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Bob's fake idols direct gameplay on 'Survivor:Gabon'
Welcome back everyone! I hope you’re still picking cranberries out of your teeth as you sit down to enjoy the next chapter in the adventure that is Survivor:Gabon! After enjoying the best episode of the season, how can this week follow up? C’mon, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. I doubt we’ll see something as spectacular as the bluff they pulled on Randy, but with the headcount down to seven, the possibilities for drama are running high!
Sour Bob. The Nobag tribe returns to camp, and the mystery of Bob’s sullen countenance at the end of last episode is revealed. Bob thinks the laughing at Randy’s misfortune was excessive. Corinne and Sugar get into it next regarding the way that Kenny’s alliance is playing the game. Corinne vows to take the gloves off.
Ooooh, no main title sequence! There must be a lot going on in this episode.
Product placement. Ken and Bob pull some HUGE fish out of their net, and the tribe looks forward to a feast. Bob ingeniously fashions a frying surface to cook up their fish. Meanwhile, Kenny praises Bob’s inventiveness while deriding his ability to play the game of Survivor in the same breath.
At the reward challenge, Jeff announces that the survivors will be competing for the right to watch videos from home on the SAMSUNG INSTINCT from SPRINT (available now.) As they watch their video, they will enjoy a tasty snack. Tribe mates are teased with excerpts from their videos, the tears flow, and the moment is touching indeed. Crystal and Susie are selected to form teams. After a schoolyard choosing, Sugar, Crystal and Bob will compete against Matty, Ken and Susie in a race to collect (can you believe it) puzzle pieces in the form of gears which must be assembled and used to raise the flag which signals their advancement to round two. As Corinne is not selected for either team, she is excluded from competition. Bob’s physics expertise comes into play, and Crystal’s team wins the chance to go onto the second portion of the competition.
Survivors must next solve a puzzle formed by sliding tiles to win reward. Again, Bob’s brain serves him well and he wins reward. Kenny states that he has been alerted to the danger of Bob’s heady play, and targets him for possible elimination.
Family matters. Bob pulls himself a beer and sits down to enjoy his reward video. His wife announces that she has to show him something, and the scene cuts to Bob watching the video as his wife, Peggy, steps out from behind the tree and surprises him. I’ll be honest, their reunion brought a smile to this grizzled reporter’s face.
Bob and Peggy return to camp, and Bob has a surprise of his own. All of the survivors' family members have come back to camp with him, and there are hugs all around. Survivor is always good for one tug at your heart strings per season, and this episode delivers on that promise. After the hugs have subsided, Kenny discusses his position in the game with his sister while Sugar and her own sister spread some of their father’s ashes into the river near camp.
Matty takes the opportunity to reaffirm his love for his girlfriend, Jamie, and proposes to her on camera. He offers her a hand-fashioned necklace in lieu of an engagement ring, and she says yes. The survivors spend the rest of the afternoon getting reconnected to their loved ones, and this season’s feel-good segment comes to an end.
Check out the big brain on Bob. Bob and Corinne go off to check tree mail, and Bob says that it would be a good time to blindside Matty. Kenny’s alliance is discussing their vote, and even Sugar agrees that Bob is the biggest threat. Well, so much for that father/daughter relationship that I theorized on two weeks ago!
Next, the payoff from the tease we saw week before last is played out. Bob spins a tale of how Marcus rescued the immunity idol discovered at the feast during the merge, and faked the throw into the ocean. In actuality, Bob’s tale is completely fabricated, and he is planning on making another fake idol. Bob and Corinne will use the fake idol to influence the tribe, and draw votes away from themselves.
At the immunity competition, survivors answer trivia questions to win balls, balls which will be tossed at a target after the end of the question round. The person who ends up with the ball closest to the center after all tosses wins immunity. As Bob and Corrine’s plan requires that one of them win immunity, a win here is vital for them. Ball area pitched and after a threatening final toss from Sugar, Bob’s tosses prove to be the most accurate, and he wins immunity. Presumably, Bob is safe this round.
