Survivor Season 44

[jg13]

What a waste of an hour that episode was.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that is in contention for worst episode in 44 seasons.

[WhiteTiger]

Well, that was disappointing, but not surprising. As such a 'huge fan' who prepped for this, he should have known better than to go scrambling along a rockface without any dire need to.

[Cheese]

Matt Grinstead-Mayle taps out with a bum shoulder taking WhiteTiger out of the game and hitting jg13 with his first shot.


Matthew tried to "dig deep" and push through the pain. He competed in physical challenges. He went into full hero mode on the snake maze. He was in and out of that damn sling so much I thought at one point that maybe it was just for dramatic effect under the advisement of his new legal counsel, Saul Goodman.
But eventually, nine days after that scary fall, Matthew could dig deep no longer. The pain was too excruciating. We saw him opening up about the increasing agony at the start of the episode, trying his best to engage Kane in a conversation that did not revolve around Pokémon, Lord of the Rings, or "Jedi." And there was more to come. Because sitting out back-to-back immunity contests apparently now initiates an automatic medical check — unless your name is Claire Rafson — Matthew was told by Probst after the challenge to hang back for a 1-on-1 with the doctor.



What was a little odd was the way we did not see Matthew's exit on screen. After the post-challenge evaluation, Matthew said he had a big decision to make, but then we never saw him make it. That's super rare. And weird.



Us clock watchers knew something weird was going on when there were only five minutes left in the episode and Tika wasn't even at Tribal Council yet. That's when we knew Matthew was a goner. But instead of those last few minutes being Matthew's goodbye or Probst showing up at Ratu beach to inform the tribe that he was gone, we instead got the Hostmaster General delivering the news to Tika that they were spared.


https://ew.com/tv/recaps/survivor-44-recap-episode-5/




1. WhiteTiger - Matt Grinstead-Mayle / Helen Li
2. ChuckieNZ - Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho / Heidi Lagares-Greenblat
3. Cheese - Heidi Lagares-Greenblat / Carolyn Wiger
4. brocoli - Kane "The Candian Ginger" Fritzler/Brandon Cottom
5. Barnes - Claire Rafson/Carson Garrett
6. transplant99 - Josh Wilder/Frannie Marin
7. jroc - Maddy Pomilla/ Sarah Wade
8. dino7c - Carson Garrett/Lauren Harpe
9. surferguy - Bruce Perrault/***chosen under protest*** Jaime Lynn Ruiz
10. Fuzz - Matt Blankinship/Maddy Pomilla
11. TheIronMaiden -Jaime Lynn Ruiz/Bruce Perrault
12. csnarpy - Carolyn Wiger / Yam Yam Arocho
13. Yoho - Frannie Marin/ Claire Rafson
14. speede5 - Sarah Wade/Kane Fritzler
15. jg13 - Danny Massa/Matt Grinstead-Mayle
16. bigtmac19 - Brandon Cottom/Danny Massa
17. savardandjokinen - Helen Li/Matt Blankinship
18. KootenayFlamesFan - Lauren Harpe/Josh Wilder

[WhiteTiger]

That wasn't too bad of a merge episode. A smart move in getting Josh off. He was pretty adept socially, it seems.

It was also amusing seeing Carson blast through that puzzle (Smart kid, but man, he does he make bad decisions/do dumb stuff socially). I'd like to see them change it up just a bit...for instance, folks know the 'tree puzzle'. Maybe have one piece (or one piece in each 'set' for four different pieces) that isn't the same as last season. Throw 'em off some.

[Fuzz]

"I had one of those growing up!"

What a strange, strange soul. She does seem a LOT smarter than she looks though.

[Cheese]

Josh came into the game with an inspiring story of surviving despite insurmountable medical odds against him. Unfortunately, that played out on the island as well. He was initially set up to be the next target on his Soka tribe, before an unprecedented twist sent him to a new group. From there he had to play an idol and lucked out in a canceled Tribal Council to avoid the vote. But the snuffer finally came for him at "mergatory." Despite Josh feeling that he had more friends than his Tika rival Yam Yam, those friends were actually enemies in disguise, as nearly everyone came together to vote him out.


https://parade.com/tv/who-was-voted-...season-44-2023


transplant99 and KFF take their first hits with Josh being voted out.







