Survivor Samoa

[Toddzilla]

I'm just glad they got some gratuitous shots of Laura's fantastic boobs before she was voted off...

[mauchow]

In Ponderosa last week, Erik was really trying hard to get with Kelli.

So when Laura gets voted out and goes to Ponderosa, they're sitting at the table eating Kelli starts talking and says to Laura, "You can stay in my room with me since there are two beds!" Erik just throws his head down in complete disappointment. lol, horny bastard, and rightfully so.

[Dutch]

Not as great as last week, but yes, still in the 'great' category. Russell is now my favorite Survivor ever. He's outwitting and outplaying like no other. He's almost making the immunity challenges irrelevant.

I think his chances now are probably around 40-50%....which is not bad, but still lots of room for him to get blindsided.

Hell, he probably won't get blindsided, they are all too stupid for that, he'll have to know he's going home before the vote....so he needs to keep getting immunity idols.

[Atocep]

Slow episode last night. John was the right call, though. Outside of Russell he's the only guy that was really even attempting to play the game. The remaining Galu members don't have a plan at all. Dave is absolutely clueless on how to play Survivor.

Anyone else love Dave's wink to the jury as if he'd pulled off something there by John going home?

[EagleFan]

That tribe has got to be the dumbest tribe ever. Once it was revealed that Shambo wanted Dave out; Dave should have played along with the John vote idea and then got his 4 tribe members to voted with John. It would have forced a 4-4-1 tie and a revote with Shambo being pissed off that she wasn't let in on what was happening and she is very prone to voting base on her emotions.

[Lathum]

I think Russell made his first big mistake not bringing Shambo into the loop. He had her in his pocket and now she doesn't trust him.

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I think Russell made his first big mistake not bringing Shambo into the loop. He had her in his pocket and now she doesn't trust him.

[EagleFan]

How's not going to the stones looking for John now? lololololol... idiot

[Swaggs]

Agreed on Russell's decision.

He should have gone w/ Dave this week and John or someone else on Gau next. That seemed like a pretty chaotic move.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I think Russell made his first big mistake not bringing Shambo into the loop. He had her in his pocket and now she doesn't trust him.

plus he flat out lied to John...does he not realize he needs to win by vote of the people he is screwing over? especially if you think about the fact that people like mick and jaison are well liked by everyone.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by saldana

plus he flat out lied to John...does he not realize he needs to win by vote of the people he is screwing over? especially if you think about the fact that people like mick and jaison are well liked by everyone.

I don't think you can predict the jury either way. Some people vote for people who do that stuff and some hold grudges. On the ponderosa episodes John wasn't bitter at all. Annoying an arrogant, but not bitter.

I think John going home was the right call and I think Russell has a good enough relationship with Shambo that he can still easily salvage things. It would have been smart to make up some story about John scrambling to get him (Russell) voted out or something along those lines and get her on board with voting John out while promising Dave is next, but I don't think it's something that can't be fixed. He's the only person she really seems to talk to and I think even she's smart enough to realize she's not going to win with no allies.

Dave is no threat to anyone. He has no plan, 2 allies, and showed last episode he'll do whatever he's told just to stay in the game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by saldana

plus he flat out lied to John...does he not realize he needs to win by vote of the people he is screwing over? especially if you think about the fact that people like mick and jaison are well liked by everyone.

1. You have to get to the final 2 before you worry about who votes for you. If you start trying to please your tribe mates just because you want them to vote for you, you'll end up getting blindsided and finding yourself in the position of voter rather than final 2.

2. There's been numerous situations where the less likable person was the one that received votes solely based on gameplay. Some were in Survivor along with other similar shows. Being the nice guy doesn't necessarily win the game or the votes.

[Thomkal]

<----shakes his head at the idiots for not voting Russell off. So what if he plays the idol, at least he's rid of it then. He's just going to get more and more paranoid as the game goes on.

Glad Dave is gone, what an idiot. At least Monica tried to save herself and it nearly worked.

[Jas_lov]

I liked Russell's decision to get rid of Shambo. She was no threat to win anything as he said, but Brett could be because of how dumb Galu is. There are members of Galu who won't say Russell and Foa Foa got the best of us so here's the money. They'll vote for Brett just because he's Galu. On the other hand, there is no way Russell doesn't beat Mick, Jaison, and Natalie in a final vote when Russell has been running the show since day 1.