Fake Idol Mark II. Bob and Corinne develop their plan involving the fake idol. They will let certain influential people know that Corinne is planning on using the idol that Bob claims he was given by Marcus. The key here is how they introduce this story of the rescued idol. They have to do it in such a way that Kenny’s alliance doesn’t suspect that the idol is a fake. Corinne tells the story to Kenny, and he is taken in by the story, so much so that he seems willing to switch alliances. Kenny advises Bob and Corinne to target Matty, and also states that he will try and get Crystal to play along with them.
Bob crafts another convincing immunity idol, and shows it to Crystal, selling her on the idea of him, Kenny, and Corinne going to the final four. But wait! Kenny tells Crystal to vote for Corinne, assuming that the other three in his alliance will be voting that way as well, with only himself, Corinne, and Bob voting Matty. If this happens, and Corinne plays her fake idol, Corinne will still be going home. Bob and Corinne’s plan appears to be in jeopardy.
At tribal, Jeff asks the players if paranoia has been striking them individually. It is generally agreed that such attacks have been taking place. Trust is discussed next, and Crystal and Kenny seem to be hinting that they will be voting along with Bob and Corinne’s plan (which should get Corinne booted anyway.) The only hope for the pair is if Crystal, wishing to take no chances to get rid of him, switches her vote to Matty, recognizing him as a greater danger than Corinne. Jeff calls for the idol to be played and Corinne holds her fake one back. The votes are read, and Corinne is sent home by a vote of 4-3.
Well, Bob’s plan may not have saved Corinne, but it did do something very interesting. The fact that Matty garnered three votes when the opposing alliance numbers only two did not go unnoticed. He appeared visibly shaken after the vote. Bob’s plan might be the key to fracturing the stronger alliance – if Matty starts going after Kenny, Bob’s intelligent play ought to be sufficient to maneuver him into a swing vote position, and save him in future rounds. Kenny started off the episode saying that Bob’s game play isn’t up to snuff, but I doubt that he feels that way now.
Kenny isn't very bright. He should have voted for Corinne anyway. If she DID have the idol, then Matty would have been voted off by Bob and Coriine's vote anyway. If she was lying (and she was), then he wouldn't have exposed himself (as he's now done). If Kenny made the final two, he could have claimed ignorance and may have gotten Matty jury vote. Now, somebody's got some 'splainin' to do Lucy!
Joe | Dec 5, 2008 4:19:18 AM | #I hate this season. Ilike Bob, all the others can vote themselves off. How in the world did such weak players like Sugar,Kenny,Susie and Crystal ever ever ever make it this far? What Olympics was Crystal in by the way cause she cant run, she cant lift, she cant throw. Susie floats and kenny until this vote always tried to keep a girl on his side. Like he might get lucky!! not even with a million dollars Kenny!! Cant wait for this season to finish.
fan | Dec 5, 2008 5:17:36 AM | #this is the lamest survivor yet except for the twists Bob is introducing which are quite brilliant. You need to come up with more interesting players like in the old days or I shant be watching next time. The only one that truly deserves to win this one is Bob. We'll see.
marilyn | Dec 5, 2008 6:10:05 AM | #As Corinne could only play the idol BEFORE the votes were read, Kenny and Crystals plan is just PARTICULARLY stupid - indicative of the sloppy players they are. I mean, if you assure Corinne that you are both voting Matty and all agree that you don't need to play the idol but will save it to benefit your secret alliance later on, then how does she know to play it? how will it be "flushed out." Honestly, I don't mind physically weaker players who have great game - I mean Cirie may be one of the greatest Survivor players of all time! But these people are just lucky that they are in the season with the most guillable survivors ever. Kenny has never really had to sell a lie to anyone very hard - they just believe whomever spoke to them last. I am appalled to think that anyone but Bob could win this season. What a bunch of vacancies!
romana118 | Dec 5, 2008 8:00:15 AM | #I knew from the moment that Kenny started to trash Bob's gameplay prior to the reward challenge that this was going to be a Bob-centric episode (watching 17 seasons of this series will give you a sixth sense about these sort of things).
