A Nuclear Bomb is Dropped on Survivor: Cagayan

WOW! That was insane. Let me preface this by saying this is just a short post-show recap, and our longer scrutiny will be coming to you tomorrow and this weekend.

A nuclear bomb has been dropped
on Survivor: Cagayan.

But really...INSANE. It's crystal clear that my winner pick--I can't believe I even picked her, now--of J'Tia will not be surviving in the game much longer. But however long she lasts, it will be entertaining. And when J'Tia goes, she will flame out spectacularly...like she already has.

Alright, we'll make this short and sweet for tonight. I'll answer just the three burning questions that I'm sure you had about the episode.

#1: How can the Brains tribe be THIS BAD?!
Good question. I'm glad you asked. Are they the worst tribe (so far) in Survivor history? Without a doubt. Luzon voted out their two strongest players and is in the perfect position to be annihilated pre-merge. Garrett was a blustering idiot who was voted out with an idol in his pocket after putting over 2000 hours into preparing for the game. I have more sympathy for David, but he too was blindsided. And J'Tia=Brandon Hantz.

Tony has begun his transformation
into Russell Hantz!

#2: What is the Spy Shack?
The Spy Shack! Tony has begun his transformation into Russell Hantz! I realize it might be a little early to be making any Russell comparisons, but if I had to pick a player that Tony was most like, I would certainly say Russell. The Spy Shack itself (which I love) is not that amazing in actuality, but the fact that Tony's thinking about such things bodes well for him in the future...as long as he can keep it under wraps. And he's got an idol in his pocket to boot. He needs to fess up about being a cop (which he will) and then he could be in a great spot in this game.

#3: Who will get the idol?
Aha! You didn't think I'd ask a real question, did you? You may not have caught this (you probably did, actually) but there is still an idol at the Luzon camp buried in Garrett's bag, just waiting for...I don't know. A CRAZY NUCLEAR ENGINEER to come pick it up?! Who knows how long J'Tia would survive in this game with an idol? I'd prefer for Kass or Spencer to get it, because I like Kass and Spencer is on the outs, but I'm not sure about the rules here. Technically, the idol is Garrett's possession, but now that he's gone, what happens? When Colton was evacuated, he took his idol with him, and I don't know if we've ever had a situation where someone was so confident that they didn't even bring the idol and their bag with them to Tribal when they were voted out--there's no precedent.

All right, that's it for this quick recap...time to sleep. Tomorrow, Ethan I will talk about every angle of this crazy premiere from top to bottom, so stay tuned!

Cagayan Pre-Season Rankings

We've got a big day tomorrow! The Survivor: Cagayan premiere episode is upon us, and Jeff has tweeted and confirmed it will be episodes 1 and 2 back-to-back. A little disappointing compared to one 2-hour episode, but hey, we can't complain!

A little bit later tonight, I'll publish Ethan's article about the premiere of The Amazing Race this past Sunday, but for now, let's focus on our upcoming premiere. Each Tuesday, I will be posting the results of the Survivor Auction we did, where Ethan and I bid on the 18 new Survivors; we'll earn points for them each episode.

Since the season hasn't started yet, obviously neither of us have any points, but that will soon change. In addition, I will be posting my power rankings of the contestants each episode. In Gordon Holmes's power rankings format, I'll gain points depending on how low my list the person voted out each episode is, so if the first person voted out is 18th, I'll gain 18 points, and so on.

POWER RANKINGS-EPISODE 1

   #2: Woo-Brawn

The same goes for Woo;
if Brawn does go to Tribal,
they're going to want to keep
their strength around.

       



#4: Trish-Brawn 

Trish may not have the athleticism
of Woo, but she'll be quiet and
probably loyal, so I bet she will
stick around for some time.


#6: David-Brawn

Now we're moving into the people
who are either invaluable in terms of 
leadership or athleticism, or are
the "stealth" type of players who
won't be targeted early, of which
David is a prime example.

   #8: J'Tia-Brains

Why is my winner pick this far down?
She's not on the Brawn Tribe, for one.
Also, J'Tia seems like she'll be a little
feisty, which will be entertaining,
but she has to be careful.

