Winners at
War has not been very fun so far. I’ve
been looking forward to an all winners season for years now because I knew it
was the only way we would ever see Boston Rob play again but my favorite players
are playing really stupidly. Two of
those players are veterans of season 20 and one thing I have not seen anyone
else comment on is how the last four players voted off were not only all season
20 players but were voted off in the same order that they all finished that
season!
Season 20 was the historic 10th
anniversary all-star Heroes Versus Villains season that was one of the best and
toughest seasons ever. Here we are, 10
years later, finally getting an even more historic all winners season that
includes 4 players from season 20 and they have all gotten voted off before the
merge in one block!
So, how did
these three super all-stars… and Tyson, get voted off so quickly? First off Tyson. Well, the short answer is, he’s an idiot. The more complicated answer is that Tyson can’t
win because he doesn’t want to win. Unless
he’s pissed off because his girlfriend got voted off, Tyson just wants to have
fun annoying people as much as possible.
So, unless Tyson is messing around with his best friend’s wife (which I
would not put past Tyson for a second but would put it past Amber) there’s
little chance of him getting motivated enough to win this season. However, given the fact that he is a big guy who
is in much better shape than Rob and now that he has that big jar of peanut
butter fueling him, I would not be shocked if he won the first challenge to get
back into the game. Although, despite
what he says, I don’t really believe getting back into the game was his primary
motivation for pissing away his one fire token to buy the peanut butter. I think he was just really hungry and rationalized
buying it to help him get back in the game.
Next, is my
favorite player of all time, Boston Rob. Unfortunately, this is not the same
Boston Rob who first played 18 years ago and last played 9 years ago. Not to say he isn’t still a force to be
reckoned with but as I said previously, he is clearly out of shape and he’s not
the challenge beast he once was. I also
have not been too impressed with his strategic choices. First off going back to season 20, I think having
a friendship with an obnoxious idiot like Tyson shows a severe lack of judgement
on Rob’s part. Also, aligning with
Parvati, the black widow man killer of Survivor is very questionable. Then refusing to even entertain the
suggestion of Adam to turn on Parvati and immediately going after Adam instead
of trying to work some angle to get Adam to join him and Parvati was a bad move. Him failing to understand the importance and
power of hidden immunity idols and being unable to figure out advantage clues
on Edge. This is especially confusing
since he did actually find an idol on Redemption Island and he said he learned
something since last time. Unfortunately,
he seems to have forgotten this important lesson. I can’t believe how many players have been so
lazy about not looking for an idol this season but especially Rob. Rob should have pulled a Ben and gone out
looking for the idol the first night and not stopped until he found it.
He did
certainly have his moments, like bullying Ben into revealing information, the
amazing comeback in the episode 4 immunity challenge and you could see him
using his magic to win over Michele. It
may have gone unnoticed to most, but she was incredibly pissed to see him voted
out. I also think he was also the only
one to score a point for his tribe in the first challenge, in which the current
gave the other tribe a huge advantage that made it almost impossible for Rob’s
tribe to score. So, he still is decent
in challenges, which is what I thought would probably save him when the tribe
swap happened.
I knew it
was not good for him to be on a tribe with Adam and Ben, and while I knew
Sophie probably had zero interest in working Rob since he has a lot in common
with Ozzy, who she was desperate to get out in their season together. She correctly realized she would not stand a chance
in hell against him in the final tribal council. However, next to Yul, Sophie is probably the
most intelligent player this season. In
everyday life that is, not necessarily on Survivor, but for that reason I believed
that a puzzle solving combo of Rob and Sophie would be impossible to beat in
challenges. Then to my shock, on the
very next challenge Rob does not join Sophie to solve the challenge ending puzzle! Perhaps he strategized that it would be more advantageous
to guide them by standing back and observing the process of them (and the other
tribes) during the challenge.