First off, major kudos to Bob for calling out Sugar for her behavior last tribal council. While everyone managed a knowing smile or glance (and Crystal barely contained laughter), I too thought that Sugar's display was not only over the top but is very poor taste. Congrats Bob!
Possibly getting back for being beaten by Kenny in an immunity challenge earlier in the season, Bob the physics teacher schooled Kenny the gamer in that reward challenge by putting the puzzle pieces together quicker, despite Kenny's team having what looked to be a winning head start.
I must however jeer the producers for allowing the losing players relatives to return with Bob and his wife to camp. Now I'm not mean spirited or hard hearted or anything, but if the players still got to see their relatives what was the whole point of the reward challenge anyway? Some pizza and a video message from said loved ones? I'm sure the others would have gladly sacrificed both the food and message in order to see them in person. Come on, producers, this is a REWARD after all!
Personally, I'm pulling for either Bob or Matty to win this thing. Although Matty's "can't we all just get along" attitude is a bit grating at times, at least he is trying to get farther along by winning competitions and not be mere alliances. Bob also proved that Kenny is not the only one capable of playing mind games and lying to people (i.e. to Sugar). I'm neither really for or against Crystal, Kenny, or Susie. However, I don't think any of those three really deserve the money. At least Kenny and Susie have won immunity (in lame setups: starting fire and stacking glorified dominoes), but Crystal has been truly worthless. Her biggest achievement - competition wise has been pulling Ace off a pole (many, many) weeks ago!
Like Corinne, the only person I absolutely don't want to win is Sugar. She is childish, immature, two-faced, and most of all either stupid or naive. I completely disagree with those who want to crown this fool as one of the "smartest" players ever. So she found the immunity idol, big deal. She was conned by Kenny when he lied to her about Ace and then forms an alliance with someone that she knows is not trustworthy. That is not brilliant game play but glorified floating - something that Susie has down to a fine art.
In the end, if Sugar is in the final two/three I hope Corinne keeps her promise to sway the jury vote away from Sugar and someone else.
Lastly, why was Kenny so intent to not only back-dooring Matty but also putting the so-called "hidden Marcus" idol out in the open when he has allowed Sugar to skate through practically the entire game with her own (real) immunity idol? Everyone - except Bob - knows for sure that Sugar has the idol (and Bob probably suspects it), so why allow her a free pass into the final four? Good gameplay by Kenny and Co.? Hardly.
Jay | Dec 5, 2008 9:09:26 AM | #All the looks at tribal were hysterical. Ken looing/nodding to Corrine to play the idol, Corrinne looking at Bob, Matt looking at Ken and Corrinee, Ken looking at Crystal! LOL
MJ | Dec 5, 2008 9:17:51 AM | #Crystal was a 2004 gold medal winner in a relay run
MJ | Dec 5, 2008 9:19:11 AM | #I swear if Susie or Chrystal win I will never watch again. I can't believe that either one of them are still in this game.
I'm not real fond of Ken or Sugar either. Sugar is nothing but lucky - no skills what-so-ever. At least kenny is playing the game - not always well, but playing nonetheless.
I wanted Marcus, Corrine or Charlie to win - but they blew it by not getting Matt to join them before the merge. So - by default - I want Bob now. Not that he's that great a player either - but he's better than Crystal or Susie.
Marie | Dec 5, 2008 9:23:09 AM | #All I can say is I agree with pretty much everyone who's posted before me. romana118, you're right, I felt the same way last night, couldn't for the life of me figure out how they thought they were flushing out the idol. And Jay, great point about how they couldn't wait to deal with Bob/Corinne's "idol" yet Sugar has been allowed to go her merry way with her genuine one. This has definitely been one of the more disappointing seasons for me. There's a part of me that leans toward Bob, but even this late in the game I'm not invested one way or the other as to who wins.