        
 
 #10: Jeremiah-Beauty

I predict he will be LJ's right hand man,
and on the right side of the numbers...if he
can keep from flirting.

           
               #12: Garrett-Brains

Garrett is going to have a huge target on
his back, since he's so physically fit, but 
that same target will protect him early
on, since his tribe will need him.

#14: Spencer-Brains

Spencer's going to hit the ground running, 
which is not always a good thing. 
He could be voted out first for being weak, 
or for being arrogant, or for trying to
build alliances too fast.

 #16: Kass-Beauty

I really hope I'm wrong, but I think
if Brains loses the first challenge, Kass
will not have time to work her magic,
and will be voted out first just for 
being the oldest woman.

 #18: Brice-Beauty

In the end, though, I think it will be Brice
who gets voted out first. He's weak on a weak
tribe, and the girls will probably work together
with LJ and Jeremiah to vote him out together.
Sorry, Brice.

                      #1: Sarah-Brawn

Let's face it; the Brawn tribe is
not going to be going to Tribal
Council in the first episode,
if at all. And if they do, Sarah
is smart and strong enough to
stay perfectly safe.

#3: Tony-Brawn

If the Brawn tribe is smart,
they'll keep Tony for his
presumable challenge prowess,
at least for a little while.

           #5: Lindsey-Brawn

Lindsey is probably the most
volatile of the Brawn tribe,
which is why she's placed
this low in comparison.

#7: Tasha-Brains

I don't see Tasha making it all
of the way, but she will definitely
survive the first episode, and
will most likely make a strong
alliance with J'Tia.

    #9: LJ-Beauty

I would be shocked to see LJ
go home this early. The Beauty
Tribe is really going to need him.

                 #11: Cliff-Brawn

Cliff's a big guy, and I'm worried 
about how well he'll do out here.
While his tribe might not lose 
any challenges, could we be
in for a quit or a Shamar-style medivac?


 #13: Jefra-Beauty

Of all the women on the beauty
tribe, Jefra seems the least likely to be
voted out due to some perceived lack
of physical strength, because she's
definitely very strong.


 #15: Alexis-Beauty

I don't like to put Alexis this far down,
because she seems bright and a decent 
placer, but she's a younger girl on
a tribe that's going to be sorely
lacking on the physical side.


 #17: Morgan-Beauty

Again, I think Morgan can do much
better than this, but she's young,
she's a girl, and I worry she may connect
with the others just a little bit less 
than Alexis will be able to.

Big Brother Canada House Pictures

We had some BBCAN house pictures emerge today in anticipation for a cast release Wednesday. But first (in the immortal words of Julie Chen), let's do a quick recap of tonight's Miss and Mister Survivor results.

Survivor Scrutiny has been following the pageants on Rob Has a Website throughout the last couple of weeks, and tonight, we have our winners! Don't read below the picture unless you're ready to see who won the pageants.

Nominations area and living room for BBCAN 2.

Ladies and gentlemen, the winners of Miss and Mister Survivor 2014 are...

                                                                          

Andrea Boehlke and Malcolm Freberg!!!! Huge congratulations to the two winners; I voted for Malcolm and I'm really excited to see how his Mister Survivor reign will go. I thought Andrea was the underdog here, but she had a really strong showing and this two-time Survivor and Miss Survivor finalist will also be an excellent winner.

HOH room for BBCAN 2.

Alright, let's talk a little bit about Big Brother Canada. Today we got a plethora of pictures of the new house, and as I said, on Wednesday, we'll see the new cast. 15 new Houseguests will compete on the second season. I'm liking the layout of the new house, with it's larger upstairs, although things appear cramped and overall way too brightly colored. However, the bathroom is huge, there're plenty of places to conspire, and I think we're going to like this house. 

I'll add some more pictures below, as well as a video that was released. Tomorrow, you can expect some kind of analysis article from Ethan on The Amazing Race premiere that happened last night; you can listen to our conversation about it here or click on the audio file in the sidebar on the right. 

On Wednesday, there'll be a brief post recapping the premiere of Survivor: Cagayan, and then Thursday we'll have our audio scrutiny of the episode. I may not get to the Big Brother Canada cast analysis till Friday, or later if I can get Ethan to talk about it with me. Surprisingly, he does know the rules of Big Brother! Either way, we're going to have a lot of great content coming for you soon, so make sure to leave a comment below, and stay tuned!

