Survivor Tocantins: Episode 1 Discussion Thread

[dr.strangelove]

First a couple of rules. If you are new to discussing the show here, we don't like to discuss spoilers. So if you know something that has not yet happened, please don't talk about it here. Spoilers, for my threads, means anything not released by CBS in either the airing of the episode or a preview of a future episode. If we limit discussion to those things, we will be fine.

Now, onto discussion of the first episode. Overall, it was a great start. I felt bad for Sierra. I feel like the little females are always at a disadvantage, but then I remember how Amanda and Parv walked over everyone in the game, and think, you can do it, just try harder. Sandy is the best thing to happen top survivor since Sue HAwk. She better stay around. She is so annoying and dumb that I have to watch. she is a train wreck. I first thought it was smart for Sandy to look for the idol since she was clearly the one to go first. Then we found out that she does not know what a pace is and also does not know what a stick in the sand looks like, so she may have wasted time that could have been used more effectively. Sierra did a good job to change the team's opinion of her. She kicked ass at the challenge and I hope she stays.

I love that they went back to the old, jump out of the truck and get your gear. Also, I love Probst. I have to admit it. He is so freaking corny, but so cool about being corny. I'm not sure anyone else could pull off hosting this show. First impressions, Ben is going to get cut unless he changes his I'm better than you attitude. Spencer is so young it hurts to watch him. I hope he lasts, but now I am re-thinking my pick in the Pool. I love the initial vote. It reveals who people are right away. Its a good twist. I thought they were going to switch tribes with two, but how it worked out was SO much better for TV.

Can I just say again that Sandy may be the most entertaining player ever. Its hard not to be mean, but HOW DUMB IS SHE? My wife was joking that she was not looking for an individual palm tree but a type of tree called a "Loanpalm Tree." She pictured her saying, "we've got elms, maples and oaks back home, what does a loanpalm look like." That she did not know what a pace was made it even better. Also, how did she miss the giant stick in the ground. Wow, I hope she stays, because that will be fun to watch.

I was feeling bad for the jalapeno tribe. By the way, I am going to call Jalapao the Jalapeno Tribe this season. That is just too funny to let go. I think Sandy is going to guide a great deal of my posts while she is around. She is a gem. Anyway, my early pick for best player not to win this year is JT. He is young, strong, smart, skilled and appears educated. So he will make it to the last vote before the end and get stabbed in the back. I also gotta give me wife props. when Carolina said, remember the compass faces north, my wife said, that girl is going to be the first to go. Man she was annoying.

On the other side, Timbira looks better early on. Erinn is not gonna last, but she is a babe. I've got a crush on her. She is the mean girl this season. Brendan better watch out how much he pushes the Sarge with his fat jokes. Sarge can kick his ass. Coach Ben is going to piss me off this season. I like Tyson early on. anyone who drops his pants and dives in is alright by me.

The challenge was not as hard as prior ones to start. I thought it was meant to show that the first choice on weakness is not the obvious choice. Sandy looked great in putting the stairs together. She may be dumb when it comes to paces and palm trees, but she worked her ass off and knew how to find puzzle pieces. Sydney and Spencer lost that challenge. I mean how hard was it to move through the maze.

Overall, I am happy Carolina went home. Though I will miss her cute smile, her annoying habits were what doomed her. Great start. Its a good group again and I love that Survivor does not try to shake things up too much.

[Demit]

1. I have to say I didn't think Sandy would be much good at puzzles.

I fully expected her to be stumped by how to fit a step with two holes onto three pegs. I also thought her decision was dumb to not spend at least a LITTLE time working on the camp before those folks arrived after 4 hours of walking in the hot sun carrying heavy stuff. She might be crazy (and I can't stand people who self-describe as crazy) but she's stupid, too. LOL! Sugar, she ain't. She only made it through the first round b/c someone was worse ("I'm very direct & sometimes that comes across as whiney"? Say what?) At my age I'm usually sympathetic to the geezers, but not this one.

Sierra did the exact right thing, by pitching in & not wasting time feeling sorry for herself, and it worked. Tribes pay attention to who works around camp & that matters, at least in the beginning when everyone's still forming opinions, before strategic decisions start to kick in. I too like the Alabama cattle rancher right off the bat, he wasn't so quick to stereotype others as were Tyson (another look at me, I'm so eccentric! type, bleh, sorry I picked him) and the corporate consultant. And yup, Ben's pretty full of himself already, isn't he? I love seeing those guys get their comeuppance.