Beth | Dec 5, 2008 10:22:30 AM | #I have to second everyone's extremely low opinion of the immaturity at camp. I know the editors shield some players, but no amount of shielding can screen how immature, childish and mean-spirited the behavior of Crystal and Kenny, but particularly Sugar, has been.
I also want to agree with Beth that I do not understand why no one is interested in flushing out Sugar's idol. This is the real idol, for Pete's sake, and everyone just lets this bubble-headed MeanGirl float through week after week. I can understand that she is not enough of a physical or mental threat to attempt a real removal from the game, but telling her you're going to vote for her so that she plays the idol would still keep her in the game while eliminating in the same tribal council a stronger player. I am simply baffled by the absence of any logical players - did casting not screen any of these people?.
Bob is not a great player - though his fake idols are simply the best in the niche "fake idol" business. However, Bob looks like the Boston Rob of this season compared with the sloppy and illogical gameplay of these jokers. I wish with my whole heart that a Jonathon or Yau Man or Cirie or Amanda-type player had been on this season. The next all-stars - no one from this season qualifies.
But I guess...you know...go Bob...
romana118 | Dec 5, 2008 10:36:02 AM | #Corinne,
You got OUTPLAYED!
Go Sugar!!!
Kaz | Dec 5, 2008 10:58:15 AM | #Seems it me that the merits of Kenny's self-alleged "superior" game play is in the eye of the beholder: Kenny's admirers obviously conclude that their man is masterminding the blindsides of many, far more imposing players, whereas his detractors feel that Kenny has merely lucked his way into a winning position. There are merits to both positions, in my mind. True, Kenny has been smart at times throughout the game and true, he has been calling many of the shots for the Fang-alliance. Yet, we must also recognize that he has played recklessly and mindlessly on a number of plays, the latest (which everyone did a nice job recounting above) being his "alliance" with Bob and Corrine. I myself, cannot overlook the fact, though, that has it not been for production interference, Kenny would never have had numbers on his side. True, they needed to bring Susie into their fold in order to take out Marcus, but seems like Crystal did more of the grunt work there.
After all, once a player has numbers on his side, its not too difficult to systematically eliminate the majority. I am definitely a Bob fan, and I could not agree less with Kenny's assertion that Bob's game play is "inferior." Both Bob and Kenny have been down on their luck sometime in the game numerically: Kenny at the beginning, pre-merge stage of the game; Bob in the post-merge stage. But whereas Kenny needed rocks blindly drawn out of a bag and luck to get him back in the game, Bob has been using his ingenuity, his bluffing-skills, his smarts, and (yes) his physical strengths as well. Bob is the classic example of a player who is going to last mildly longer than expected by none other than his grit and determination.
But Kenny seems to have finally shot himself in the foot, an ironic occurrence for a "master game player." It was not his logic, but his greed that undermined last night's plan. Logically, trying to burn Matty AND purge the fake idol made no sense, because if the plan failed not only would a member of his new alliance (Corrine) be gone, but a member of his old Alliance (Matty) would be justifiably irate. And Kenny wants to blame Bob for his newly-earned precarious position? Sure Bob spun the yarn that did Kenny in, but it was Kenny, not Bob, who decided to turn on his alliance. It just proves that perhaps Kenny was rather premature to deride Bob's game play, considering, at this point, Bob's only chance of survival was to provide the external stimulus that would cause internal rifts within the-Kota alliance. Mission accomplished, for not it seems like a Matti-Bob-Susie alliance could easy try to target the duplicitous Kenny-Crystal duo, placing Bob nicely in the swing-vote position, and securing his safety for another round.
