His alliance members “eat the apple” and James goes home.
Survivor: China Blog
10th Elimination: James
We had a very good episode on our hands last night, so I’m just going to jump right to it…
1. Lame move by CBS. With Thanksgiving last Thursday, it would have been reasonable to expect a clip show instead of an actual episode of Survivor. This is especially true when you consider how pivotal this past episode was and that you wouldn’t want loyal viewers to miss the show because they’re with their family. However, if CBS was going to do this, they should at least have the decency to warn us ahead of time. I even went as far as to check the “next episode” listing on the Survivor website to make sure we were getting a regular episode and not a clip show and it said that in the next episode the castaways were going to get a surprise at tribal council. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed when I fired up the TiVo and no new episode was to be found last week. So if anyone at CBS happens to read this, next time, please give us a head up!
2. Kung Fu Fighting. Another note to CBS: Don’t leave us with a “cliffhanger” which just ends up being a reward challenge two weeks later. Tricking us into thinking that some big game-changing revelation was about to unfold was pretty lame as well.
So the reward was a trip to the Shaolin Temple for a feast, a kung fu demonstration, and an overnight stay. Peih-Gee pulled out the win and took Erik and Denise along. I don’t have any interesting comments to make about the reward per se, however, Todd, Courtney, and Amanda were all pretty fortunate that they lost the challenge. At this point in the game, with seven people left, the last thing you want to do is to win a reward for you and two friends, and leave your two enemies, with your now-jilted remaining two alliance members. It’s a recipe for disaster, which is the very reason that the producers set up this scenario season after season. They’re desperately trying to coax out the flop which will “shock” everyone. If Todd won and went off with James and Amanda, you just know Peih-Gee would’ve been in Courtney and Denise’s ear the entire time telling them there were setting themselves up for fourth and fifth place. And if they were smart, they would’ve listened because she’d be exactly right.
I just don’t get why no one has figured this out yet. If you win that immunity challenge you have to take at least one enemy, and somebody further down on your alliance. You can’t take your closest friends, because you leave yourself wide open for a backstabbing when the people left behind realize where you’re alliance lies. Of course, you have to let your friends in on the deal and have them do the same thing, otherwise they may win, take you, and leave you just as exposed. It’s simply a matter of thinking two steps ahead, but I’ve yet to see one person utilize that strategy in fifteen seasons. On the flip side, I can’t even begin to count the number of people who have been burned by taking their friends with them on a reward…
3. Amanda the Genius. Finally, somebody realized that James needed to be taken out immediately! Had Amanda not gotten everyone on board for the blindside, James could’ve used his two idols starting next episode to get to the final four and would’ve been one challenge away from winning a million dollars. Talk about waiting until the last second, though! James was one star-throw away from winning immunity, which would’ve killed everyone else’s chances. That’s exactly why he should’ve been taken out two episodes ago!
4. James the Idiot. I do have to point out that it was absolutely ludicrous for James to think he could hold onto those idols the entire way. He’s a major threat and everybody knew he had them. You can’t bank on everyone to be that stupid for that long and let you hang around, even though they almost were. My guess is that had he simply given one back to Todd or just unnecessarily played them right away like I said he should, he’d still be in the game. You have to keep those things a secret or play them. Otherwise somebody’s going to take you out.
5. Amanda the Idiot. My jaw dropped when Amanda broke out the line, “Right now I’m just going along with everyone and saying ‘Yeah, we’re top four’, but in all reality, I don’t feel comfortable going to the final three with any of them.” As mentioned above, I totally get why you don’t want to go to the final three with James. He would’ve easily won because he’s a hard worker, a strong competitor, and managed to get himself not one, but two idols. You’d have to vote for him out of respect for that. However, I totally don’t understand why she wouldn’t want to go to the final three with Todd and Courtney. That’s a million bucks, right there! She’d most likely get votes from Jean-Robert, Jaime, Erik, and Peih-Gee, while James and Denise would most likely go Todd. Frosti’s a wild-card, but you wouldn’t need him anyway!
