Survivor: San Juan Del Sur

There have been other seasons that were dull until the merge and turned out great, so I'll hold off on complete judgment. However, there just seems to be something lacking in the gameplay of this whole crew. So many of them are just along for the ride.

Right now, there's only four players who I feel like you could reasonably vote for - Josh (who is a total fraud, but at least he's playing the game), Jeremy, Jon and Jaclyn. Jon and Jaclyn have been pivotal, if not in control, so that's where they could stake their claim.

Oh, and if you were ranking the worst among the quitters, Julie would have to be at or near the top (or bottom, as it were). I can't stand most of the people who quit (with the exception of Jenna Morasca, who left to be with her dying mother), but Julie had it easier than most and still gave up. There are so many people who want to play, it's frustrating to watch someone quit after being given the opportunity.

 

I was surprised to see Jon and Jaclyn flip on Jeremy like that last night. It was a bold move, a big move and one I'm not sure I thought they were smart enough to pull off until they actually did it. That said, it very well might have been a bad move. They pissed off Natalie, who now knows she's No. 5 in the group, and there's another group of four she could easily join up with to go after them.

I thought Jeremy handled the idol talk with Jon rather poorly. It kind of perked up Jon's ears and seemed to put Jeremy in his crosshairs. He knew Jon had the idol. He and Natalie should have sat on that information until the moment was right, rather than awkwardly confronting him about it.

I also thought the plan by Jeremy's to split the votes was ill-conceived regardless of Jon, Jaclyn, Missy and Baylor flipping on him. With a 6-4 advantage, I didn't think they had the numbers to split the vote.

It was also interesting that Keith, Wes and Alec all voted for Reed. Had Jeremy and Natalie voted for him, he would have survived the blindside. Now, though, those three all know that Baylor, Missy, Jon and Jaclyn are together. Will they still be focused on Reed, or are they going to be smart and bring Natalie into the fold to go after the other foursome?

It wasn't a great episode, but it was a lot better than the last couple. This has been just OK and, unfortunately, the two guys who I thought were the best players have both been eliminated. Jon and Jaclyn have made the kind of moves that can sway the jury at final tribal, but I'm not so sure they're going to get there.

 

I know players have gone through someone else's bag more than once in the past, but what Reed did was lower then low. He finds evidence of an immunity idol, which is bad enough, but then he tells THE OTHER ALLIANCE. Keith's idea to use it to flip the game on the other group would have been nice to see, because nobody had a clue he had an idol. I was OK with Reed as a player before, but I hope he goes soon now.

 

Reed's habit of his eyes rolling back in his head while he speaks drives me crazy. He's been pretty much a non-entity, trending toward likable, until this episode.

Who are the best players left in the game? Natalie, Jon ... seems like that's about it. Keith has been impressive in his resiliency, but I don't think he has a shot. He's not smart enough and he doesn't play a good social game. I can see him making final three, but only because someone will take him along knowing they can beat him.

Alec is probably the dumbest player remaining. Wes is a decent challenge competitor, but not sure he has the strategic chops to pull anything off. Missy and Baylor pretty much do whatever anyone wants them to do.

Jaclyn is solid, but based on the way the group treats her, I think jury members would believe she's riding Jon's coattails. Jeremy, Natalie, Baylor and Missy are probably the only ones who would give her any credit.

 

Seems like everyone has kind of given up on this season, which hasn't been very good. I missed the past couple weeks but just watched episode 10 ("This is Where We Build Trust") and it was a pretty great tribal.

Keith continues to show he doesn't understand the game very well and it got his son booted. Jon may have won himself $1 million by playing his idol. He flushed out Reed and Alec as untrustworthy and weakened their alliance. I'd expect that those two and Keith are the next three to go, unless Natalie jumps ship.

I think Natalie would be wise to stick with the alliance. She's No. 5 in the group, but when it comes down to five, she can play Jon and Jaclyn off Baylor and Missy for a final three pact and decide which duo she wants to go to tribal with (she'd be smart to bring Missy and Baylor).

As far as I've seen, and I still have a couple episodes to catch up on, I think Jon or Natalie should win.

 

Could any man out there imagine being married to Missy (or Baylor for that matter)? You would never win. You might as well have a lobotomy and become their slaves. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Missy has been divorced multiple times. She's admitted Baylor has come between them. You can be there for your kids without making your partner a distant second. That also teaches poor relationship skills to the kids. And anyone who marries Baylor will basically have to let the mother move in.

 

If Natalie and Baylor are so stuck on getting Jon out, why didn't they just vote out Jaclyn after he won immunity? They could have eliminated his partner, main ally, and someone who will always vote with him. Also split the flip-flopping "power" couple.

I have a bad feeling there will be an unsatisfactory winner, as the only ones who have really been playing -- Jeremy, Joshua, Reed -- have been voted out.

Natalie is the only gamer left. Keith gets a lot of points for surviving when he has been on outside the entire game, but he hasn't outplayed, and certainly hasn't outwitted, anyone.

 

I still have two episodes to catch up on, but I know in Episode 10, Natalie and Baylor talked about making sure they voted out a guy because they're worried that if the girls end up in a minority, the guys will align and vote them out one by one.

 

They may be my most disliked Survivorers of all time. That fucked-up woman fucked up raising that kid. She's a brat.

 

I dislike Missy on so many levels. She was boasting about taking Natalie and her bratty kid on the reward with her. YOU DIDN'T WIN! They handed it to you. If I were Reed, I would have pointed that out when they got into it. And her kid is a fucking brat! Her line about Reed liking everyone was so out of line. The best part was when Missy referred to her 20-something daughter who has a kid as her "child." No, she's your daughter! She was a child years ago. I'd love to see her get to the final three just so some of the jury members like Reed can tear into her and make her cry. That would be great.

 

This is the worst Survivor since the one where they sat around camp all day long in Africa.

I don't get why Jaclyn was so pissed about not being chosen for the one reward. I assumed everyone had agreed that Jon would go to Exile Island - which he wanted to do so he could look for the idol - so he wasn't making some huge sacrifice. Even assuming it was some noble sacrifice on his part, why should that mean Jaclyn gets a reward? Natalie gave up a reward for Jaclyn or Jon a few weeks ago, right, so doesn't it make sense that Jaclyn loses out to her on this one? One of the two wasn't going to get the reward.

Only player left I'd like to see win is Natalie.

 

Same with Missy getting pissed when she wasn't chosen for the bed reward. She was handed the previous award, so she had no beef.