All photo credit of course goes to Slice and Big Brother Canada.

And these are some photos courtesy of the people on Survivor Sucks forums (or they may have gotten them from somewhere else).

BBCAN2 House Tour from Jorge B Damian on Vimeo.

The Amazing Race Premiere Scrutiny

Who won the leg, and who got eliminated?

We're back with a post-premiere scrutiny of the first episode of The Amazing Race 24! It was actually a pretty good premiere. Tune in below to hear our thoughts on who got eliminated, who won the leg, and all the other drama and challenges. We'll be back Thursday to recap the first Survivor episode, and there'll be some Amazing Race articles coming your way as well. Stay tuned!

10 Predictions for the TAR Premiere

We're just 8 hours away from the premiere of The Amazing Race 24, so here are 10 things to watch out for on tonight's premiere. Think of them 10 likely predictions that illustrate why I am not a fan of The Amazing Race premieres (something I'm sure I'll talk more about soon). Ethan has disagreed with some of my predictions, and I've included that below too.

Here are 10 things to watch out for on tonight's premiere.

Without further ado,

10 Predictions for the TAR 24 Premiere

1) The teams will fly somewhere in Polynesia or South America.
This seems to be a staple of The Amazing Race as of late. Since season 19, they've been going to South America, China, or a South Pacific island. And Ethan agrees.

2) There will be two flights. Someone in the first flight will win the first leg and someone in the second flight will be eliminated.
Another problem is that there are always two flights, one of which will arrive an hour ahead of time, killing all of the drama up in front and not allowing a team that happened to get unluckily stuck in traffic to catch up. Ethan would like to add that there have been issues with the first plane in the past which have allowed other racers to catch up. If he says so...

3) There will be at least 5 minutes of time devoted to the teams racing to the airport and driving on the freeway.
Not necessary! I don't care about the LA freeway or LAX shuttles! Show me more in the other country. Ethan says: "I don't think that is true, because that is where you are supposed to get first impressions, but we already know these people. So I think they will spend more time in the airport with their interactions." Makes sense, I guess.

Let's go back to Season 20, where we started in a
vineyard in Santa Barbara. 

4) It will start in LA. 
Does it ever not, now? Last season we started on some sort of movie set, right? Let's go back to Season 20, where we started in a vineyard in Santa Barbara. Ethan can't argue with this one. 

5) Brendon and Rachel will yell at each other or someone else.
All I can say is that I hope they go home as soon as possible. Ethan would like to add that he hopes Rachel has mellowed out but it's not likely. Agreed.

6) John and Jessica will win the leg and get two Express Passes.
Ok, this one may not happen but I had to include it. This would make me incredibly happy. Ethan thinks there's tougher competition this time and they won't win, which is probably true.

7) One of the two roadblocks will be some sort of boring bungee jump, hangliding, paragliding etc. task that relies on fear of heights and requires absolutely no skill.
One of the worst things about the race. And I believe we've seen this on the last five or so seasons except for 21. There's no drama or interest here! Ethan agrees.

Natalie and Nadiya will scream
"Come on, Twinnie!!!"

8) Jennifer and Caroline will sing.
I think they'll stick around for a while, so it's possible we won't see this right away, but I think there's a fairly good chance we'll be treated to a song while they're driving to the airport or something. Again, hard for Ethan to aruge.

9) Natalie and Nadiya will scream "Come on, Twinnie!!!"
Oh, I hope so. It may not start this early, but it would be good to hear this again. Ethan concurs.


10) The Afghanimals will make some kind of animal noises.
We saw this all the time last season; seems reasonable to expect it again. Ethan, however, thinks that they did it so much in Season 23 that it will be mostly ignored here, where they will focus more on other contestants.

So that's my list. I can't say I have very high expectations for this premiere, but maybe it will surprise me. What do you think of my predictions? Leave us a comment below. And look out for these things happening tonight--I know Ethan and I will. We'll be back to discuss the whole episode either tonight or tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Final Thoughts on Miss and Mister Survivor

Vote now!  

