Survivor: Winners at War

S.M.B.

Another great episode, if it keeps up this standard in the run in it'll be my favourite season in years.

Ben is so bad at certain parts of the game, telling Tony he was the target before the IC in the hope that it would help convince him to vote out his arch nemesis Jeremy.

As someone has already said, Michelle is all over the place. Such a disappointing second half of the season. Her social game is impressive and I can see how it was enough to get her the win in her original season but she's going to struggle to replicate that again.

In terms of the game, Sarah seems to have gotten over last weeks blindside but at the same time she'll never talk to Tony again if she gets voted out. That's quite the reaction.

Foxtrol

cyberhog wrote: »

I like the challenges on EOE this season. It was very boring last season when they just sat around all day doing nothing. I would like to see Natalie return to the game she was very impressive in the challenges and I think she deserves another shot.

Unless the EoE person goes on an immunity run to the end I expect them to get voted out quickly.

I would hope that this jury wouldn't be swayed by their relationships from EoE and them putting themselves in the returning player's shoes but it is way too high a risk to let them get to the final vote

Thargor

Wow this is a quality season, potential GOAT. Tony is a machine. Kim completely deserved it for cookies and peanutbuter ffs, maybe if it was cheeseburgers? They're days away from playing for $2 million and you step down for a food reward...

The balls on Jeremy and Sarah in TC aswell not to play especially Sarah to refuse the free idol, this is ultra level Survivor gameplay, now everyone will have to take Tony and maybe Jeremy having idols in their pockets into account, anything could happen just off that. Jeremy threatening Denise aswell... I need a shower after that!

Thargor

CBS advertising for next seasons players aswell, good to see.

pooch90

This was the first episode I actually enjoyed of this Season!
Great game play by Tony.
I think my issue is there are still so many characters with EoE and main camp. At least when they get voted out they are just jury. I also dont like that whoever returns has gotten to watch every TC prior to returning.

Foxtrol

Thargor wrote: »

CBS advertising for next seasons players aswell, good to see.

The guy that covers it for Entertainment Weekly did some interviews around whether it will make it to season 50. As a show runner Jeff is understandably being a bit coy about it but seems positive

https://ew.com/tv/jeff-probst-survivor-season-50/

Agent Coulson

It was a double episode tonight.

seligehgit

I thought it was the finale.

Great episode nonetheless.

It was hilarious Jeremy endeavouring to explain to Tony that a fortnight consisted of 14 days.:D

Absolutely adore Michelle,rooting for her in many ways as the undoubted underdog.

Shame she did'nt play the advantage for Jeremy.

I can't understand how on God's earth Nick throw his vote towards Ben.In what world did he think he'd an in with Tony,Sarah,Ben and less so Denise.Bonkers stuff.Michelle gave him a reality check.His disadvantage of Ben was a tad closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.Futile.

Hoping and predicting Natalie will return to the game.

SteveK83

Very good episode that and am glad they did the whole recap thing at the end ahead of the 3 hour finale.

Not too sure on the EOE aspect. I think a more redemption island type aspect would have been better. Cant see anyone from EOE winning it no matter who comes back in.

TimeUp

I'd love to see Yul return and win. I like all the remaining players that haven't been voted out, except Sarah.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

SteveK83 wrote: »

Very good episode that and am glad they did the whole recap thing at the end ahead of the 3 hour finale.

Not too sure on the EOE aspect. I think a more redemption island type aspect would have been better. Cant see anyone from EOE winning it no matter who comes back in.

Did you not watch the first Edge of Extinction season? The one where the person who came back from Edge of Extinction went and won the whole thing? :rolleyes:

tvercetti

seligehgit wrote: »

Absolutely adore Michelle,rooting for her in many ways as the undoubted underdog.

I'm in the complete opposite camp, her just being there annoys me. Someone in tonight's episode (Tony?) said its an insult to the great players her making it to the end of a champions season and I can't disagree. I love an underdog story but shes just clueless out there. I'd say Aubry is sick watching her out there wondering how she got beaten by her.

SteveK83 wrote: »

Not too sure on the EOE aspect. I think a more redemption island type aspect would have been better. Cant see anyone from EOE winning it no matter who comes back in.

If Natalie comes back in after being in extinction since the first vote with her idol and plays it right to take out Tony/Sarah and makes it to the final 3 opposite Michelle, Nick or Ben, then are you betting against her winning after the time she has spent with the jury??

S.M.B.

Ben, Nick and Michelle are pretty far from great player territory based on recent performances.

Rooting for Tony but hoping he'll have to face a few more bumps on the road for entertainment purposes, he's really been great this season. I wonder if Sarah does have a shot if they sit beside each other as she has plenty of friends on the jury and Tony has orchestrated a few blindsides that could leave a bitter taste.

