Tonight's episode is titled "I Don't Want to Be the Worm." Based on one of the preview clips, Emily might have cut her finger. It's bandaged up. The Survivor SM team also posted some clues. People are saying the Bello HHI will be found tonight.

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Brian

On Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 5:42:50 PM UTC-6, Brian Smith wrote:
> Tonight's episode is titled "I Don't Want to Be the Worm." Based on one of the preview clips, Emily might have cut her finger. It's bandaged up. The Survivor SM team also posted some clues. People are saying the Bello HHI will be found tonight.
>
> --
> Brian

I thought tonight's episode was good but not as good as the last two episodes. No one quit tonight which was nice.

The episode started off with Sifu's tribe getting back to camp after the last TC. Not only did the girls not come clean, the show never explained why Dee voted differently then J. Maya and Julie. The girls tried to convince Sifu that Sean voted for him but he told them that Sean said to him as he was leaving that he did not vote for him. The girls were pissed at Sean for not following the plan! lol We did find out that Sifu made a fake idol and it looks like the girls believe it's real.

Jake had another seizure/fainted and this time it happened in front of a number of people. Kellie tried to help him and wanted him to sit down. Jake was afraid to show any weakness but she told him not to worry about that. I thought this was her breakout episode as she was a lot more noticeable.

Katurah was caught by her tribe looking for an idol despite Kaleb trying to warn her. She's still bitching about Bruce but Bruce keeps feeding her ammo. Kaleb saw first hand how Bruce's behavior at camp is not good for tribe moral. In a confessional it sounds like he wants to blindside Bruce.

Kaleb has connected with everyone on his new tribe now other than Kellie. She's the one he wants most as he considers her to be the best player they have.

At Emily's tribe the two pairs were both trying to get her to align with them and at one point it looked like she was going to with Kendra and Brando because Belo has the numbers overall.

Reward/Immunity Challenge

Emily sat out for her tribe and it sounds like Kellie was "chosen" to sit out by hers. She wasn't happy about it. Sifu's tribe won and got 10 huge fish. Kaleb's tribe finished second and got five fish. Emily's tribe lost. Before the tribes headed off, Jeff told them there was a twist. Jeff said the winning tribe had to pick one player from each tribe to go on a journey. They chose J. Maya, Kellie, and Austin.

Journey

The journey involved climbing a mountain and at the top they had to choose between sustenance and strategy. Majority ruled for this one. Austin wanted the sandwiches as he was starving but J. Maya wanted the amulets. When it looked like Kellie was going to choose strategy as well, Austin quickly flipped so they would all be on the same page. The amulet advantage appears to be identical to what they did a season or so ago. When all three amulets are in the game you get an extra vote, two is steal a vote, and when just one is left it becomes a full-blown idol.

Belo Camp

While Austin was away on the journey the other four had quick one-on-one meetings. Brando told Drew he would join him, Austin, and Emily to vote out Kendra. Drew then told Emily this. She had a hard time believing Brando would turn on Kendra so started going back and forth between people to try and figure out who was telling the truth. At one point she told Drew she didn't believe him. He said he had no reason to lie to her. He was worried at this point.

When Austin got back he lied about part of the journey and told them there was a very physical task they had to complete before getting an advantage. He said they failed and therefore got nothing. He ended up telling Drew the truth. Drew then told him that Emily might not trust them so Austin told her the truth and showed her the note. She was fully aware that this twist has been done before.

Tribal Council

I thought they did a good job keeping us guessing as to who was getting booted. At least they fooled me but I was also tired--didn't watch until midnight. Anyway, in the end Emily sided with Drew and Austin to take out Brando.. Kendra was completely blindsided. Emily said "I'm sorry" to her as soon as Jeff said Brando was voted out 3–2. For the record, Kendra and Brando voted to boot Drew. Also, Austin upgraded his idol by foregoing his vote but he got his vote back by using his Goodwill Advantage.

Next Episode

They say it's merge time but with 13 people? Looks like another twist could be coming or for some reason we're getting a jury of 10.

--
Brian

On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:57:12 AM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> The episode started off with Sifu's tribe getting back to camp after the last TC. Not only did the girls not come clean, the show never explained why Dee voted differently than J. Maya and Julie. The girls tried > to convince Sifu that Sean voted for him but he told them that Sean said to him as he was leaving that he did not vote for him.

