Survivor: Week 9

New Picks

I received everyone's third and final set of picks, which will be weighted three times as much as the first set of picks. Everyone's score will receive a 300 point boost going into this week's episode to offset the extra deductions. Here are the picks:

Matt's Picks:
8th: Randy
7th: Corinne
6th: Matty
5th: Bob
4th: Sugar
3rd: Susie
2nd: Crystal
1st: Ken

Jen's Picks:
8th: Randy
7th: Bob
6th: Susie
5th: Corinne
4th: Crystal
3rd: Matty
2nd: Sugar
1st: Ken

Dawn's Picks:
8th: Randy
7th: Crystal
6th: Susie
5th: Ken
4th: Sugar
3rd: Bob
2nd: Corinne
1st: Matty

Mom's Picks:
8th: Corinne
7th: Randy
6th: Matty
5th: Bob
4th: Sugar
3rd: Ken
2nd: Crystal
1st: Susie

Mike's Picks:
8th: Susie
7th: Sugar
6th: Corinne
5th: Randy
4th: Bob
3rd: Crystal
2nd: Ken
1st: Matty

Carl's Picks:
8th: Randy
7th: Corinne
6th: Bob
5th: Sugar
4th: Matty
3rd: Susie
2nd: Crystal
1st: Ken

Paul's Picks:
8th: Randy
7th: Corinne
6th: Bob
5th: Susie
4th: Crystal
3rd: Ken
2nd: Sugar
1st: Matty

Kim's Picks:
8th: Corinne
7th: Randy
6th: Susie
5th: Matty
4th: Crystal
3rd: Sugar
2nd: Bob
1st: Ken


The Episode: The Humiliation of Randy Bailey


The reward challenge was the traditional Survivor auction, which, as usual, goes well for those who are willing to throw their money around with reckless abandon. Susie got a bath, Randy won three food items, Corinne got a chance to get ahead in the game, Sugar got some peanut butter and chocolate (without showing her boobs), Matty got a cheeseburger, Ken got to send someone to Exile, and Crystal? Crystal got a rock. She and Bob were the only ones not to win anything. At least Crystal got a chocolate chip cookie, made with Randy's special recipe which includes heaps of guilt.

There was a big fight over a plate of chocolate chip cookies in which both Randy and Sugar managed to be equally unlikeable and wrong.

With Bob away at Exile Island, Randy struck upon a very shaky plan which, although it was very far-fetched, was possibly better than no plan at all (with the third, unthinkable, option being to suck up to the majority alliance in the hopes of going a little further).

Randy's plan involved Bob finding a hidden immunity idol and voluntarily giving it to Randy, who would in the meantime act so unpleasantly towards the others that he would be sure to attract the votes of the controlling alliance. This was not likely to work out, but it did add some flavor to the game when it just so happened that Bob had a fake, hand-crafted hidden immunity idol burning a hole in his pocket.

Before that situation came to a head, there was an immunity challenge in which Corinne's leg up failed to get her immunity. It was a really cool challenge, actually, in which the finalists had to stack giant dominoes along a hilly course, while they themselves navigated a maze of trip-wires that constantly threatened to knock down the dominoes they had already set up.

Ken employed a different strategy and ultimately came out on top, beating out Corinne and Matty for immunity. With Corinne and Randy both clearly at the bottom of the tribal pecking order, this was probably not a very important immunity challenge anyway.

By the time tribal council rolled around, there was absolutely no question as to what was going to happen. The only question was how low the individuals involved would sink when gloating over their respective surprises, one of which was real, and one of which was not.

Randy was so angry he didn't say a word before stalking off the tribal council set, and Sugar led a very unflattering round of laughter and hilarity at Randy's expense.

Only Bob seemed ashamed of himself, and he should have been, for kicking Randy when he was down. I think it boiled down to the fact that Bob was too proud of his creation to let it go to waste. He may have also perceived a strategic advantage to sucking up to Sugar, although whether this pans out for him remains to be seen.

This tribal council underscored what may be the most personal-attack-filled season of Survivor ever. There has been a never-ending stream of vitriol out of the mouths of Corinne, GC, Crystal, Randy, Sugar, Susie, and Ken (and others, I'm sure). With some of the most explosive personalities gone, the pot may stop being stirred quite so frequently, but I'm not holding my breath.

Also at tribal council, we got to see Marcus and Charlie wearing some very nicely complementary pastel dress shirts, so that was fun.

Randy started off being very unlikeable, and his early personal friction with GC and Crystal was an indicator that his unpleasant personality was going to trump his gameplay. There was a happy marriage of strategy and natural inclination when he got transferred to Kota, when he rejected his old Fang tribe so vehemently and so convincingly that he was accepted within the Kota alliance. But when his old Fang tribemates came back to haunt him, he couldn't swallow his dislike for them enough to do anything but be a big tool, and that was when his Randy-ness caught up with him for good.

Next week: We see Bob spinning a tale to Corinne about another immunity idol. True? Doubtful.


The Pool

This pool is about as tight as possible. Everyone seems to be within just a few points of the person ahead of and below them.

The big winners this week were Kim and Jen, who each jumped a couple of spots in the rankings. The biggest loser of the week was Paul, who dropped from 5th to 7th.

Mom holds onto her spot at the top, but just 22 points separate her from 7th place, so any single elimination could tear these rankings apart.

Here are the scores. They are presented as follows:
Current 1st picks score (- elimination, + immunity pick) + Current 2nd picks score (- elimination) + Current 3rd picks score (- elimination) = Current Total Score

1st: Mom 84 (-10) + 149 (-10) + 297 (-3) = 530
2nd: Mike 79 (-4) + 158 (-8) + 291 (-9) = 528
3rd: Matt 55 (-10) + 165 (-2) + 305 (+5) = 525
6th: Jen 53 (-8) + 158 (+5) + 305 (+5) = 516
4th: Carl 47 (-9) + 163 (-6) + 305 (+5) = 515
7th: Kim 63 (-9, +24)) + 151 (-2) + 297 (-3) = 511
5th: Paul 71 (-10) + 132 (-10) + 305 (+5) = 508
8th: Dawn 32 (-9) + 143 (-8) + 305 (+5) = 480

Don't forget to send me your IP for next week's show.

Good luck, everyone!