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Survivor Samoa

Risen

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Is anyone watching this season? Easily one of the BEST seasons ever, for one reason: Russel! I freakin love this dude. He is the epitome of the intelligent, crafty, sly, hyper intuitive (in the psychic sort of sense), Machiavellian strength/power that I adore and he wields it so fluently. Just one hell of a player and quite a beast in the real world I'm sure. He is infinitely entertaining to watch.
 

Risen

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Man, nobody watches this show? I swear it's as good as eating chocolate :p .
 

PeaceBaby

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It is turning out to be one of the best seasons ever I think.

I love the human dynamic of Survivor. Because it's more about surviving that, than physical survival. Sure they have the challenges, and not a lot of food, and have crappy living conditions, but those serve to set the stage for the psychological / human interaction / social survival aspects of the game.

When Russell played the immunity idol last week, I was cheering! Even though I started off disliking him at the beginning of the season for being nastily manipulative, he certainly is there to play the game and is a little charmer in his own way. LOL!
 

Risen

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It is turning out to be one of the best seasons ever I think.

I love the human dynamic of Survivor. Because it's more about surviving that, than physical survival. Sure they have the challenges, and not a lot of food, and have crappy living conditions, but those serve to set the stage for the psychological / human interaction / social survival aspects of the game.

When Russell played the immunity idol last week, I was cheering! Even though I started off disliking him at the beginning of the season for being nastily manipulative, he certainly is there to play the game and is a little charmer in his own way. LOL!

Lol, last week's and this week's episodes were just glorious. I got turned on to survivor when I chanced upon the first Cook Islands season. Since then I've had a slowly growing interest, mostly directed at the most popular seasons and skipping the rest. I usually count the overemphasis on the social game against survivor, because I do think that game should be much more about who has the skills to survive in such extremes and overcome in the challenges. But so often, it's those really strong and worthy people that get voted out -_-. However, I do pay close attention to the social aspects so I can gain information about human behavior in those extreme situations, which can be somewhat applicable to real life situations in general. Once in a while someone on the show does something to pique my interest in the social game, but they always come up short in intelligence, strategy, and tactics.

But not Russel. Russel takes it to a whole nother level. He's the type of social player I've long been waiting for, but didn't really think would manifest. His strategy and tactics are impeccable, and I'm quite sure that aside from his natural intuitive talents, he has thoroughly studied past seasons and developed a deep understanding of how these people behave in the game and in general. Because of Russel, this is easily one of the best seasons ever, and without him it'd be trash. I love it, it's like a real life version of Code Geass or Deathnote in action :p .
 

INTP

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id rather watch gay porn than survivors. i just dont get this reality tv thing
 

PeaceBaby

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^ yes they were glorious. Perhaps that sounds too enthusiastic, but really, there is no better word to describe them. Russel is there to play the game, and his proactive approach and ability to read people and situations is paying off big time! Some people criticized him for playing his idol last week, but he was right to do so - so many people now have been voted out of the game with the idol sitting in their pocket it is ridiculous.

And now he has another one anyway - I am very impressed that he has now found three in a row! Those immunity idols provide a great twist, and this is the first season (aside from the pretend idols that Yauman made, remember that?) that they have actually been a fascinating element of Tribal Councils.

I totally get you wanting them to battle real Survivor situations, and the person being the physically strongest would prevail, but I think too many lawsuits could abound in those scenarios!
 

The_Liquid_Laser

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I don't really care for Russel myself, but I find him less annoying now than I did at the beginning of the season. What has made this season interesting for me is not Russel's strategy (which isn't particularly notable), but the Galu tribe's lack of strategy. They had 8 vs. 4 going into the merge and then they start voting off their own tribe members, lol. At this point the alliances have fallen apart to the point that anything could happen, which is why I like this season. In some seasons the voting becomes too predictable, and that makes the show boring.
 

C.J.Woolf

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Galu voting out one of their own right after the merge is a prime example of making an late-game move in the mid-game, which is always a mistake. It sends a signal to all the other Galus that any one of them could be next. Shambo flipped because of it. No majority is big enough! The usual time to start turning on your own is when the minority tribe is whittled down to one. I think Evil Russell was trying to work a "last of his tribe" strategy, which a good handful of players have won with, but he overplayed and became Galu's target. Now, thanks to his idol-sniffing skills, Galu's cockiness, and Shambo, he's in the majority again. Unless Shambo turns out to be a loose cannon.

Russell has won me over. He hasn't necessarily outsmarted everyone, but he has outhustled everyone.

I've watched every season of Survivor (he says in his AA voice), and this is one of the best.
 
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