Martov | Dec 5, 2008 11:13:26 AM | #Bob is definitely my favorite this season. He seems like a good guy. That said, the nicest person doesn't necessarily 'deserve' to win the game. The person who manages to finagle a win, by hook or by crook, is the one who deserves to win.
The winner most likely won't be Bob, but that's okay, he seems to have a great life. Winning Survivor wouldn't be the high point of his life by any means.
i guess I am in the minority because I like Sugar. I am starting to not like Kenny. He is getting too cocky and he thinks he is the mastermind behind everything.
chenbot | Dec 5, 2008 1:57:13 PM | #kenny while talking to his sister seemed very cocky.
and his move to vote for matty and telling crystal to vote for corrine was very stupid. i didnt know why they would split the votes like that.
friday | Dec 5, 2008 2:32:41 PM | #Friday...I can understand Kenny's logic behind having Crystal vote for Corinne, but I don't like it (and don't think it's very smart, either).
Kenny wanted to get rid of the fake idol that Bob made saying it was the original idol that Marcus threw in the ocean. Using Kenny's thought process, Corinne would use the idol thinking she is going to be voted out. If the idol were real (and Kenny thinks it is), then none of the votes cast her Corinne would count, so with 3 votes, Matty would be sent to the jury. Kenny's top physical threat would be gone and so would the idol that Corinne used.
The question I have is this...did Kenny and/or Crystal inform Corinne and/or Bob of their plan to split their votes and get the idol flushed out? If not, why would you go to the trouble of splitting votes then? Corinne and Bob probably assumed that both Crystal and Kenny would vote for Matty and only Susie, Matty, and Sugar would vote for Corinne.
If Kenny didn't tell either Corinne or Bob of his twist then he can't blame either one for not playing the idol.
In next week's preview Kenny confronts Bob and calls him a liar. In response Bob tells him that he will give him the immunity idol if he wins it. I hope that Bob gives Kenny the fake idol or goes back on his word (after all lying is not against the rules). The preview also raises another interesting question, why does Kenny believe he needs immunity to stay in the game? Do Matty and the others realize Kenny voted against them? Perhaps they recognized his distinctive writing on the parchment at tribal council? Sounds exciting, and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.
Jay | Dec 5, 2008 3:01:44 PM | #Well, that's it. I'm pulling the plug. No more watching Survivor for me! My old VCR finally died and I swapped in my DVD recorder in its place and set it up to record 3 hours last night while I was in my TUES-THURS evening classes and my DVD recorder FAILED on an error that the station has not allowed the programs to be recorded, so I MISSED the show! Thanks for the recap, by the way. KIRO TV, Channel 7 in Seattle is now no longer on my list of viewed stations. If I can't watch a program by tape delay, then I just won't watch at all. My question, is this a network level or local station level thing? Either way, KIRO 7 programming is now off my viewing list. I sent in a feedback telling them they lost a viewer because they stopped my DVD recorder. What do they think they gain from stopping people from recording a program to watch later?
Anyway, I find it interesting that Corinne was voted off, that Bob's plan failed. But then, these people HAVE been playing a rather stupid game so far and I wasn't really all that interested, so the fact the station stopped my DVD recorder from recoding the program was just the final straw. I'll read the recaps for sure, and I'll set up the recorder for the future just in case, but if it fails to record, I guess I'll have watched the last episode...
xyzzy | Dec 5, 2008 3:11:40 PM | #xyzzy, I live in Seattle also and I DVR Survivor every week, so I suspect there's another issue involved here. Do you have cable or satellite? If so, you should probably check with them and maybe they can help you.
Beth | Dec 5, 2008 3:47:57 PM | #In the preview, thought Bob was offering Kenny immunity if he won it. No?
Here's what bothers me. Two weeks have passed for us, but there are actually only two or three days between tribal councils. It seems weird enough that Bob tried the same bluff twice in the game, but downright bizarre within the same week. (Oddly, Corinne believed him when he first produced his lie even he was merely telling her what the lie would be.)