Agent Coulson

Tony deserves to win the game as it stands he has played it brilliantly.


I do however think whoever comes back from EOE will win it as they will have had plenty of time to work the jury members while there.

SteveK83

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Did you not watch the first Edge of Extinction season? The one where the person who came back from Edge of Extinction went and won the whole thing? :rolleyes:

Yeah I did. Chris Underwood...put himself in the fire making challenge to get some jury credit. Bold move and it paid off.

You need a CV to win Survivor.....your gonna have to do a hell of a lot to come back from EOE and win the game ahead of someone who has played well in the game and has not been to EOE.Im not saying it couldnt happen...Im just saying I cant see it happening this season.

S.M.B.

It always felt like there were two other big factors that won it for Chris beyond his cv (which was really only choosing to make fire, teaming up with Rick for one vote)

- the amount of time you spend with the jury will curry favour. I thought it was put quite well in this TC where they made clear that they are not chess pieces.
- if the jury can't vote for someone returning from EoE who had little opportunity to play on the main island then what's the point in them not doing a Sandra and buggering off after eviction

There seems to be a school of thought that these will matter less in an all winners season but I'm not so sure. Natalie is 100% still a contender from what I'm seeing.

Side note, it was good to finally see where all those tokens went on EoE at the time of the first battle back with Natalie and Rob buying an idol.

seligehgit

tvercetti wrote: »

I'm in the complete opposite camp, her just being there annoys me. Someone in tonight's episode (Tony?) said its an insult to the great players her making it to the end of a champions season and I can't disagree. I love an underdog story but shes just clueless out there. I'd say Aubry is sick watching her out there wondering how she got beaten by her.



If Natalie comes back in after being in extinction since the first vote with her idol and plays it right to take out Tony/Sarah and makes it to the final 3 opposite Michelle, Nick or Ben, then are you betting against her winning after the time she has spent with the jury??

I don't want her to win and most certainly do not believe she is a great player but she is a real sweetheart.TBF to her she has been out on the outs from day one,she's not savvy enough in spite of the fact she has a good social game.In addition she had to contend with all the Wendell stuff.He was pretty unpleasant.

She was not unclueless in her attempt to target Ben but Nick messed that up.It was a shame she did throw her advantage Jeremy's way.

Ben was excellent in the season he won survivor and was delighted he won it.However I find his ability to be particularly unpleasant towards select others in the absence of a seemingly rational reason less than endearing.

Tony ATM deserves the win and I love the guy.Who knows a Natalie could upset the apple cart?I think she's a great player.

Hyzepher

I think Natalie could be favourite to win if she manages to get back into the main group. Everyone on EoE thinks she's a beast and after 14 fire tokens it's hard not to agree that she has played the game brilliantly from that side of things.

It feels to me that the 5 remaining players, apart from maybe Tony, have not thought too much about the end game. Natalie coming in with idols etc might be able to take advantage of that chaos

Foxtrol

S.M.B. wrote: »

It always felt like there were two other big factors that won it for Chris beyond his cv (which was really only choosing to make fire, teaming up with Rick for one vote)

- the amount of time you spend with the jury will curry favour. I thought it was put quite well in this TC where they made clear that they are not chess pieces.
- if the jury can't vote for someone returning from EoE who had little opportunity to play on the main island then what's the point in them not doing a Sandra and buggering off after eviction

There seems to be a school of thought that these will matter less in an all winners season but I'm not so sure. Natalie is 100% still a contender from what I'm seeing.

Side note, it was good to finally see where all those tokens went on EoE at the time of the first battle back with Natalie and Rob buying an idol.

I understand why the went for EoE given the cast but I think it is the worst twist in survivor. Players that don't get voted out in many ways are at a disadvantage but as we saw the last time it is a hard thing to make that argument at final tribal. When you crap on people not playing while on the edge or not deserving to win, you are crapping on the experience of the majority of the jury and the hope they've clung onto for weeks.

Having said that, I think Tony, Sarah, and Denise stand a decent shot of beating the returning player, whoever they are. For Tony it is obvious. Even though she was left out of a few votes, Sarah can position herself as the person running things with/behind Tony, played a strong social game, and she'd likely have Tony on the jury to be an aggressive advocate (to be the bad guy calling out how the EoE contestant shouldn't win). Denise's chance mostly comes from her speaking ability and how she can support it with moves against Sandra and like her season surviving so long on the bottom.

I hope that the former winners don't fall into the same EoE trap and respect more the difficulty of playing within the game, rather than surviving outside it on EoE and arriving back in with cheat codes. I nearly expect at least one of the jury to make some sort of speech to their fellow jury members that playing in the game deserves to be rewarded, in the same way Spencer told the jury not to be bitter against Tony.