1. WhiteTiger - Matt Grinstead-Mayle / Helen Li
2. ChuckieNZ - Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho / Heidi Lagares-Greenblat
3. Cheese - Heidi Lagares-Greenblat / Carolyn Wiger
4. brocoli - Kane "The Candian Ginger" Fritzler/Brandon Cottom
5. Barnes - Claire Rafson/Carson Garrett
6. transplant99 - Josh Wilder/Frannie Marin
7. jroc - Maddy Pomilla/ Sarah Wade
8. dino7c - Carson Garrett/Lauren Harpe
9. surferguy - Bruce Perrault/***chosen under protest*** Jaime Lynn Ruiz
10. Fuzz - Matt Blankinship/Maddy Pomilla
11. TheIronMaiden -Jaime Lynn Ruiz/Bruce Perrault
12. csnarpy - Carolyn Wiger / Yam Yam Arocho
13. Yoho - Frannie Marin/ Claire Rafson
14. speede5 - Sarah Wade/Kane Fritzler
15. jg13 - Danny Massa/Matt Grinstead-Mayle
16. bigtmac19 - Brandon Cottom/Danny Massa
17. savardandjokinen - Helen Li/Matt Blankinship
18. KootenayFlamesFan - Lauren Harpe/Josh Wilder

[Cheese]

When Jeff Probst divided the players into two groups for the challenge and explained that whoever lasted the longest from each group would win immunity, and the person who lasted the longest out of everyone would win immunity for their entire group, the strategy was obvious. If Frannie or Matt (who were on opposite teams) lasted the longest out of their group, they would then throw it so that way both of them would have immunity. Easy.
But that's not what happened. Frannie was the last one from the orange group (giving her immunity) while there were still four folks left for purple. No problem! Plenty of time for her to drop her ball and keep her island BFF safe. An abundance of time. All the time in the world. All she had to do was drop that damn ball and Mannie (or is it Fratt?) would live to play another day.


But let's get back to Frannie's decision to go for the win. At first blush, it seems like just absolutely terrible gameplay. She had an opportunity to protect her closest ally and island boyfriend, and she botched it.


https://ew.com/tv/recaps/survivor-44-recap-episode-7/


With Matts boot Fuzz and savardandjokinen also take the boot.


Just soooooooooo many tears....it.is.a.game!!!







1. WhiteTiger - Matt Grinstead-Mayle / Helen Li
2. ChuckieNZ - Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho / Heidi Lagares-Greenblat
3. Cheese - Heidi Lagares-Greenblat / Carolyn Wiger
4. brocoli - Kane "The Candian Ginger" Fritzler/Brandon Cottom
5. Barnes - Claire Rafson/Carson Garrett
6. transplant99 - Josh Wilder/Frannie Marin
7. jroc - Maddy Pomilla/Sarah Wade
8. dino7c - Carson Garrett/Lauren Harpe
9. surferguy - Bruce Perrault/***chosen under protest*** Jaime Lynn Ruiz
10. Fuzz - Matt Blankinship/Maddy Pomilla
11. TheIronMaiden -Jaime Lynn Ruiz/Bruce Perrault
12. csnarpy - Carolyn Wiger / Yam Yam Arocho
13. Yoho - Frannie Marin/ Claire Rafson
14. speede5 - Sarah Wade/Kane Fritzler
15. jg13 - Danny Massa/Matt Grinstead-Mayle
16. bigtmac19 - Brandon Cottom/Danny Massa
17. savardandjokinen - Helen Li/Matt Blankinship
18. KootenayFlamesFan - Lauren Harpe/Josh Wilder

[Fuzz]

Too many gimmicks! I wonder if the video editors agree, including Matt's little talk about there being some luck involved.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Just watched, I really hated that advantage at the end. The winning tribe all got immunity, food, and then one of them gets an added advantage on top. That's way too much. I get they're trying new stuff out on the show, but I hope we never see that advantage ever again. There are so many idols, advantages and fake idols it's oversaturated the game. It's hard to even keep track of everything out there. Have a couple idols out at all times and that's good enough. Time to get back to basics a bit.

As for the vote, Matt was the right one to go. His relationship with Frannie was way too tight. It's always death in Survivor, yet some people keep it out in the open. It's a good way to get voted out.

[OptimalTates]

So when Matt fell off the challenge, Frannie should have obviously dropped right? She would still have immunity and be completely safe, but also in a group where she would have the numbers against her targets that are gunning for each other. Matt wouldn’t be left to fend for himself against the 3 person/4 vote opposing alliance. Just seemed like a terrible move on her part, hope that food was worth it.

But also think it’s stupid some new twist comes out and Matt gets punished for not having his bags with him like he made some mistake.

[Fuzz]

Ya, I was thinking that during the challenge. Maybe she really wanted to eat?

[savardandjokinen]

https://www.tmz.com/2023/04/19/survi...cer-wife-dana/

Rest in peace Keith, one of the most popular and funniest contestants in the shows history

[brocoli]

Now that was good Survivor game play. A true blindside and an idol used properly. That should get some heads turning for Danny.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I can't believe it worked. After people started finding out about the plan I thought Danny was crazy for playing the idol for anyone but himself.

