Thursday, May 21, 2009

Survivor Tocantins - Crush like Brush

Survivor is over and therefore the pool is too. I'm pleased to report that the winner is... ME! And JT, I suppose, but who really cares, right? Here are the final scores:

Pickett - 132 points
- JT (104)
- Taj (22)
- Sandy (6)

Bag - 75 points
- Stephen (44)
- Joe (7)
- Debra (24)

Alia - 56 points
- Spencer (6)
- Erinn (28)
- Coach (22)

Moon - 40 points
- Brendan (24)
- Candace (0)
- Sierra (16)

Doug - 36 points
- Jerry (0)
- Tyson (29)
- Sydney (7)

The points look a little different because I realized in the very last episode that making the jury was supposed to count for 10 points, not 5 which is how I'd been counting it. The above scores are actually correct, but if we go with how I was scoring it all along it would look like this: Pickett (127), Bag (70), Alia (51), Doug (31), Tom (30). So the only difference is who ends up in last. Sorry for misleading you, Doug, but you did the worst this season.

Overall I thought it was a decent season, although without Coach it could have been one of the worst. For all the blindsides that the contestants felt, it actually seemed rather predictable from a viewer's point of view. And honestly, I was hoping/expecting a little more drama from Coach at the final tribal council, and felt a little disappointed when he didn't give a "one of you is a snake, the other is a rat" Susan-type speech at the end. But I am really happy that JT won - he seems like an all-around great guy who needed the money. Plus, he was my pick, woo hoo! I think I won a dinner sponsored by all the runners-up, which I will enjoy heartily.


I really liked doing our more complex pool this season, and I hope that we can continue it in the future. I do think there should be a few changes made to it though. Personally, I'd like to have more ways for players to lose points. We really didn't have all that many of those, but I think it could be really fun to add in something like "-5 points if one of your players cries" and stuff like that. Also, in the end it really came down to whoever picked the winner would win. Had Stephen won the majority of jury votes, then Bag would be the victor of this sesason. So I think that we shouldn't give the winner so many points next season. Maybe 40, 25, and 15 points, for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Drop it down in baby steps.

Next season will be in Samoa, which I'm very excited about. It seems like such a cool, exotic place (which, I guess all of the locations are). I'd like to visit it some day. It makes me a little sad though because it would have been SO cool if Moon had actually made it on the show! I'd love to watch him on Survivor, I think he could be an amazing player in the game. So don't give up Moon! Apply every season until they let you in!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Survivor Tocantins

Bag (39 points)
- Stephen (13)
- [Joe (7)]
- [Debra (19)]

Doug (31 points)
- [Jerry (0)]
- [Tyson (24)]
- [Sydney (7)]

Pickett (30 points)
- JT (12)
- Taj (12)
- [Sandy (6)]

Moon (30 points)
- [Brendan (19)]
- [Candace (0)]
- [Sierra (11)]

Alia (26 points)
- [Spencer (6)]
- Erinn (8)
- Coach (12)

♪ Ding dong, Debbie’s gone!♪ Not that she was a witch or anything, but I believe she was the only one smart enough to coordinate a blind-side of JT (besides Stephen, but I don’t think he’ll do that). Getting rid of her greatly increases my chances of winning this season. With Debbie’s exit though, I must finally concede defeat. Debbie > Sandy. They were the last two picks and Bag took Debbie to leave me with the dreg Sandy. I was happy with that though because I was convinced that while Debbie would remain in the game longer, she wouldn’t earn very many points along the way. She turned out to be a much smarter and better competitor than I’d anticipated, so congrats to you Debbie for earning three times as many points as the other old white lady in the game! Sandy, you were exactly what I thought you’d be—totally nuts, but great for a handful of much-needed points.

Bag had a bittersweet week last week. He earned 10 big points while no one else got anything, but he lost a player. I’d say that losing Debbie wasn’t that great of a loss, but she brought in more points than Stephen so far (not even counting the 5 points she earned for making the jury). Stephen has always been a long-term threat, but I think Bag needed his “producer” in the game to ensure the win. Now I feel like the field is wide open. And by wide open I mean that it’s really come down to me and Bag, while Alia continues her insane claw to victory.

Quick note, in my first post I noted that Alia actually said she wanted the dregs since she hadn’t had time to watch the show yet. Instead, an ever-so-slightly-more-informed Bag picked for her. (Which means that 50% of all of Bag’s picks are still in the game. Impressive.) I predicted that—had Alia gotten what she wanted—she would have gotten Debra, Sandy, and Coach. Which would have given her 37 points with one player left right now. She’d probably be in the lead.

For me to win I need JT to start pulling his weight again and win some immunities. It would also be extremely helpful if either Taj or JT played the hidden immunity idol and Stephen did not. I think it could happen that they think of this (I think that the last week to use it will be this week) and play it “just in case”. If it’s played it’s possibly a 10 point swing between me and Bag. I also need the current alliances to hold as they are.

For Bag to win, Stephen needs to win the whole thing. Nuff said.

For Alia to win, the rest of the tribe except Coach needs to come down with a brutal case of giardia so they are all med-evacked, thus handing Coach the victory. At this point in the game, even if he or Erinn makes it to the final 2 (or 3) I just don’t see anyone voting for them, not even people from their own alliances. If Coach was in the final 2, maybe Debbie and Tyson would vote for him, but they both know that he was the pawn not the player, and I think they’d prefer to reward the person who outfoxed them, not their lackey. If it was Erinn, well, most people don’t think she’s all the smart, I don’t think. She’s always a name away from being the next to go. So what Alia really needs is for both Erinn and Coach to make it to the final 2, because then people would have no choice BUT to vote for her players.

I want to conclude this post with my favorite part of the episode, which is that Coach brought his assistant coach on the show as his “special someone.” Everyone else brought their husbands, fathers, siblings, but Coach chose his co-worker. And not just his co-worker, his professional subordinate. I think this guy lives to be on one long power trip. It’s also sad that there’s no one in his life who he’s really close to. I think that Coach is what Randy from the last season would have been if he was stupid. They are both awkward loners who don’t fit in with society. Randy knew that, but Coach is too ignorant to realize it.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Survivor Tocantins

Doug (31 points)
- [Jerry (0)]
- [Tyson (24)]
- [Sydney (7)]

Moon (30 points)
- [Brendan (19)]
- [Candace (0)]
- [Sierra (11)]


Pickett (30 points)
- JT (12)
- Taj (12)
- [Sandy (6)]

Bag (29 points)
- Stephen (8)
- [Joe (7)]
- Debra (14)

Alia (26 points)
- [Spencer (6)]
- Erinn (8)
- Coach (12)


Gaaah! We're all within 5 points of each other! It's this sort of score that makes me wonder if all this effort was really even worth it. But then I think about how much fun it's been to do, and I just don't really care. :) Plus, with Doug and Moon out, the rest of us will quickly pull away.

This last episode was really fun to watch. Particularly the part where Coach was revealed to be a liar and a freako. I'm okay that he didn't get voted out this week, because I do feel like his end is very near. I wish they'd voted Debbie out though; she's way too canny to keep in the game when they have a chance to get rid of her.

In any case, JT and Stephen's plan right now suits me very well. If their plan works then it's JT, Taj, and Stephen in the final three. Then, even if Stephen wins, I'll earn just as many points with second and third place. And I think that JT should earn a few immunities along the way, putting me ahead of Bag to eke out the win.

Other than that I guess there's not much to report. It's really getting down to it, I think there's only 3 or maybe 4 episodes to go!