Voting for the 2014 Miss/Mister Survivor pageants ends today on Rob's website, and I encourage you to go vote if you haven't already. But first, listen to the analysis I have to offer on the candidates. I'll tell you why I voted for my choices and take a look at how this year's competition went down.




I loved both competitions this year; all the Miss Survivor candidates will be better than RC, and the introduction of Mister Survivor has been great as well. I'll start with the guys, because it's an easier decision for me.

Going into the finals, we thought we had Tyson, Malcolm, and Hayden all locked in; after all, they'd accepted their nominations. But of course, Hayden stopped responding, and was disqualified from the contest. Honestly, I'm not too disappointed. Hayden was a fascinating player in Blood vs. Water, but not really necessary in Mister Survivor. Besides, I already knew who I was voting for.

Aras dropped a bomb when he
announced he was running with Vytas.

So then we had Aras join the fray, even though we had heard that it might end up being a showdown between the Big Bad Wolf and Malcolm, which I probably would have preferred. And Aras dropped a bomb when he announced he was running with Vytas, which I was definitely not too happy about. I realize that Vytas and Aras being co-candidates is very similar to Vytas simply campaigning for Aras, but it seems too much like cheating to me. Vytas had his shot; he got 5th place, and the voters said they didn't want him. Even though I prefer the more interesting Vytas over Aras, it still wasn't his place to be in the running.

Oh well. He was there. Nothing could be done...except not vote for him. So now we move on to Tyson and Malcolm, who both gave great interviews, although I much preferred the hot sauce juggling we got to see from Malcolm than Tyson's unimpressive leg bending talents.

And now we move on to the debate, which I thought was one of the funniest shows I've watched or listened to on RHAP in a long time. I have to admit, all three guys were great, and had some awesome lines. However, Tyson came off as a little too arrogant and cocky, as though he was above the competition. As I've said before, I much preferred Tyson as a loser than as a Survivor winner. Aras was entertaining enough, but he had already lost my vote.

Malcolm is a favorite of mine,
and it was thanks to him that we
salvaged the second half of Caramoan.

None of that really mattered too much to me anyway, because my vote was decided as soon as the finalists were announced. Malcolm is a favorite of mine, and it was thanks to him that we salvaged the second half of Caramoan. Of course I'm going to back Mr. Freberg all the way! I will certainly be disappointed if Malcolm, who has really shown a lot of growth throughout his two seasons, does not clinch the title of Mr. Survivor. He's funny, entertaining, and I'm sure he'll be back to play again on Survivor 30.

Alright, let's move on to the women fighting for Miss Survivor, shall we? Here, I must say, we have a much more impressive lineup.

We started out with ABC: Andrea, Brenda, and Ciera. Already, there were some concerns that we might not be able to reach Brenda, since she lives such a private life and rarely interacts with fans, but come on, we got Amanda Kimmel to accept her nomination--surely we could get Brenda!

Ciera's four line rap written by Aras was
certainly the worst, but she definitely
made up for it with her resolve and
dedication to the RHAP community.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe it's for the best, though, because Candice has proved to be a fascinating candidate. Her rapport with Rob is better than Ciera's or even Andrea's, which is surprising, because Andrea has frequented the podcast a number of times. When comparing talents, Ciera's four line rap written by Aras was certainly the worst, but she definitely made up for it with her resolve and dedication to the RHAP community. I thought Andrea's 3 minute rap featuring a "violin solo" and three random guys was incredible and there was no way it could be beaten...until Candice dumped ice water on John Cody in the shower.

Even if it was staged (and I'm sure it was), Candice's prank was the best talent we've seen in Miss Survivor (yes, better than Andrea's worm or Chelsea's beer shotgunning), and who doesn't love John Cody? No really, who? Because it seems like everyone--including me--thinks he's awesome. Getting her husband to eat paper and prostituting him to Malcolm sealed the deal for Candice and gave her the strongest interview. Going into the debate, I was really torn between Andrea's likableness and this being her second (and possibly final) shot, Ciera being my fourth favorite Survivor ever (not saying she's the fourth best or anything like that), and Candice's superb performance.