So now Russell has Mick to help eliminate Brett and Russell will be safe another week unless Brett wins the next immunity, then he might be in trouble if Jaison joins with Mick and Brett to oust Russell. Once it gets to the F4, it will be 2-2 tie at worst for Russell with Natalie's vote if he doesn't win immunity.

[Jas_lov]

Erik is stupid. How to you come to Survivor and not expect to get lied to? Natalie is completely undeserving. Russell dominated the game and even Shambo knows it.

[mauchow]

Insane ending....

Russell is an idiot for talking himself up so much. Be humble. Oh, well, I guess since you're already a millionaire I don't care all that much with you losing.

It will be funny watching you get voted out first in the All Stars Survivor in the spring.

[EagleFan]

Insane season, glad the asshole didn't win.

[Racer]

Thought Natalie actually played an excellent game. Foa Foa coming back would not have been possible if she hadn't gotten the girls on the other team to turn against Erik. The editing also showed her make social connections with the other players.

Russell played a damn good game. However, from what I can tell he is an egomaniac and I'm guessing he rubbed a lot of the other castaways the wrong way out there. I bet he probably would have won the million if he had stayed somewhat humble.

[Thomkal]

shocked Russell didn't win based on who he brought with him to the Final 3. Don't get me wrong I'm glad he lost and Jeff rubbed it in that he lost to one of his "dumb bimbo's", but man how do you not reward Russell for the kind of things he pulled off in this game right down to outlasting Brett in the Final Immunity? I think Natalie should have taken that $100,000 he won from the fans in return for the "Sole Survivor" title, LOL.

[tyketime]

It has certainly sparked some debate in the Tykes household. If Russell had been able to scale it back some, he may very well have won. But of course, anything less than 100% would not have been true to who he really is. You only have to see how upset he truly was on the Reunion Show to know how big his ego really was/is.

One of the things I love about Survivor is that there is no clearcut path to victory. Every season is different, and the ones who figure it out the quickest are the ones to survive the longest.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

shocked Russell didn't win based on who he brought with him to the Final 3. Don't get me wrong I'm glad he lost and Jeff rubbed it in that he lost to one of his "dumb bimbo's", but man how do you not reward Russell for the kind of things he pulled off in this game right down to outlasting Brett in the Final Immunity? I think Natalie should have taken that $100,000 he won from the fans in return for the "Sole Survivor" title, LOL.

It wasn't 100,000 that he offered, he offered 10,000. Jeff is the one that said 100,000 later when he brought it back up. I think he was confused with the Sprint thing.

[EagleFan]

Looking forward to the all-star show. Should be interesting.

Has there been a list of players leaked out yet?

[Racer]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Looking forward to the all-star show. Should be interesting.

Has there been a list of players leaked out yet?

This is the list I've seen

Spoiler

Colby (Australia/All-Stars)
Jerri (Australia/All-Stars)
Rob (Marquesas/All-Stars)
Rupert (Pearl Islands/All-Stars)
Sandra (Pearl Islands)
Tom (Palau)
Stephenie (Palau/Guatemala)
Danielle (Panama)
Cirie (Panama/Micronesia)
Candice (Cook Islands)
Parvati (Cook Islands/Micronesia)
Courtney (China)
Amanda (China/Micronesia)
James ( China/Micronesia)
Sugar (Gabon)
Randy (Gabon)
Tyson (Tocantis)
J.T. (Tocantis)
Coach (Tocantis)
Russell H (Samoa)

Not sure if it's 100% accurate although I'm guessing there is a list out there that is because I've read that the season has been pretty heavily spoiled.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by tyketime

One of the things I love about Survivor is that there is no clearcut path to victory. Every season is different, and the ones who figure it out the quickest are the ones to survive the longest.

Unfortunately one of the things about Survivor is that the winner rarely is the best player in the game. There's no way that Natalie deserved this more than Russell, he just happened to be caught by a gang of jurors who were bitter and jealous. I think their votes were revenge votes and not for the best player, which is kinda sad.

That being said Natalie was a key player in Russell's plan, she did play a good social game and a lot of the stuff she uncovered got used by Russell to get them further. Do I believe should could have gotten there without Russell? No. But could Russell have gotten there without her? Absolutely. That's why I think he should have won.