But, it's early days, and there's plenty that can happen to temper first impressions. Hope this Survivor is even half as good as last season's was!

[dr.strangelove]

3. Thats funny

Sugar she ain't. Its a good start. Tyson sure does like attention focused on him. I thought it was great how he stripped down. Nothing like nudity to get people to look at you.

[lpbk2713]

2. I agree re Sandy.

She'll probably dig up the whole beach before she figures out what a 'pace' is. They should have planted a clue just for her to tell her to look for a left-handed monkey wrench. I think Sandy digging on the beach without any results will be her downfall. She will be discovered eventually and then she will be gone. I really like Sierra and wish her all the best.

[dr.strangelove]

4. Was the idol only good for the first tribal?

I thought taht note said that the idol was only good for the first tribal. I wonder. If she gets caught looking for qan idol she can't use, what an idiot.

[lpbk2713]

5. I just checked the CBS/Survivor website because I wasn't sure.

Link: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/video/video.php?cid=994856103&pid=Ri_MDwB3HjS3G6rIcYlTaUl34heT_QjT&category=editorial&play=true

About 16 minutes into the replay it did indeed say it would guarantee immunity for Jalapao's first council only.

:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:

[dr.strangelove]

6. Wouldn't it be funny if she got caught

looking for it and she could not even use it.

[Duer 157099]

7. I didn't realize the idol was only for the first tribal

I thought that, if she was worried about being voted off, and if she were smart, would be to do what others in the past have done - "leak" it that you found the idol. She could have done that, shown the first clue as proof, but play coy and not show the actual idol (or make one, like last season). First clue was useless to anyone else since she found the plaque buried (which she should have promptly reburied elsewhere for safekeeping.

And, when confronted about her "age" being the reason she was voted off, why didn't anyone bring up last season's winner, eh? It's as though they didn't even watch it.

I'm glad the whiney voice got booted, it was just annoying to listen to her.

[romana]

8. First episode

My contestant for the game flew pretty far under the radar last night. :)

Sandy got saved last night by Carolina's obnoxiousness and her own ability to solve that puzzle pretty effectively. Too bad she can't apply those problem solving skills to finding the immunity idol. I caught immediately that it was for the first tribal council only, and thought she was crazy for looking for it. If it had been a blanket immunity idol she'd have been crazy not to look for it, but if it was a choice between making a good impression on her teammates and finding an idol that would only keep her in the game for a few more days at best, she should have built a shelter or something. Sierra had the right idea. Also, Sandy was unbelievably stupid about the clues to the hidden immunity idol--it was a little mind-blowing, actually.

I thought I'd like Ben a whole lot more than I do, based on his description. So far he's coming across as completely obnoxious and arrogant. Liked Sarge a lot, and I think he'll go far. Tyson used the Richard Hatch Nudity Ploy to good effect. :D

Carolina is no big loss. It looked to me like she stood around trying to look cute, and gave everyone orders. No great loss there.

[Qanisqineq]

9. Sandy, Sandy, Sandy

I felt so bad for Sandy and Sierra getting voted "off" right away. That has to be pretty demoralizing. I too thought they would end up switching tribes. Sierra should have kept her mouth shut about having strep; IMO it wouldn't help her tribe understand (as she hoped) but would instead make me feel like voting her off even more. By the way, how could she have a fever of 102 and still be allowed on the show? I would think they would tell her no and put on an alternate. They would have to know she is on antibiotics and all. Anyway, good for her for working on the camp when she got there. I had strep more times than I could count (until the tonsillectomy) and would have been useless.

When Sandy decided to look for the immunity idol down by the beach, my first thought was "bring some water back!" I believe it was the red tribe that didn't grab any water from the truck and they could have at least had it up there if they got a fire going. It would have been something. Or pile up some fire wood. I can understand being hesitant about building a shelter, there is usually so much arguing over where and how to build it. She didn't know what a pace was? Jeez. She had me shaking my head for much of the episode.

As usual, I can't keep people straight the first few episodes so can't comment on others much. I do know who Coach is and found him arrogant and annoying. I don't know the name of the guy with the southern accent but I call him Hickory -- he sounds like a guy on Last Comic Standing that was from Hickory. (Can you tell how bad I SUCK WITH NAMES?) I chose Brendan for the contest but I didn't see much of him. I apparently missed his teasing Sarge about the weight, not a nice thing to do.

[Vinca]

10. That was an entertaining episode. Poor dumb Sandy, though.

She doesn't know what a "pace" is? I'm kind of regretting my Fishbach pick for a winner. They guy looks like a weenie. Oh well . . .