Everyone performed beyond all expectations at the debate, although I have to give the win to Ciera just based on the stories she told and again, her energy and dedication. Sadly, Andrea, you're out of the running for me. I'm sorry! I was left deciding whether I wanted to think with my head (Candice seems like a more polished, better choice and banters well with Rob) or my heart (Ciera is a favorite as mine, as I said, and she seems like the underdog). The decision was too great, and I was forced to split my vote! I know it seems like a cop-out, but I truly cannot decide. You're allowed to vote on multiple devices, so I have cast one vote for Ciera, one for Candice, and two for Malcolm.

In conclusion, if you're reading this and still have not voted (the voting closes at 8:00 PST tonight), I implore you to vote Malcolm...but I can't advise you on Miss Survivor. All three nominees will be great victors. May the best woman win! And Malcolm too.

We'll  be back after the premiere of The Amazing Race this Sunday to scrutinize the episode, so stay tuned!

Cagayan Auction and TV News

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Ethan and I had a chat about the upcoming season of Cagayan and we held our very own auction, where we each had $200 to bet with and we randomly drew different players, drafting teams for the upcoming season. Here are the rules we're following:

• 2 pts if one of your players wins individual immunity
• 3 pts if one of your players uses the HII to cancel a majority of votes against a contestant
• 0 pts if your player uses the OPHII
• 1 pt for voting out the person who used the OPHII or possessed it while being voted out (very unlikely, I know)
• 1 pt per jury member number (i.e. 3rd jury member gets 3 pts)
• 1 pt for winning individual reward
• 9 pts for making it to the Final Tribal Council
• 2 pts per vote received at the Final Tribal Council

We also covered some other news, like the in-progress Miss and Mister Survivor pageants, the TVGN Survivor: Cagayan preview show, and talked about upcoming events. You can listen to the whole show here:

If you want to see the teams Ethan and I drafted, check below the picture (but listen to the audio file first!).

UPDATE: We recorded this Friday night; some things have changed. Candice and Aras have replaced Brenda and Hayden, respectively. The Mister Survivor debate is now on Tuesday and the Miss Survivor debate is now on Wednesday.

Who drafted which Survivors? Scroll down to see!

Marcus's Team:

• David Sampson (Brains)
• Spencer Bledsoe (Brains)
• Morgan McLeod (Beauty)
• LJ McKanas (Beauty)
• Lindsey Ogle (Brawn)
• Trish Hegardy (Brawn)
• Sarah Lacina (Brawn)

Ethan's Team

• J'Tia Taylor (Brains)
• Tasha Fox (Brains)
• Garrett Adelstein (Brains)
• Kass McQuillen (Brains)
• Alexis Maxwell (Beauty)
• Brice Johnston (Beauty)
• Jeremiah Wood (Beauty)
• Jefra Bland (Beauty)
• Cliff Robinson (Brawn)
• Tony Vlachos (Brawn)
• Woo Hwang (Brawn)

As you can see, Ethan clearly destroyed me in this competition, and he may well have a chance to avenge his loss in Blood vs. Water. Have a comment on how the auction went? Want to weigh in on the OPHII, our winner picks, or anything else? Say something below.

Talk to you again soon!

New Cagayan Info

On the TVGN Survivor: Cagayan preview tonight, it was revealed that this season, apart from the three idols hidden at each of the beaches, there will be an additional HII hidden once the tribes merge.

Ok, you say. What's the problem? Another idol won't change the game too much. Well, here's the catch. Remember ye olde idol back from Panama and Cook Islands? The overpowered one that was playable after the votes and the equivalent of winning immunity? Yeah. Well, it's back.

Remember me?

The reason that I wouldn't include Yul, who is obviously a very smart, strategic, charismatic guy inmy list of top players is solely due to his overpowered idol. Unlike an immunity necklace, you can't count on the owner to eventually fail to have immunity; the OPHII (new name for it) is there until it's been used, and the only way to "flush it out" is to give the majority of votes to that person.

And the 100% chance of the player you voted for staying in the game, as well as the votes needed to
successfully carry out this plan, makes the chances of this player ever being voted out extremely low.

Terry combined his OPHII with 5 immunity wins.