[Kodos]

One the one hand, I love the competitor in Russell. I admire anyone who plays that hard. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure he is not someone I would care for if we met in real life. So I'm not that disappointed that he lost. He could probably benefit from being taken down a notch.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Mota

Unfortunately one of the things about Survivor is that the winner rarely is the best player in the game. There's no way that Natalie deserved this more than Russell, he just happened to be caught by a gang of jurors who were bitter and jealous. I think their votes were revenge votes and not for the best player, which is kinda sad.

That being said Natalie was a key player in Russell's plan, she did play a good social game and a lot of the stuff she uncovered got used by Russell to get them further. Do I believe should could have gotten there without Russell? No. But could Russell have gotten there without her? Absolutely. That's why I think he should have won.

That's the thing though, there is no true "played a better game". There are so many aspects of the game who can argue what truly is a "better game".

[EagleFan]

If that list is right I would say the teams would be...

Spoiler

Colby (Australia/All-Stars) - hero
Jerri (Australia/All-Stars) - villain
Rob (Marquesas/All-Stars) - villain
Rupert (Pearl Islands/All-Stars) - hero
Sandra (Pearl Islands) - hero (?)
Tom (Palau) - hero (if this is the Tom I am thinking of)
Stephenie (Palau/Guatemala) - hero (?)
Danielle (Panama) - I don't remember her
Cirie (Panama/Micronesia) - hero
Candice (Cook Islands) - villain
Parvati (Cook Islands/Micronesia) - villain
Courtney (China) - ???
Amanda (China/Micronesia) - ???
James ( China/Micronesia) - hero
Sugar (Gabon) - hero (?)
Randy (Gabon) - I can't remember him
Tyson (Tocantis) - villain (if I remember correctly)
J.T. (Tocantis) - hero (if I remember correctly, unless I am thinking of someone else)
Coach (Tocantis) - villain
Russell H (Samoa) - villain

[Swaggs]

I enjoyed this season of Survivor, but was legitimately surprised that Russell did not win. I haven't watched any episodes of Ponderosa from this season, yet, but I'll have to check them out to see if the jury members from Galu were super vindictive (as they seemed to be in the jury, to my surprise) or if they actually thought that Natalie was the best player.

[Glengoyne]

I forgot the damn episode was tonight.

Too damn bad Russell didn't win. He was the best. He deserved it.

Did his income play a big role? I figured that might be the biggest mistake he made.

Then the two blindsides with John and Shambo...likely cost him two key votes, but most importantly opened him up to jurors that would blast him as a dishonorable liar. That might be what turns a couple of people on the fence into a would be runner up's camp. It is probably sub 50% where the victims of such betrayals consider it good play. I think late betrayals are the hardest, because so little time has passed between them and the "vote".

So did the money and the big betrayals to John and Shambo cost him?

[bhlloy]

Shambo voted for Russell. He didn't lose her vote, whether it affected the jury or not is another matter.

He was certainly a great player but he didn't play the final tribal council at all well IMO. Suggesting to Brett that he would take him to the final because he wanted to go up against the stronger player, bringing it up at the council and then voting him off anyway just made him look really bad.

And it's always a risk - if you lie and break enough promises in the late game chances are you going to get to the final but the jury is going to hate you. I don't think it's a big surprise here that he didn't win. Part of being a great player is keeping enough good will in the jury that you actually have a shot at winning the game.

[bhlloy]

DOLA - really think he could have turned the Brett thing into a positive final impression. Along the lines of "you are a great kid and I would love to take you to the final with me, but I have to stay loyal to my alliance and the people that have been with me throughout the game". Instead he basically lies to him with no reason to at all.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Racer

Thought Natalie actually played an excellent game. Foa Foa coming back would not have been possible if she hadn't gotten the girls on the other team to turn against Erik. The editing also showed her make social connections with the other players.

Yes. Underrated, an excellent player, and I thought a deserving winner. Russell has a GREAT mind for Survivor *strategy*, better than Natalie or anyone else on this season, but in rating him as an overall Survivor PLAYER? Well, being over-the-top arrogant and not even trying to hide your disdain for the other players, especially the jury, factors in to what kind of player you are -- it's not all about chess piece nuts-and-bolts strategy. I've hated a lot of Survivor juries for being way too vindictive and petty and bitter, but I think at some point you do have to be penalized for COMPLETELY blowing off the "win the jury over" angle.