This did not
work but I suspect Adam and Sophie may have actually thrown that challenge to
get rid of Rob. As stated previously, Sophie
is very intelligent and won her season by kicking Ozzy’s ass in a puzzle that he
had a lead on for the final immunity challenge.
Let me say that again. SHE KICKED
OZZY’S ASS! Then there’s her puzzle
partner Adam. Mister “my third grade
teacher said I can accomplish anything I set my mind to”. Considering all this you would think they
would have been able to easily at least win second place to stay safe, especially
since they were the first tribe to start working on the puzzle. I’m not saying they definitely threw it, I’m
just saying it’s a little suspicious.
Next is
Parvati. I’ve never like Parvati and
think she’s enormously overrated. I don’t
respect Parvati because a big part of her strategy is to not help around camp,
lay on her ass all day long resting for individual challenges and winning
immunity to keep herself safe. I also
don’t think she is nearly as cute as she (and apparently Nick) thinks she is. For some reason though, she is perceived by
many as being a huge threat and because of that, was climbing an uphill battle
from the start of the game. The same was
true for her last season. I think her
early departure this season proves her getting to the end in Heroes Vs.
Villains was due to in large part because of luck and also playing with an
idiot like Tyson who screwed over his entire alliance by voting himself out and
allowing Parvati and Russell to take control of the game.
So, in her
first trip to tribal after swapping tribes where she is outnumbered by a super
tight boys club, she is an obvious target to be sent to Edge. Many will say Parvati had no chance of surviving
this but I beg to differ. Now, she couldn’t
save herself with an idol since Denise already has it but what about the deal
Wendel proposed not only at camp but also during tribal! I read that Jeff Probst was shocked she didn’t
take the deal during tribal but I actually was not so shocked because there was
the possibility that mister Nick “my high school crush was Parvati” Wilson, would
have voted with her and Michele. I also have
no doubt that Wendel would have never lived up to the deal and was merely trying
to swindle her out of some tokens.
However, what she should have done was ask Wendel to ask Jeff to make
the deal binding so he would have to live up to the deal and vote the way she asked
him to. I’m pretty sure he would have never
taken that deal but you never know. To
be fair it took me a while to consider this possibility and probably would not
have thought of it while I was on the spot in the middle of tribal council As it turns out, Nick decided to follow the
old “bros before hoes” alliance and helped send Parvati packing. Even though I don’t like Parvati, I was kind
of hoping they would pull a blindside on Wendel’s smug ass. Still, it was quite satisfying to see this leader
of the most vicious female alliance in Survivor history get sent home by a tight
boys’ alliance. Karma’s a bitch little
miss black widow alliance leader.
Lastly,
there was SANDRA! Sandra, who completely embarrassed me for making a fan video
proclaiming her to be the greatest player of all time with the insanely stupid
stunt she pulled this week. Sandra, who
was super safe, had the numbers, had an idol that could only be used at one
more tribal and little miss “as long as it’s not me, I don’t care” suddenly
decides to go against her core philosophy that helped her win twice to try to
get somebody else out that wasn’t the target because she didn’t like him. Sandra is supposed to be a student of the
game so she should know that historically whenever someone pulls something like
this, it ends their game. I’m talking to
you Shianne!
She says it
was because she knew her days with Tony were numbered. That may very well be true, but Sandra could
have said that about any player in the game this season. No one wants to go to the end with her
because they all know she will kick their ass.
I think it was more of a case of Sandra not liking the way Tony played his
first season and just disliked him so much she could not bare being around him
another second, which I can totally relate to.
I really hate Tony, the way he played his first season was despicable,
but I think Tony genuinely wanted to work with Sandra and had no immediate
plans to take her out. I also think
winning a million dollars has somehow improved his character and I have found
him to be much more likable during his last two seasons. From what I saw, Tony was constantly trying
to reach out to Sandra and she was constantly pushing him away. It was the same
way their first season too and I don’t know why Sandra could not see this. Of course, there is also the fact that Tony
is a cop, and cops don’t have the greatest relationship with the Latino
community. To be fair, I have to say I
am also a Latino who holds grudges and once someone pisses me off, I rarely
give them another chance, but this is game for TWO MILLION DOLLARS! For that kind of money I would think Sandra
could put aside her differences with Tony and be more open to working for him,
even though she has already won two million from this game.