In Panama, Terry's OPHII basically functioned as a backup immunity necklace, and he outlasted his whole tribe and half of the other tribe at the merge. To give Terry credit, a lot of this had to do with his amazing physical prowess, but it was certainly nice for Mr. Deitz to have a fallback plan in his back pocket. 

In this instance, athletic ability was able to overcome the strategy and good social games of people like Cirie on the opposing tribe because the player who should have gone home had the OPHII. I like Terry, but him winning Panama would have been as bad as Ozzy winning South Pacific.

I don't usually get as upset as many people do at the inclusion of twists like Redemption Island or returning players, but I am indeed mad at the return of the OPHII. It robs a lot of the credibility from a great winner like Yul, and keeps lucky players around too long.

I fervently hope that the OPHII does not get found this season. I assume it will be, however, and I just hope the other players will realize the threat it poses and agree collectively to vote that player out. The only way to do this successfully is to have the majority alliance (we'll assume the OPHII player is in the minority; if not, there's no end in sight) split the votes between the OPHII holder and another enemy player. They'd have to have enough votes, though, so it needs to be done soon. 

For example, if the numbers are 8-3 or something like that, the majority alliance can vote 5 for the OPHII holder, forcing them to play the idol, and then vote out one of his or her allies. The problem is that you need a huge numbers advantage.

In conclusion, I hate this concept (as I'm sure you can tell) and I hope it does not ruin the upcoming season of Cagayan. I predict that the player who finds the idol will make it to the final 4 where they can then be mercifully voted out. And if the winner of the season is the one who held the idol throughout the game, then sadly, he or she must be condemned to the same winner purgatory as Yul.

In some happier news, the Miss/Mister Survivor interviews are going on this week. So far there have been two great interviews with Tyson and Ciera. After they're all done, I'll write up a quick recap of how everyone did, and then Ethan and I will be back next week to scrutinize the debates and lobby for our winners. Stay tuned!

Agree or disagree with my opinion on the OPHII? I'd love to hear your side. Leave a comment below!

Survivor Pageant Finalists Scrutiny

As promised, here's my discussion with Ethan about the top 3 finalists for Miss and Mister Survivor! A little later than promised, but we got it to you in the end. Look out today for news about whether Brenda has been contacted; it's looking like Candice will be the third finalist. See what Ethan and I have to say about that and more in our audio scrutiny below! We'll talk to you again soon.

P.S. This is the link to the Hold Up Bro song discussed in our scrutiny.

                               

2014 Spring Schedule

First off all, I apologize for not having the pageant scrutiny up for you tonight; Ethan was busy today, so we should be able to record it and get it to you sometime tomorrow, hopefully. Instead, I decided to unveil the schedule for updates and new articles and audio that will begin near the end of February, once Survivor, TAR, and Big Brother Canada begin. 

As you can see below, the biggest day of the week will be Thursday, where we will have an audio recap/scrutiny of the previous day's Survivor episode. Also appearing on Survivor Scrutiny will be some more in depth Survivor articles, plus a weekly Big Brother Canada recap (which will be pretty long, probably; it spans 3 episodes) and an Amazing Race recap. 

If something really exciting happens in BB or TAR, we may end up talking about those as well, although Ethan doesn't watch Big Brother. And on Tuesday, we'll preview the episode to come with Survivor Power Rankings and the results of the Survivor and Amazing Race drafts Ethan and I are going to do; it should be a lot of fun! 

I'm looking forward to getting into things in a couple of weeks, but we still have some great stuff for you, including a couple of audio scrutinies of the Survivor pageants and our Survivor draft, so stay tuned!

Mister Survivor Pageant Finalists

Warning: spoilers about the Mister Survivor top 3!!!

In night two of the pageant results, we found out the finalists of the Mister Survivor competition, which can be watched/listened to on Rob's website. Without further ado, I will announce the top 3. Stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled.

The top 3...


finalists...


of...


Mister Survivor...


are...



                             Hayden Moss             Malcolm Freberg          Tyson Apostol

Congratulations to the finalists! We should have a more complete recap/scrutiny up for you sometime tomorrow...and I'm thinking we will also be back to discuss this again about two weeks from now, after the debates. Talk to you soon!