Russell made the season incredibly entertaining. I have no idea how he is in real life, but his demeanor at the reunion show was classic "bully who just got punched back."

EDIT: I would add, though, that Natalie's jury performance was lousy. When a juror who appears to be losing his grip on sanity makes a better case for you than you do, you didn't do a good job with it.

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

I don't think it's a numbers game anymore though, not in the classical sense of tribe vs. tribe. That's outdated Survivor strategy. The Foa Foas haven't broken because they've been behind and haven't really had any choice but to stay together. I think they could break now that they're ahead (counting Shambo). I'll come back and highlight this if I'm wrong, but I think it's highly, highly unlikely this goes so cleanly that they just pick off the rest of the Galus one by one. In modern Survivor, players that let rigid tribal lines guide their post-merge strategy tend to get beat.

And now to highlight my own dumbassness from after the Laura boot. I'm really surprised it went down exactly how I said it wouldn't. This turned out to be the most tribe-loyal season in a LONNNG time.

[Atocep]

Natalie played a very good game. Russell should have won. There is not a logical answer for voting Natalie over Russell.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

It wasn't 100,000 that he offered, he offered 10,000. Jeff is the one that said 100,000 later when he brought it back up. I think he was confused with the Sprint thing.

Jeff talked over them at the point he was talking about it again, and I think Russell might have offered $100,000 then. I think he knew he was going to win the fan's vote. And how pathetic was that that he tried to buy the title.

[saldana]

i actually think russell should have won in a landslide, except he was arrogant instead of honest at the jury....he should have been slamming home the fact that he came there to outwit and outplay them all, and part of that is lying...he said it once, but he should have been saying it over and over and over again.


i really hope that isnt the actual list for next season...there are too many people that were already winners and too many people that were already on other all star seasons

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by saldana

i really hope that isnt the actual list for next season...there are too many people that were already winners and too many people that were already on other all star seasons

Yeah. I already have mixed feelings about so-called "all star" casting for reality shows. What makes Survivor great is having unknowns thrown together and watching them figure it out. When they've done the all-stars before, you are now dealing with a whole different level - and not one I am necessarily interested in. Besides... what does it say about a person who is going to be on this show now for the 3rd time? No life?

[Kodos]

I think Russell forgot that you have to remain at least a little bit likable to the jury. Telling people how much better you are to their face isn't a good way to motivate people to vote for you.

[Raiders Army]

What got Russell and Foa Foa to the finals cost him the win. The Galu tribe was stupid and didn't realize they were playing a game. That's why the Foa Foas were able to pick them off. Even at the final jury, they didn't realize they were playing a game and that's why Natalie won. What a shame.

Anyhow, I'm not too thrilled with the Heroes vs. Villains season. The "Heroes" have lied in the game probably just as much as the "Villains", just not as well.

[Raiders Army]

dola, I'd rather have a Celebrity Survivor than another All-Stars. Just don't make it into the Apprentice where every season is Celebrity.

[mauchow]

Maybe Natalie deserves more credit than is given in regards to taking russell to the Top 3.

Imagine a scenario with Jaison/Natalie/Mick. Who is deserving among those three ? The jury would have split their votes even more.

I was laughing my ass off at why Jaison, Mick, Natalie didn't try getting rid of Russell when they had a chance, but it seems obvious now, because Russ wasn't going to get any votes for being such an ass to everyone.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

dola, I'd rather have a Celebrity Survivor than another All-Stars. Just don't make it into the Apprentice where every season is Celebrity.

Celebrity Survivor would never work unless they could actually win the money. There's too much incentive to quit if you're not fully invested in the situation when you're starving, bug-eaten, and smell like a homeless bum on a LA street.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I think Russell forgot that you have to remain at least a little bit likable to the jury. Telling people how much better you are to their face isn't a good way to motivate people to vote for you.

Especially if they know you're already rich. I definitely don't believe in picking the winner based on need, but if that knowledge is out there you REALLY need to make sure they have as many reasons as possible to want to hand you ANOTHER million. He was totally brazen and dismissive of that aspect. Not even so much for the jury performance -- more for stuff like smugly keeping the hidden immunity idol for a "souvenir" the last time it could be played. There's NO reason to do that other than to show off.