Unfortunately
this isn’t happening, so, Sandra who is so desperate to get rid of Tony, goes
to Denise, who everyone has agreed to vote out and gives her, her idol that she
bought for one token in exchange for…. One token (and the promise to get another
after they return from tribal). Sandra
says she needs tokens, even though she doesn’t know what for but what could
tokens POSSIBLY buy her that is more valuable than immunity???? What did she think, they were going to change
the rules so whoever gets the most tokens wins the game???? Even if she did think tokens could actually
buy her something better than immunity THEN WHY THE FUCK DID SHE USE ONE TO BUY
THE IDOL IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!! The whole thing makes zero sense!
It was so
frustrating to watch. How Sandra could
take such a risk just blows my mind. She
went from being the greatest player of all time to one of the stupidest. This was far stupider than James going home
with two idols. Stupider than even Tyson
voting himself out in season 20. The only
stupid move that MIGHT be worse, is Erik giving immunity to Natalie at tribal
and even this one is really close. They
both should have known how badly everyone wanted to get them out of the game
but at least Erik didn’t pay for is idol and then essentially sell it for the
same amount!
I was
watching some youtubers who recap every episode and they were saying how they
didn’t know Denise would turn on Sandra.
This was surprising to hear because when I was watching this go down my
jaw literally dropped, and I was screaming at the screen because the instant
Sandra handed Denise her idol I was certain Sandra was going to Edge. I would have been shocked if Denise didn’t
vote out Sandra. Especially after she
tells Sandra she’ll give her another token when they get back to camp (RED FLAG!!!). I mean that just gives Denise more incentive
to not want Sandra to come back to camp. At the very least, Sandra should have haggled
more and told Denise if she wanted to wait to pay her half the tokens that she
would have to let Sandra hold on to the idol and allow her to play it on Denise’s
behalf before the votes are read. This
may have significantly lowered the chances of Denise actually voting for
Sandra. Maybe Denise would have rejected
the offer but is she did, that should have been another red flag to
Sandra. Alas, Sandra makes a bonehead
move and allows her greed and hatred for Tony to send her packing ON THE SAME
DAY SHE WAS VOTED OUT LAST TIME! As one
of Sandra’s former biggest fans, I have to say I really I hope they tore down
that statue of her the next day.
One last
shocker is Sandra actually chooses to go to Extinction! Sandra has NEVER won an individual challenge,
she sits out nearly every team challenge when they have extra players because
of her physical weakness. Does she
actually think she has a snowballs chance in hell of winning her way back into
the game???? In a reply to a YouTube
video showing Amber talking about the possibility of returning to the game, I
left a reply that her chances were probably 1 in 10,000 (even though I love
Amber). With Sandra I would say it’s
probably closer to 1 in 10 million. If I
were her, I would not even subject myself to the ordeal of Edge of
Extinction. Just go to ponderosa and have
a burger because barring every other player getting hit by a bolt of lightning
during the challenge to return to the game, her game is over.
So, now Sandra
and every other season 20 player is on Edge of Extinction. They currently make up half the players on Edge
so there is a good chance it’s not completely over for season 20 players. However, I think Natalie is probably the
favorite to win the first challenge.
While I dearly hope Rob wins, I’m not betting the bank on it. There’s also the fact that Entertainment
Weekly’s Survivor recapper Dalton Ross held a panel discussion with several
players from this season at the beginning of this season and every member of
the panel except for Wendel is currently on Edge. Natalie, Tyson and Danny were not members of
the panel. This tells me that one of
them are probably more likely to return to the game. I hope I’m wrong but I have a sickening
feeling we are done seeing Rob playing real Survivor.