Most importantly, going to the final three with Todd and Courtney is not just a million-dollar scenario for Amanda, it’s also probably her only shot at actually winning the game. It’s likely that Denise, Erik, and even Peih-Gee would beat her in the final. Initially, that may sound far-fetched, especially Peih-Gee. However, keep in mind that in order to go to the final three with any of them, Amanda would have to stab either Todd, Courtney, or both in the back. Todd may respect it and vote for her anyway. Courtney will definitely hold a grudge. Erik or Peih-Gee will command all of the old Yellow Tribe votes. James will probably vote for Denise if she’s left, and if Todd is out of the picture, Jean-Robert will likely be holding Amanda responsible for his elimination. Here’s all the possible scenarios and the way I see things playing out. Rembmer, all you need to win is four votes…
Amanda, Erik, and Denise: Erik gets Frosti, Jaime, Peih-Gee. Denise gets James, Jean-Robert. Todd goes either Denise or Amanda. Courtney goes Erik or Denise. Result: Erik probably wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Denise, and Peih-Gee: Denise gets Courtney, Jean-Robert, James. Todd goes Denise or Amanda. Erik, Jaime, and Frosti go Peih-Gee. Result: Denise probably wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Erik, and Peih-Gee: Erik gets Frosti, Jaime, Courtney, Jean-Robert, Denise. Todd goes Amanda. James goes Erik or Amanda. Result: Erik definitely wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Erik, and Todd: Erik gets Frosti, Jaime, Peih-Gee. Todd gets Courtney, James, Denise. Jean-Robert goes Amanda or Erik. Result: Erik probably wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Denise, and Todd: Todd gets Courtney. Denise gets Erik, Jaime, Peih-Gee. James goes Denise or Todd. Jean-Robert goes Amanda or Denise. Frosti’s a wild card. Result: Denise probably wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Peih-Gee, and Todd: Peih-Gee gets Erik, Jaime, and Frosti. Todd gets Denise, James, Courtney. Jean-Robert goes Amanda. Result: Todd and Peih-Gee tie. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Erik, and Courtney: Erik gets Frosti, Jaime, Peih-Gee, Denise, Jean-Robert. Amanda gets Todd and James. Result: Erik definitely wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Denise, and Courtney: Denise gets James, Peih-Gee, Erik, Peih-Gee Jaime, and Jean-Robert. Todd goes Amanda or Denise. Result: Denise definitely wins. Amanda definitely loses.
Amanda, Peih-Gee, and Courtney: Peih-Gee gets Erik, Jaime, Frosti. Amanda gets Jean-Robert, James. Todd goes Amanda or Courtney. Denise is very up in the air depending on how betrayed she feels and is probably the deciding vote. Result: Amanda or Peih-Gee go down to the wire.
In only that final scenario, up against two of the three most-disliked players that made the merge, does Amanda have a prayer of winning this game. Otherwise she’ll have definitely burned too many bridges and put herself firmly in the hole against biased former-Yellow-tribe voting. Todd and Courtney are her only safe bet. To review:
Amanda, Todd, and Courtney: Amanda gets Erik, Peih-Gee, Jaime, Jean-Robert. Todd gets James and Denise. Frosti’s a wild-card. Result: Amanda definitely wins.
It’s the only sure thing! So why is the only person smart enough to get rid of James apparently dead-set on taking out the only two people who can get her the million? I don’t understand it! We’ll see what happens, but if Denise listens to Amanda and turns on Todd, she’ll most likely become the richest person with a mullet ever!
Survivor Power Poll:
| Ranking | Player | Comments | Last Week |
| 16 | Chicken | Eliminated. | 16 |
| 15 | Ashley | Eliminated. | 15 |
| 14 | Leslie | Eliminated. | 14 |
| 13 |
Dave |
Eliminated | 13 |
| 12 |
Aaron |
Eliminated | 12 |
| 11 | Sherea | Eliminated | 11 |
| 10 | Jaime | Eliminated | 10 |
| 9 | Jean-Robert | Eliminated | 9 |
| 8 | Frosti | Eliminated | 8 |
| 7 | James | Eliminated | 1 |
| 6 | Courtney | After running every scenario through my head, there’s absolutely no way she’ll ever get four people to vote for her. I kinda knew this after the first episode, but always kept ranking her high since she’s the ideal tag-along candidate. However, it’s pretty obvious that her fate is sealed, so how can I put her any higher than last? | 4 |
| 5 | Todd | I have a feeling that this is his last week, but unlike Courtney, he at least has a prayer to win the million. | 3 |
| 4 | Peih-Gee | Surprisingly, there’s an outside chance she may be able to get herself four votes if she heads to the final with the right people. | 7 |
| 3 | Amanda | Scheming her way right out of this game. If she doesn’t go to the final with either Todd and Courtney, or Peih-Gee and Courtney, she’ll have absolutely no shot. | 2 |
| 2 | Erik | If they let him hang around, he’ll win. The question is whether or not they let him hang around. | 6 |
| 1 | Denise | It definitely looks like they’re letting her hang around, and it definitely looks like she’s on the inside track to win the whole thing. Who would’ve ever thought??? | 5 |