You usually have to lie and backstab to win Survivor and I love that, and I love it on the rare occasions when players OWN their games. But Russell made a lot of *unnecessary* arrogant moves like the above, where he was basically toying with the other players like a cat killing a mouse. In Survivor, there are consequences for behaving like that. He either didn't know that or didn't care. Either way, it makes him less of a great player.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

You usually have to lie and backstab to win Survivor and I love that, and I love it on the rare occasions when players OWN their games. But Russell made a lot of *unnecessary* arrogant moves like the above, where he was basically toying with the other players like a cat killing a mouse. In Survivor, there are consequences for behaving like that. He either didn't know that or didn't care. Either way, it makes him less of a great player.

I'm not sure it made him less of a great player. It just made him 2nd best in the final vote tally. He still abused and used 19 other people at will, whether they wanted to admit it or not with their votes.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by saldana

i actually think russell should have won in a landslide, except he was arrogant instead of honest at the jury....he should have been slamming home the fact that he came there to outwit and outplay them all, and part of that is lying...he said it once, but he should have been saying it over and over and over again.


i really hope that isnt the actual list for next season...there are too many people that were already winners and too many people that were already on other all star seasons

I'm not to excited about who's on the list either. In particular,

Spoiler

There are a lot of people from recent seasons (Sugar, Randy, Tyson, and Coach (although he was a big character) that weren't particularly impressive strategically.

Considering the number of winners on the list, I would have liked to see Todd get to play since he was fairly entertaining, strong strategically, and might have had the best tribal council performance ever.

[LloydLungs]

It doesn't make him less of a game theory strategist, but sure it makes him less of a great player. If you want to win Survivor the way Russell played, you either have to work at cultivating at least a little bit of a "lovable scamp" persona (see Chris from Vanuatu or, even better, Todd from China) or you have to correctly read that the jury will value great strategy over the fact that you're an asshole (maybe Micronesia jury with Parvati?). If you fail on both of those counts, then you didn't get the job done.

This is somewhat similar to Boston Rob losing to Amber, though in that case the jury really did screw up because a lot of them thought Amber was just using the whole romance thing as a strategy. Natalie was a better player than Amber.

[Solecismic]

Why all the Russell love?

There is only one "strategy" in Survivor: don't do something that gets you voted off this week.

Russell repeatedly made himself a target. Early on, he managed to avoid getting voted off because he was a semi-decent athlete and the tribe, frustrated with losing, kept voting off women.

After the merge, he at first rode Natalie's coat-tails. She was the one who aligned the girls to see that they could "afford" to vote out Eric. Otherwise, he might well have been the second or third person on the jury. That was the big move of the game - the only truly big move.

His one good move was taking advantage of Laura's Galu-busting strategy of alienating Shambo. After Galu was in the minority, everyone stuck with him because they realized taking an unlikeable jerk to the final meant more votes. Even better when he made it so easy - play homage to him, and he'll ignore strategy and take you along with him.

Natalie was very likable. And Russell kept her over Jaison because she fed his ego. If he were even semi-decent when it came to strategy, he would have taken Shambo and Jaison with him, as they wouldn't have won many votes. I get the feeling Jaison rubbed Galu the wrong way, and we didn't see a lot of that.

Sometimes, people as bad at strategy as Russell make the finals. They don't win, though. If you want to go Russell's manipulation/control route and win, you need to be more subtle and less sentimental, like that porn-star guy who won a few years ago.

Natalie was the best strategy player this year. By far. It's not even close.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Sometimes, people as bad at strategy as Russell make the finals. They don't win, though. If you want to go Russell's manipulation/control route and win, you need to be more subtle and less sentimental, like that porn-star guy who won a few years ago.

I don't think Russell was a BAD strategist, but he is overrated. Not only was the brazen arrogance a problem with the jury, but it also led to some sloppy mistakes earlier in the game (like blabbing about his money, which hurt him later, and blabbing to too many people about having the hidden idol, which would have hurt him had he not been on a season with so many strategic weaklings). Russell was like a really talented team that was poorly coached.

Spoiler

We're going to see how he does playing with a lot of strategic-minded players next season, but judging from his finale and post-finale demeanor, surely he's a fairly early S20 boot. If he could fake this depth of depression then he would have been able to manipulate S19's jury better.