Is Seafood not able to count votes? There were only three votes cast for Sean, and he knew that one of them was his. That meant that one of the women was surely lying.
Trying to pin the Seafood vote on Sean was a desperation "Hail Mary" which, amazingly, appeared to satisfy Seafood for the moment.
> I thought they did a good job keeping us guessing as to who was getting booted.

The edit didn't mislead me. I was quite certain that Emily was going to vote for Brandon.

>Also, Austin upgraded his idol by foregoing his vote but he got his vote back by using his Goodwill Advantage.

That was a damn slick move by Austin, but, IMO, he should never have been given the advantage that allowed him to pull it off.
As of the end of E05, there are 5 advantages in play, and Drew/Austin hold three of them.

On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:05:12 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:57:12 AM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>
> > The episode started off with Sifu's tribe getting back to camp after the last TC. Not only did the girls not come clean, the show never explained why Dee voted differently than J. Maya and Julie. The girls tried > to convince Sifu that Sean voted for him but he told them that Sean said to him as he was leaving that he did not vote for him.
>
> Is Seafood not able to count votes? There were only three votes cast for Sean, and he knew that one of them was his. That meant that one of the women was surely lying.
> Trying to pin the Seafood vote on Sean was a desperation "Hail Mary" which, amazingly, appeared to satisfy Seafood for the moment.

I don't think Sifu ever thought the girls were being honest with him. His confusion was over which one of them voted to boot him. What I don't understand is why was J. Maya willing to take blame in order to set him up if they went to TC. I wasn't surprised at all that Dee's willing to backstab her. If I was Julie I'd be getting the hell away from her as soon as the merge happens. Dee is too volatile to have as an alliance member. And why did Dee say Sifu causes a lot of chaos? What chaos? Hr seems to goof off more than anything.

> > I thought they did a good job keeping us guessing as to who was getting booted.
> The edit didn't mislead me. I was quite certain that Emily was going to vote for Brandon.

When Austin told her the truth about the journey that definitely increased the odds of her voting with him and Drew. I wasn't sure if that was enough to override her doubts about Drew.

> >Also, Austin upgraded his idol by foregoing his vote but he got his vote back by using his Goodwill Advantage.
> That was a damn slick move by Austin, but, IMO, he should never have been given the advantage that allowed him to pull it off.

Jeff lives for big moves like that and is willing to go out of his way to make them happen.

> As of the end of E05, there are 5 advantages in play, and Drew/Austin hold three of them.

To be honest, I have no idea what most of the advantages are and who has them. They need to start putting that info on screen when they show a player who has a power.

--
Brian

On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:05:12 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:57:12 AM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>

> >Also, Austin upgraded his idol by foregoing his vote but he got his vote back by using his Goodwill Advantage.
> That was a damn slick move by Austin, but, IMO, he should never have been given the advantage that allowed him to pull it off.

I see that Mike Bloom agrees with you.

"Maybe a hot take: There shouldn't be #Survivor advantages to cancel out other Survivor advantages."

https://twitter.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1717351606977470565

--
Brian

On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:33:31 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> I don't think Sifu ever thought the girls were being honest with him.

I agree. Even if he were to accept the explanation that Sean had lied to him on the way out, that
doesn't account for the Dee vote.
>What I don't understand is why was J. Maya willing to take blame in order to set him up if they went to TC.

I think that J. is hoping that Seafood will think that Dee and Julie are going to vote for her which will
make him feel safe enough not to play any advantage that he may have. If J. had stuck to the plan at
the E04 TC., she would have ended up in a much stronger position on a tribe of four with Sean looking for
a voting partner.

>And why did Dee say Sifu causes a lot of chaos? What chaos? Hr seems to goof off more than anything.

Well, in E02, the women caught him sneaking around and spying on them. But I agree with you that he
appears to be more of an "outsider" than a "chaos creator".

> To be honest, I have no idea what most of the advantages are and who has them.

Drew - "Safety Without Power"
Austin - an Immunity Necklace which is good until the merge, and an "Extra Vote" amulet
J. - an "Extra Vote" amulet
Kellie - an "Extra Vote" amulet

>They need to start putting that info on screen when they show a player who has a power.