I liked Bob's statement regarding his creation, that he keeps collecting what he finds. "I'm like a raven."
Maureen | Dec 5, 2008 4:12:08 PM | #good analysis above.
Yes, Kenny has shown his greed.
There is definitely a lot of randomness in the way survivor unfolds from year to year. This year seemingly poor game play was rewarded (for players like Sugar and Susie) but more often than not poor play just gets you eliminated.
I think the time has come to turn on Kenny and Crystal. However that move would require Matty or Susie stepping up and working together, and that hasn't happened so far. A much more likely scenario is Matty or Bob goes home next week since everybody else is fine with that, and the two men are unlikely to team up together.
But you never know when one of the sleepers will wake up and make a move. Certainly Matty has reason to make one.
Am I the only one that know Keeny and Crystal are running the game. They got Ace and Marcus out plus everyone else on the jury. So before everyone says that they can't play the game or that their stupid look at what they've done. Plus Bob is so stupid if everyone is smart they'll vote him out because right now he's got the votes on the jury.
Ryan | Dec 6, 2008 11:53:10 AM | #Even with all of his mistakes, Ken still somehow is the power player. When you take a bunch of mediocre players (Matty, Sugar, Susie, Crystal) and pair them with an average player, all of a sudden, the average player looks like a god. Here's the thing: at least Kenny is trying. Everyone else is a tool, or severely outnumbered (Bob). Even with this mistake, Ken still has Crystal, likely has Bob, and may have Sugar. Susie wants Matty gone. The likliest scenario still is Bob, then Matty, then Susie.
Hmmm...
Dan | Dec 6, 2008 12:59:28 PM | #Ryan, you miss the point that while Ace and Marcus have both been voted out, neither Kenny nor Crystal did it on their own. Simply, they needed help. If one is truly "running the game" then they wouldn't need the help of others or producer interference. (By interference I mean the nearly constant switching of the tribes in what was probably a desperate and lame attempt to curb the Kota winning streak which didn't make for very exciting television.)
In order to vote out Ace, Kenny needed the help of Sugar which is why he lied to her. In order to vote out Marcus, Kenny and Crystal needed the support of Susie. Where would Kenny and Crystal be right now if Susie had decided to side with Bob and Marcus? On the jury, that's where!
I'm not going to apologize (or change my mind) for thinking that Kenny is nowhere near the best player in either the game's history or this season. He has had an incredible amount of luck (orchestrated by the producers) along with fellow contestants whose play is subpar at best.
The truly great players would have these so called power players for lunch.
And, Ryan how is Bob so stupid if he has been able to avoid almost certain elimination two weeks in a row thanks to a fake idol (which actually only occurred days apart as has already been mentioned). He also dominated Kenny, the person "running the game" in back-to-back challenges and almost everyone agrees that he (Bob) and Matty are the top two physical threats. That statement alone tells us something about the sad state of this game. Bob, a high school physics teacher, is almost 60 while everyone else, except Susie, is under the age of 30.
Lastly, if Kenny was truly "running the show" then Matty would be sitting on the jury instead of Corinne, wouldn't he?
Jay | Dec 7, 2008 1:58:43 PM | #Bob is so stupid for playing the same thing twice back to back. Sooner later is it going to bite him in the butt. Two weeks ago Kenny won the challenge not Bob Jay so Bob hasn't dominated him in back to back challenges. You can't admit that Kenny and Crysatl are good. Just because they aren't the strongest players doesn't mean that they aren't good. You don't have to be strong to win this game Jay. Let me make a predition that Crystal, Kenny, and someone else are the final 3.
Ryan | Dec 8, 2008 6:27:12 PM | #Plus lying is part of the game. It's Sugar's fought that she listened. Plus that didn't keep him in the game this week. Immunity kept him safe not the fake idol.
Ryan | Dec 8, 2008 6:29:43 PM | #
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