[Alan T]

Russell's strategy wasn't great, his work ethic was though in the sense that he was always playing the game. He didn't seem to mentally check out ever. I don't know why others haven't done something similar in the past, but if a million dollars is on the line, why wouldn't you spend a large amount of time looking for a hidden idol like Russell did?

I guess what I fail to understand fully is: Was Russell amazingly gifted in finding idols, or was he simply the only one (both this season and in past seasons) that dedicated enough time looking for one?

His people skills and how he was trying to push buttons ended up hurting him, and thus his "strategy" was flawed because of that.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Why all the Russell love?

There is only one "strategy" in Survivor: don't do something that gets you voted off this week.

Russell repeatedly made himself a target. Early on, he managed to avoid getting voted off because he was a semi-decent athlete and the tribe, frustrated with losing, kept voting off women.

From the start Russell controlled his tribe. He made the decisions and got everyone else on board with voting out the person he saw as his biggest threat at each tribal council. They kept voting out women because that is who Russell wanted voted out. Everyone on Foa Foa that saw him as a target went home.

Originally Posted by Solecismic

After the merge, he at first rode Natalie's coat-tails. She was the one who aligned the girls to see that they could "afford" to vote out Eric. Otherwise, he might well have been the second or third person on the jury. That was the big move of the game - the only truly big move.

This was Natalie's big move and it was a game changing move. It's hard to describe that as riding coat-tails when it was one episode and one move, though.

Originally Posted by Solecismic

His one good move was taking advantage of Laura's Galu-busting strategy of alienating Shambo. After Galu was in the minority, everyone stuck with him because they realized taking an unlikeable jerk to the final meant more votes. Even better when he made it so easy - play homage to him, and he'll ignore strategy and take you along with him.

Lets not forget the fact that he pulled John in to get Laura out. It's really the same situation as with Erik, if that doesn't happen then Foa Foa is likely in a position where they just get picked off by one from there on out. He also recognized that John was his biggest threat after that vote, went against Shambo to vote him out, and then pulled her back in with no problems.

Everyone was saying how they didn't think they could beat Russell in the finals. It's what Mick said, it's what Natalie said, it's what Jaison said. Natalie said she was going to roll over and give it to him, but all 3 of the other Foa Foa people expressed their doubts on their ability to beat Russell.

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Natalie was very likable. And Russell kept her over Jaison because she fed his ego. If he were even semi-decent when it came to strategy, he would have taken Shambo and Jaison with him, as they wouldn't have won many votes. I get the feeling Jaison rubbed Galu the wrong way, and we didn't see a lot of that.

Sometimes, people as bad at strategy as Russell make the finals. They don't win, though. If you want to go Russell's manipulation/control route and win, you need to be more subtle and less sentimental, like that porn-star guy who won a few years ago.

Natalie was the best strategy player this year. By far. It's not even close.

Natalie won the game by making one move and riding a stronger player's coat-tails. This was a situation very similar to the Rob-Amber season in that there was a strong player who controlled every aspect of the game and someone with them that more or less did what they were told throughout the season and got to the finals only because of that stronger player. If Natalie doesn't align with Russell she would not have made it far in the game. Even in the last episode she had to turn to Russell to save her.

Natalie was a big surprise this season. She showed that she belonged there and she was actually a threat in challenges. She did nothing new, though. We've seen her strategy used in the past and it still frustrates me to see her strategy get rewarded in the end because of simple bitterness.

We're in season 19 and most of us had probably assumed we had seen just about every way survivor could possibly be played at this point. Russell showed us something completely different that no one really thought was going to work. People in this thread expected him gone in episode 2 or episode 4 at the latest. He did what he said was going to do from the beginning; he controlled his tribe and got to the finals. Along the way he found 3 idols with a combined 1 clue and Jeff more or less admitted they're going to have to change idols in the future because of him. He was one of the few people that actually played an idol correctly and despite the target on his back he didn't even need to use the other 2.

Interestingly enough, with being the perceived target throughout the season he had his name written down 9 times. Natalie had her's written down 8. I think both played strong games given their position, but I'll reward the person who stepped up, took the heat, and did the work every time.

[Scarecrow]

Spoiler

I read elsewhere the same lists under the spoiler tags except that it's not Danielle but Dani Boatwright, the winner of Survivor: Guatamala