2/23 Show Discussion Thread **Spoilers**

[KeepItReal]

The winner of the duel wins the privilege of staying on RI, not of returning to camp. The loser of the duel goes home for good, the winner stays on Redemption Island until way later in the game when the RI Champion , if you will, will return to camp.

Rob won't know who won the duel between Matt and Francesca, because that person will still be on RI. No one in the game will know who beat who until they watch the seasons along with us.

If Matt makes it back, it'll be because he beat Francesa, and the person who is voted out this coming Wednesday, and the Wednesday after that, and the one after that... He's got to be pretty flawless.

Thanks for the clarification. I still hope Matt comes back to bite him in the butt. Also hope that the challenges are tailored to allow men and women to compete on a level playing field. this concept could be very interesting or could crash and burn. I do hope that since this twist is in play that we have fewer immunity idols this go around. The show could do with a few less.

[Dicechick]

I had heard that it won't be until the final 5 (or around that). That's why I'm thinking that whoever gets back in the game would be someone who was a recent castoff. And who knows, they may get the revolving door treatment and ousted the first TC they're back. Which would really make this whole twist pointless. It'd be kind of interesting seeing someone like Matt, voted off pre-merge and pre-jury, enter the game at such a late phase when he'd really have no clue on what's going on or the dynamics. Someone like that could be a potential swing vote to another side. Since the newly ousted Survivor may be more apt to have gotten some good food rewards, they may come in with an advantage on RI when they get eliminated.

I think it would be more like Big Brother when the evicted person goes to the jury house. They are told what led up to their demise and any other info that is gossip-worthy (or not, in some cases). I don't know how long the two bootees have together before/after their duel but I am sure there will be some talk about what happened and who not to trust. If one person does really well - that information would really help them when they return to the game.

[Dragonlady]

I love Survivor but strategy is not in my DNA, nor is competition. So I have some questions about this season:

Do we know how long people stay on Redemp Island?
Until the next one arrives and they have a duel?
When do they re-join the other tribe(s)?
Or is it a Gladiator type challenge of survival of the fittest, meaning one person continues to defeat all others?

I'm tired of Rob and Russell but I can understand why they're back: Ratings.
Rob is so charasmatic that people are actually groveling in front of him. He's pretty, he's funny, he's excellent at strategy and everyone likes him.
Russell is a nasty little man. He's evil, has no values and will stop at nothing to get what he wants and no one likes him.
We might as well put the white hero hat on Rob and the black villian hat on Russell. It's that cliche.
I don't mind because I, too, an under the Rob-Spell.

[Shoepie]

dragonlady, Matt will duel Francesa and likely win. Francesa will go home and he will meet the next boot and duel with them. The loser will go home and winner stays to greet the next and on it goes. I assume the duels are physical but we don't know this for sure. They have only given the indication that it is a physiclal contest.

We don't know when the remaining player will rejoin the game but my guess is at the merge. It doesn't make sense to do it before this turning point in the game.

If this is a physical joust we can pretty much guess the outcome. I don't see how any of the women could win against any male they encounter. It would be interesting to watch Russell and Philip go against each other.

[Oceansands]

Originally Posted by scoot13
I don't think either one of them will make it that far. They both underestimate their opponents. Both Rob & Russell think that they are WAY smarter than anyone else on their team and feel like they are untouchable.

There have been far more intelligent better players on Survivor than these two jerks. I know I've had enough of them. At one time I thought Russell was kinda funny but he is getting very old in a hurry. Rob has always been a drag.

[PWS]

I'm wondering if Phillip has had some kind of brain damage... I swear he comes across as someone who's been zapped in the frontal lobes... He has no ability to filter his thoughts or restrain himself. I can't see how he could have worked for 3 agencies in his current state or even one. He would never make it past the first interview.

[SugarMama]

I'm wondering if Phillip has had some kind of brain damage... I swear he comes across as someone who's been zapped in the frontal lobes... He has no ability to filter his thoughts or restrain himself. I can't see how he could have worked for 3 agencies in his current state or even one. He would never make it past the first interview.

My father was a career Federal employee. Most often, unless something is just totally outrageous, people are just shifted to other departments/agencies if they can't build a strong enough case to fire them. Remember the Fort Hood shooter, how almost all of his peers and superiors realized he wasn't performing his job as he should and was a potential problem, but he was transferred. Happens a lot. Think sweeping the dust bunnies under the furniture instead of vacuuming them for good.

Of course, I have no idea if this applies to Phillip. But what I described could explain how that could happen.

[queenb]

It's not just in government jobs, either. I woeked in the production department of a really big newspaper until I got laid off, and you would never believe what it would take for a worker to even be summoned to the office, never mind be suspended for a day or fired. Management had rather ignore personnel problems than go through what it took to actually reprimand anyone in 95 percent of the time, even it involved things that would get you fired on the spot anywhere else.

[rfromp]

Rob is so charasmatic that people are actually groveling in front of him. He's pretty, he's funny, he's excellent at strategy and everyone likes him.
Russell is a nasty little man. He's evil, has no values and will stop at nothing to get what he wants and no one likes him.

To me that describes both. Just different packaging.

[Dragonlady]

It's not just in government jobs, either. I woeked in the production department of a really big newspaper until I got laid off, and you would never believe what it would take for a worker to even be summoned to the office, never mind be suspended for a day or fired. Management had rather ignore personnel problems than go through what it took to actually reprimand anyone in 95 percent of the time, even it involved things that would get you fired on the spot anywhere else.

I also sounds like what happened to the pedophile priests in the Catholic Church.... just transfer them and pretend it didn't happen.
(and this is from a non-practicing Catholic who can't bring herself to even consider returning to the church for that very reason.)