[Wizard.]

Oops, glad Julia went, thought it would be Julie for a second. RIP at the wasted idol

Is it just me or did Probst let it slip that two woman had found the immunity idol this season (Wentworth and Lauren) at the immunity challenge?

[Headie]

"You're such a passenger Rick"

Whew miss Julia snatched my wig! Sad she's gone. I really don't like this cast yet I'm enjoying the season for some reason.

Julie is a damn mess too, lowkey going off her

[reece(:]

Soccer mom can go along with R*ck and D*vid

[reece(:]

Next ep is a double boot in 1 hour

the worst kind of episode!

[JerseyWins]

These past two episodes have been back-to-back gold I’m living for this season

[Wizard.]

Originally Posted by Riley.

Oops, glad Julia went, thought it would be Julie for a second. RIP at the wasted idol

Is it just me or did Probst let it slip that two woman had found the immunity idol this season (Wentworth and Lauren) at the immunity challenge?

Don't ignore me I heard what I heard!

[reece(:]

Originally Posted by Riley.

Don't ignore me I heard what I heard!

Aubry found an idhal.

[Headie]

I'm rooting for Vicky (never thought I'd say that) and Aurora ONLY!

[Headie]

Originally Posted by Riley.

Don't ignore me I heard what I heard!

He said only women have won individual immunity this season

[Wizard.]

Originally Posted by Hayden

He said only women have won individual immunity this season

oh ty

[reece(:]

Tea, spilt

[reece(:]

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Okay, we’ve been seeing “live” Tribals for a few seasons now, but nothing like this. There’s so much that happened here that I don’t even really know where to begin or end, so why don’t you just take us through your observations as all this insanity was happening around you.
JEFF PROBST: I can never sense when a Tribal is going to become “live.” It typically happens in an instant. In this case I think a lot of factors were in play. Julie was wearing down emotionally, mostly because she doesn’t like lying to others and she certainly doesn’t like others lying to her. And I think it’s pretty clear that she was the accelerant for Tribal taking a turn. But everybody is exhausted. So why her and not someone else? Let’s dig a little deeper, and I hope that what I’m about to write does not offend anyone. I hope my armchair psychological assessment is taken at face value because I only mean it as a way to contrast personality types.

If you contrast Julie and Aurora you get a very clear illustration of one reason Survivor is compelling and maybe some further insight into why a Tribal can suddenly go “live” when a moment earlier it seemed fine. Julie is a wife and a mom with kids. She is missing them. She is exhausted and wears her emotions on her sleeve. So she is not as stable as she was on day one. This isn’t a surprise to the other players, nor to Julie. It’s just part of her makeup. Aurora, on the other hand, comes from a very different world. She comes from the foster care system. She has been on her own most of her life. She is a very strong woman who by necessity has learned to rely on herself to get through most things in life. As a result, her emotions are not as easily visible because she can’t allow them to be. Nothing is going to break her.

So, a blindside that betrays Aurora is simply more information she can use to determine who to trust and who not to trust. But a blindside that betrays Julie is received differently and can be the tipping point that ignites a major turning point in her gameplay. That’s why Tribal is so unpredictable. It’s not apples for apples. And once Tribal turns, watch out. It’s crisis time, and now everybody is on high alert. You saw it unfold the same way I did: one player at a time.

First, Julia tries to cover with Wentworth assuring her that they’re “still good.” Then Devens reads into that statement and sees an opportunity to push the story in a new direction. Now here comes Aurora with her more measured approach trying to stabilize the conversation and stop the bleeding. But Devens, David and Wardog jump on it. Now Julia senses the story starting to slip away and she does her best to squelch it by laughing at the entire notion. “You’re such a passenger, Rick.”

Every player has their own approach to the game, and that approach traces back to how they behave in life and especially in crisis. And the reason a situation like this becomes so dangerous is that the moment any desperate player can create real uncertainty… there are other smart players who will use that uncertainty to create more opportunity. By this point Tribal was off and running, and Julie was drowning in a growing ocean of uncertainty. It was a master class in very good Survivor players seizing a moment to ensure that this tribal became very live, because they knew that within the chaos there was opportunity.