[Cheese]

Brandon blindsided this week!
bigtmac19 and brocoli take their first hits!


https://parade.com/tv/who-was-voted-...season-44-2023



Brandon spent the first part of the episode talking up how powerful he and his Ratu alliance was, having just dealt a blow to Soka and seemingly with the Tika trio on their side. However, the former NFL player was underestimating the power of his opposition.

While the Ratus put together a seemingly simply plan to pile votes onto Frannie, Heidi and Danny crafted a plan to save their fellow Soka. Danny played his idol on her. And the remaining Sokas were able to rally the Tikas to their side (while a couple maintained their illusion of allegiance), sending Brandon out with an idol play after he started the season by saving himself with one.


1. WhiteTiger - Matt Grinstead-Mayle / Helen Li
2. ChuckieNZ - Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho / Heidi Lagares-Greenblat
3. Cheese - Heidi Lagares-Greenblat / Carolyn Wiger
4. brocoli - Kane "The Candian Ginger" Fritzler/Brandon Cottom
5. Barnes - Claire Rafson/Carson Garrett
6. transplant99 - Josh Wilder/Frannie Marin
7. jroc - Maddy Pomilla/Sarah Wade
8. dino7c - Carson Garrett/Lauren Harpe
9. surferguy - Bruce Perrault/***chosen under protest*** Jaime Lynn Ruiz
10. Fuzz - Matt Blankinship/Maddy Pomilla
11. TheIronMaiden -Jaime Lynn Ruiz/Bruce Perrault
12. csnarpy - Carolyn Wiger / Yam Yam Arocho
13. Yoho - Frannie Marin/ Claire Rafson
14. speede5 - Sarah Wade/Kane Fritzler
15. jg13 - Danny Massa/Matt Grinstead-Mayle
16. bigtmac19 - Brandon Cottom/Danny Massa
17. savardandjokinen - Helen Li/Matt Blankinship
18. KootenayFlamesFan - Lauren Harpe/Josh Wilder

[GreenLantern]

Great play, very gutsy.

Saved a string of boring episodes.

[Fuzz]

Yam Yam running the votes on spite.

[Cheese]

In an episode rife with starvation and rainy weather, the castaways were forced to come together before voting out self-proclaimed nerd Kane Fritzler. The Dungeons & Dragons fan added a fun and goofy layer to Survivor 44 which was lost when he was betrayed. He agreed to step out of the immunity challenge to barter for rice and Frannie won her second immunity challenge. Still at war, Ratu and Soka targeted each other, while Tika got to decide the vote. They went with Soka to vote out a former Ratu member, but now Frannie is on to Tika’s game.


With Kanes boot, both brocoli and speede5 get the boot along with him!



1. WhiteTiger - Matt Grinstead-Mayle / Helen Li
2. ChuckieNZ - Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho / Heidi Lagares-Greenblat
3. Cheese - Heidi Lagares-Greenblat / Carolyn Wiger
4. brocoli - Kane "The Candian Ginger" Fritzler/Brandon Cottom
5. Barnes - Claire Rafson/Carson Garrett
6. transplant99 - Josh Wilder/Frannie Marin
7. jroc - Maddy Pomilla/Sarah Wade
8. dino7c - Carson Garrett/Lauren Harpe
9. surferguy - Bruce Perrault/***chosen under protest*** Jaime Lynn Ruiz
10. Fuzz - Matt Blankinship/Maddy Pomilla
11. TheIronMaiden -Jaime Lynn Ruiz/Bruce Perrault
12. csnarpy - Carolyn Wiger / Yam Yam Arocho
13. Yoho - Frannie Marin/ Claire Rafson
14. speede5 - Sarah Wade/Kane Fritzler
15. jg13 - Danny Massa/Matt Grinstead-Mayle
16. bigtmac19 - Brandon Cottom/Danny Massa
17. savardandjokinen - Helen Li/Matt Blankinship
18. KootenayFlamesFan - Lauren Harpe/Josh Wilder

[brocoli]

Talk about 2 weeks of pain. Kane never felt that strategic, but I would've liked them to go after Danny as he's playing strong and building a resume. Same can be said with Franny who is looking like the early favourite in challenges

[nixon45]

I haven't really read through the thread here but I just have to say.

This may be the absolute lamest collection of contestants I have ever seen assembled on this show. They're all weak (except Danny and Brandon) and they're all just so damn boring. The episodes are snooze fests save for the first one where two of the people were injured.

No one to like and cheer for.
No one to hate and cheer against.

Am I alone in thinking this? I don't know if I can muster the energy to watch anymore.