cirie. Cirie finds the third clue and shares it with Kathy. So then they get a fourth clue. As much as they’re complaining about it being a workout, it doesn’t seem that difficult to find clues. Of course, if there are 100 clues, maybe it’s harder than they’re letting on.

Chet’s performance in the immunity challenge is problematic. But instead of just running with this obvious plan, Mikey comes up with the theory of worrying about the hidden idol and splitting up their votes. Joel is not happy with Mikey.

Joel starts talking to the others about how he doesn’t put it past him to stab someone in the back. Instead of taking out Mikey, he wants to take out his closest ally, Mary. Ironically, this gets people to thinking that Joel’s trying to take too much control.

Kathy has the idol she got at the beginning of last week. She’ll obviously use it.

Jeff takes some time to point out the obvious: Chet sucked at the challenge.

The fans have two shelters, one for the seven and one for the other three. Wow, this is pitiful.

Votes
Chet
Chet
Tracy
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary

Impressive blindside by the fans.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 3 I Should Be Carried on the Chariot-Type Thing, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Jeff Probst recently said that Survivor: China was the season that saved the series and allowed it to continue beyond this season, and I’ll have to agree. They seriously botched the few seasons before that with bad casting and lame twists (just to get it out of my system now, the following twists still suck always have sucked: exile island, hidden immunity idol, final three instead of final two), and acknowledging that is hopefully a good sign. Given what they’ve put together this year, I think it’s pretty safe to assume we’re still on the right track. While some of the people cast as favorites are questionable at best, I like the fans vs. favorites concept because it ensures that not only do we get people who have seen the show and thorougly enjoy it, but we also get some good quality former contestants as well.

Before getting into the first live blog of the season, in case you missed it, check out the Survivor: Micronesia cast. I’m most looking forward to Eliza, Amanda, and James, although I don’t expect much out of James, despite the fact that he’s likeable. I’ll be interested in seeing what new lie Jonny Fairplay tells to top the dead grandmother. Hate him or hate him, you can’t do this season without Fairplay. Parvati’s very dangerous, and so is Ami if she doesn’t get ahead of herself. I hope Ozzy’s looked up “strategy” in the dictionary before embarking on this season, and Jonathan’s hopefully looked up “good strategy” or at least “strategy that doesn’t suck”. Cirie’s a non-entity but may go far as a result. I could go either way on Yau Man. What are your thoughts on the returning favorites?

The fans are completely unaware they’re playing against the favorites. When they do find out, they run the risk of being star struck or having preconceived opinions. That definitely helped Stephenie the second time she played, even though Bobby Jon couldn’t get his two brain cells to cooperate to get him further than being the first member of the jury.

Erik thinks he’s the new Ozzy. Joel thinks he’s the new James, except bigger. Kathy loves Yau Man. Tracy wants to kick Jonny Fairplay (who’s wearing a “Will Lie 4 Food” hat), but she’ll have to get in line behind Jeff Probst.

There are two hidden individual immunity idols, one for each tribe, which can only be played the first time they go to tribal council. If only these were the last hidden idols, I’d be good with them. It’s a race across the water. Jonny Fairplay gets there first but grabs the wrong one. Yau Man tackles him into the side of the boat to get the right one. Fairplay’s probably going to sue. Then Yau Man points out the other idol to Kathy, allowing her to get her team’s idol.

The fans tribe is named Airai. They’re looking forward to playing against their favorite players, particularly since they know their game, or so they think.

Kathy’s confused by the concept of gay people, which may not bode well for her relationship with Chet. She’s also quick to tell Tracy she’s never seen implants. Nobody’s happy Kathy’s immune.

The favorites tribe is named Malakal. They believe they have an advantage since they know how the game works. Jonny Fairplay wants to bring home the bacon for his pregnant girlfriend. James is pleased because this time he’s actually got people pitching in, since they know what they’re doing this time. Parvati’s still a flirt but says she plans to form good alliances as well. James likes her because she’s one of those sex kitten type girls. This combined with Amanda and Ozzy getting along well has Eliza concerned.

Unlike the favorites, who seem to be progressing well, the fans take too long getting their shelter up, and they pay the price for it when the rain starts.

Eliza, Ami, Yau Man, and Jonathan decide to form a group, in an effort to fend off the couples. I’d expect some bad blood between Eliza and Ami after last time, and I think we all know Jonathan can’t be trusted. The choice for a fifth comes down to Fairplay or Cirie. Jonathan wants Fairplay, but Fairplay is approached by Ozzy and Parvati first. Granted, it’s Jonny Fairplay. Jonathan wants Parvati out before Ozzy, while the other group wants Eliza out first. Then the other alliance approaches Fairplay, too. Hard to tell what he’ll do. And Cirie? Apparently, nobody wants to be bothered with her. Don’t know why. She’s a vote with the ability to be loyal.

Yau Man learned from Michelle in Fiji that his glasses could start a fire, and he uses that same technique this time to get something going for the favorites.

At the challenge, the favorites don’t hesistate rubbing their success in the faces of the fans, who don’t buy it, or at least don’t want to buy it. It’s a combination between a puzzle challenge and a lot of physical work. First, they must assemble four wheels and put them on a cart. Fans get their cart together first. The favorites are disastrous, and even after they get their cart together, they wipe out, taking Eliza down (she’ll have a bump on her head, but she should be okay). After their cart’s ready, they need to get it through an obstacle, which is followed by a bridge they must build with planks. The next test is to finish a turnstyle with the wheel pieces. It’s never even close, and the fans win immunity and flint.

Cirie doesn’t have a plan, and for that matter has no idea that everybody else has allies. Whoever tries to pull in Cirie is smart because she’ll go with whatever plan will save her.

Parvati and Fairplay come up with a plan to pretend Fairplay’s going home. He tells Ami, but she doesn’t trust him. Now might be a good time to remember that Cirie’s on the island.

The favorites believe they were too overconfident, and that’s why they lost the challenge.

Fairplay’s using the Dr. Will strategy. Go ahead. Vote me out. I dare you. But is it strategy, or does he really want to go home because he’s having a baby?

With his idol, Yau Man’s safe. Not that he was in danger.

Votes:
Fairplay
Fairplay
Fairplay
Fairplay
Fairplay
Fairplay

Now that Jonny Fairplay’s the first person out (damn, what a waste of a spot), I’ve got just one word for the rest of the tribe: Cirie.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 2 The Sounds of Jungle Love, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

While some are quick to point out that Survivor’s ratings are fading (Survivor: China, the best edition of the franchise in years, marked the first increase in viewers from a previous season since Palau), it’s still one of the top 20 shows on TV 8 years after it premiered. With that in mind, Variety reports that CBS has renewed it for an additional two seasons through the 18th.

“‘Survivor’ is a show that defies ratings gravity,” CBS’ Ghen Maynard said. “It is truly remarkable feat to be winning your time period in all ratings categories after 15 editions.”

Jeff Probst will continue hosting, and casting has begun on Survivor 17.