TIMOTHY KURATEK/CBS
Who was the key cog in this vote to get Julia out? Was it Devens for bringing up the idea? The Wardog for aggressively pursuing Ron and Julie to make it happen? Or was it Julie that ultimately pulled the trigger by flat-out refusing to work with the Kama people that betrayed her at the last vote?
I honestly don’t know the answer to that question. I’ve watched that Tribal a few times, and I find something new every time. It’s like watching a social car crash in slow motion. You see every step as it unfolds, but you can’t really pinpoint which moment was the one that sealed the deal. I would guess that ultimately Julie had the say because the Lesu group knew she was the most emotional and the owner of the “live Tribal,” and in a case like that you just want to go with momentum and get to the vote as fast as you can.

As for Julia as a player, I think she was probably seen as a very big threat. She’s a very smart person with a sharp tongue, and that’s a dangerous combo. She can tie you up in circles if you get into an argument. The risk, however, is if that same sharp tongue angers the wrong person and Tribal goes live, you could be the one whose torch is snuffed.

One of my favorite scenes of the season was dinnertime back at camp before Tribal where you all just played the awkward silence for longer than I have ever seen before on this show. But while nothing was “happening” in that scene, I feel like in a weird way that spoke more about Survivor than a hundred different strategy sessions. How much of this game is just picking up on body language clues and changes in mood?
It’s huge. Players talk about it all the time. They notice when the conversation they’re used to having with a player suddenly changes. Or when a player returns to camp and suddenly things get quiet. Body language is a big one, as some people truly struggle with deception and they give it away. And that one great intangible… energy. It’s that feeling when you are talking to someone and you just sense something is off. You can’t pinpoint it, but you just know. You are certain: Something is different.

But without evidence you often fool yourself into believing that you’re just “overthinking it” and that “everything is fine.” I think that’s ultimately what players mean when they refer to their gut. Remember mood rings? They were supposed to tell you your mood by changing color. They were just a funny gimmick, but it’s the same idea: A change in your body chemistry is alerting you that something is wrong. Great players have a better sense of these types of things.

Things are heating up and I’m not sure I know where anyone stands. What can you tell us about next week?
Two people going home. Uh-oh.

.

[LukeB]

Out of 10 how good is this season?

I still need to watch 37

[Moniqua]

Lauren and Wentworth give me trumpie vibes so no fanks @ them

Julia robbed HARD

only rooting for Aurora now

[Headie]

Mutha Nat with a fan

[reece(:]

Ha tittie serving Claudette Hubbard realness

[Headie]

Originally Posted by reece(:

Ha tittie serving Claudette Hubbard realness

And ha face serving Bill Cosby

[reece(:]

Originally Posted by Hayden

And ha face serving Bill Cosby

Good bye

[Wizard.]

Originally Posted by reece(:

Ha tittie serving Claudette Hubbard realness

Originally Posted by Hayden

And ha face serving Bill Cosby

Wardog serving Trixie Mattell out of drag

[TomC]

Originally Posted by LukeB

Out of 10 how good is this season?

I still need to watch 37

If GI were a 4, DvG would be a 9, EoE would probably be a 7?

[Headie]

[JerseyWins]

Originally Posted by LukeB

Out of 10 how good is this season?

I still need to watch 37

It's better than David vs. Goliath which was also a good season

[reece(:]

Originally Posted by Hayden

She didn't lie

[starry]

There was a moment on the outcast island when we were giving footage of Chris fishing and I was thinking 'who is Chris?' That probably summed up the season. At least in other seasons those who don't get an edit and leave earlier aren't featured anymore.

A problem this season is there's been too much focus on the returnees who we already know to a degree and not enough on many of the others. It's better to not mix vets and newbies in a cast anyway.

[LemonJam]

Kama are low-key amazing and it sucks that they've had no edit pre merge (I assume because they wanted to go against the vets from the get go)

Just wanted to point out how boring these immunity challenges have been so far. All 3 have been essentially the same challenge, like did they massively cut the budget on challenges or what?