Foxtrol

Apparently the finale will be the longest ever. Hard to tell if that is just marketing and it is longer because they'll merge the reunion and game itself, rather than what they usually do and have the game over the first 2 hours or so and follow it by the reunion. I really hope they don't break up the gameplay for constant interviews

Foxtrol

Jeff is set up for tonight

https://twitter.com/JeffProbst/status/1260315525676056577?s=20

Agent Coulson

Three episodes and the last 10 minutes of episode 3 was the winner announcement on Zoom.

Hands down the deserving winner.


Three people who had a real genuine friendship for each other was great to see.

Mr E

Jesus that finale was far too long. I was losing the will to live towards the end, and there wasn't even a reunion (for obvious reasons)

The right person won though, absolutely.

Foxtrol

Delighted with the winner. Once Tony made the final 3 I would have been very annoyed if they gave it to anyone else. His style at the final tribal was amazing, generally not answering their questions, turning everything into a story and connecting with the jury through making them laugh.

Disappointed with Ben's decision but I think what Natalie said about the jury impacted him and he didn't see himself beating either Tony or Sarah (or maybe even Natalie) and thought he'd do a nice thing for her. In the end, it probably was key in getting Tony the win, as Ben would have beaten him in making fire.

Think the final vote count was fair - Tony outclassed the others, Natalie deserved some acknowledgement for dominating EoE but not more as she never survived a tribal without playing an idol, and for Michele with her late immunity run I was fine with her getting to final tribal but her play didn't deserve a vote when compared to what the other 2.

I will never complain about too much survivor but they really could have split this week and last week over three or four episodes. Interesting that Jeff said that they are committed to having a new season in the fall. It sounds ambitious but more doable target here than with a lot of shows. Not overly keen on his push to have more teenagers register, the odd one is fine but having a tribe of that age doesn't seem like a great idea and would be more drama than game play.

Mr E

Teenagers would push it in a love island direction, I think. Lots of horny singles on the island.

Foxtrol

Mr E wrote: »

Teenagers would push it in a love island direction, I think. Lots of horny singles on the island.

There is that but so many other potential problems. There's the general physical, mental, and emotional impact of the game which increases the chances of kids breaking down and dropping out, along with longer term impacts of those on young minds and bodies. Then there is the grim fall out from last season (and many other seasons), where you are now putting grown stranger adults sleeping, washing, changing in tight quarters with kids.

It seems like a disaster waiting to happen, with little to no viewer benefit aside from maybe freakshow advertising.

tvercetti

Delighted with the winner but I watched most of it in dread, had a horrible feeling Natalie would pull off. The edit over the past few weeks made it almost inevitable that she was the one returning. Once Tony made final 3, I knew that was it.

Really not a fan of extinction, someone who never even survived through a tribal council can come into the game at final 6 with an idol in there pocket having lived with the jury. Rob summed it up best, she had to play a perfect game when she returned but she failed to take Tony out. She didn't have the Chris Underwoods to go to fire against him.

Great performance by Tony overall, the timing of taking out Sophie and Kim, the using Jeremy when he needed him, the relationships he built with Ben and Sarah. And even when the final episode revolved alot around Natalie, you'd forget he had an Idol at 6, Immunity at 5 and Firemaker at 4. King of Survivor!!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Yeah a deserving winner for sure. Solid season overall.

I think I'd prefer if they weren't back in the fall though and waited until mid-season for the next run. A little break would do no harm and whet the appetite for more if there wasn't another season until next February. I feel a lot of us in the thread this season (and the past few seasons) have mentioned a bit of Survivor fatigue. This season being Winners At War helped it a bit, but I definitely don't look forward to new episodes of Survivor as I once did, which is unfortunate. The Challenge on the other hand I get excited for every week at the moment, as they took a bit of a longer break between this season and the last.

seligehgit

Well done to Tony as a most deserving of winner.The edit did seem to point to a Natalie win in the weeks leading up but as big a beast as she was on the edge of extinction she enjoyed an advantage in a perverse sort way coming that route.I am glad her fellow competitors on EOE were not influenced by any friendships built up.

Perplexed by Ben's decision,don't buy the whole argument that he was influenced by reported opinions re Tony Natalie brought back.

Firmly believe he'd have beaten Tony at a fire making challenge.I'm of the opinion Tony downplayed his fire making ability pre the challenge lulling any possible opponents into a false sense of security.His observations of Michelle were invaluable.

Adore that final 4 IC.

Disappointed Michelle did not get any votes,certainly believe she was deserving of same.I've a lot of respect for her as a player.

kingtut

Woohoo! I had predicted that Natalie would return and Tony would win. Glad I got something right for a change!

Definitely far too long of an episode and far too much crying but an enjoyable season overall.