I would be fine with that.

On Friday, October 27, 2023 at 1:48:41 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 1:33:31 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>

> >What I don't understand is why was J. Maya willing to take blame in order to set him up if they went to TC.
> I think that J. is hoping that Seafood will think that Dee and Julie are going to vote for her which will
> make him feel safe enough not to play any advantage that he may have. If J. had stuck to the plan at
> the E04 TC., she would have ended up in a much stronger position on a tribe of four with Sean looking for
> a voting partner.

I get the logic but why not have Dee play that role? I think Sifu noticed that Dee was acting sketchy which would make it a lot easier for him to believe that J. Maya and Julie are going to vote to boot her ass. J. Maya has a bad read on people from what I can tell.

> >And why did Dee say Sifu causes a lot of chaos? What chaos? Hr seems to goof off more than anything.
> Well, in E02, the women caught him sneaking around and spying on them. But I agree with you that he
> appears to be more of an "outsider" than a "chaos creator".

Oh yeah! That's when he was trying to act like Tony, correct? I didn't think he was being too serious about that. Dee's too uptight about a lot of things and it's going to lead to her being booted.

> > To be honest, I have no idea what most of the advantages are and who has them.
> Drew - "Safety Without Power"
> Austin - an Immunity Necklace which is good until the merge, and an "Extra Vote" amulet
> J. - an "Extra Vote" amulet
> Kellie - an "Extra Vote" amulet

Thanks for that info.

> >They need to start putting that info on screen when they show a player who has a power.
> I would be fine with that.

I'm surprised they're not. Then again, the production values on CBS's reality shows this year have left a lot to be desired. It might be due to more network interference than normal. For example, BB25 has had a number of TV schedule changes. Due to the nature of the game and the fact that they do live evictions, they can't make changes to the production schedule. They have to throw one of the weekly episodes together much faster now. They've also been throwing weird curve balls like CBS asking for a 70 minute long episode a few weeks ago.

--
Brian

On Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 2:55:56 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> I get the logic but why not have Dee play that role?

Because J. is aware that she is not aligned with Dee and Julie, and thinks that Seafood had noticed. If Dee were
to go to Seafood with the same pitch, he probably wouldn't believe her. But hearing it from J. would support his
his own observations.

On Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 6:23:10 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 2:55:56 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>
> > I get the logic but why not have Dee play that role?
> Because J. is aware that she is not aligned with Dee and Julie, and thinks that Seafood had noticed. If Dee were
> to go to Seafood with the same pitch, he probably wouldn't believe her. But hearing it from J. would support his
> his own observations.

I see what you're saying. I'm not so sure J. Maya doesn't think she's aligned with Julie. I also don't think Julie feels aligned with Dee but J. Maya might think they are.

--
Brian

On Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 10:41:48 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:

> I see what you're saying. I'm not so sure J. Maya doesn't think she's aligned with Julie. I also don't think Julie feels aligned with Dee but J. Maya might think they are.

From my perspective, the strangest part of this whole thing is that Dee and Julie both know which member of Red Tribe has possession of the
immunity idol which was hidden near their camp. Because Seafood has not gone on any of the journeys, they should be assuming that his
odds of having any sort of advantage are somewhere between nil and zero. But yet Dee, Julie, and J. continue to obsess about it.

On Monday, October 30, 2023 at 1:56:09 PM UTC-6, zeppo wrote:
> On Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 10:41:48 PM UTC-7, Brian Smith wrote:
>
> > I see what you're saying. I'm not so sure J. Maya doesn't think she's aligned with Julie. I also don't think Julie feels aligned with Dee but J. Maya might think they are.
> From my perspective, the strangest part of this whole thing is that Dee and Julie both know which member of Red Tribe has possession of the
> immunity idol which was hidden near their camp. Because Seafood has not gone on any of the journeys, they should be assuming that his
> odds of having any sort of advantage are somewhere between nil and zero. But yet Dee, Julie, and J. continue to obsess about it.

Good point about the Red tribe. Sifu must have them convinced he has a real idol based on talk about the fake one he made. With so many frickin' advantages floating around in new era Survivor I don't blame the girls for thinking he has one.

--
Brian