3/13 Survivor 26 Show Discussion **West Coast Spoilers**

[Fanny Mare]

Looking forward to what I guess is a tribe swap, assuming it is too early for the merge.

Oh! I thought it was the merge, tribe swap shakes things up.I am okay with that.

I was joking today, I thought the cardinals should have had Jeff 'tally' the votes for the new Pope well, it is 2013.

[JohnnyK]

It's most likely a swap, yes.

[PWS]

Adding that I agree with mushybrain and Fanny Mare (who posted while I typed the above) that Russell and the other Hantz family members are probably to blame for Brandon's behavior this time--before he was a kid trying to redeem the family name, now he's trying to fit in with them and live up to the name, in his view of the name. His wife was probably some kind of moderating influence keeping him out of their sphere and couldn't take it...fled for her life with them all down on Brandon, maybe blaming her. I'm surprised the kids seem still to be with Brandon if his aunt is taking care of them...didn't quite catch that. Someone call protective services, no more kids should grow up in that family! OK, I'm probably getting sucked into the editing here, but it really looks as if bad things have happened to Brandon...what happened to the guy trying to be a good Christian (even if his view of women got more than a little warped by that)?

[mushybrain]

I heard his wife and children left him, thats why he was ultra touchy when it came to his children.

Oh, Fanny. I didn't hear about that. No wonder he blew like a volcano.

[Fanny Mare]

Oh, Fanny. I didn't hear about that. No wonder he blew like a volcano.

I know he still sees his children, but I am pretty sure I read they divorced. I should look it up

[sweetpea]

Wow. What a fiasco that was.

It was weird, but at times I found myself saying "YES!" to what Brandon was saying to/about Philip, since I do think Philip is completely bonkers and it would drive me mental to have to humor him and all his spies-R-Us crap. But mostly I felt badly for the others on the tribe who were so completely upset about how violent and volatile Brandon was. I would have been scared, and mad, and probably would have cried just like Andrea.

Brandon Hantz needs help. He should never have come back and I'm sorry he did. I'm sorry his life (which doesn't seem to have been great before) fell to such crap after his first stint on this show. I'm sorry he has such a pathetic family to influence him. It's just distasteful, all of it.

Edited to add: Philip bringing up Brandon's kids was a complete d*ck move. Can't stand the guy, I hope he goes next. I'm sick of him.

[Megatron]

Very awkward to say the least. Wow. Brandon sure as hell is a nutcase. Probst made the right call sending him home right away.

If Brandon is so religious and believes in god... i sure hope he enjoys hell. Because I doubt people like that are heavenly.

Whatever point Brandon was making (which I kind of understood) went out the window with the tirade he went on.

[Fanny Mare]

Very awkward to say the least. Wow. Brandon sure as hell is a nutcase. Probst made the right call sending him home right away.

If Brandon is so religious and believes in god... i sure hope he enjoys hell. Because I doubt people like that are heavenly.

Whatever point Brandon was making (which I kind of understood) went out the window with the tirade he went on.

Brandon needs help. I hope to god, any-one's god, he gets it.He is a very disturbed soul.

[Endit]

I have a lot to say about this. Anybody in the mood for a wall of text? I've once had a similar meltdown (ok, maybe not that extreme and not physical), so I can get where he's coming from. Really, this a classic case of the straw that broke the camel's back... and when that happens, you can't control yourself. You may know what you're doing is wrong right as you're doing it, but the "**** IT! This has to be done!" attitude is so intense that everything else flies out the window. With that in mind, I don't completely blame Brandon at all for what he did. These are ridiculous powerful feelings.

First, I don't think Brandon and Phillip could coexist at all. The first time Phillip was on the show people responded differently to him, they were more direct and things got ugly from doing that. This new tribe though, they realize he's "different"... but actually relatively harmless if they casually kiss his ***. Simple things like going along with Stealth R Us, him calling the shots, just not confronting him... just forgoing their ego or biting their tongue. Even things like letting him believe he's in control even if not really. This also helps them by diffusing the tension. So far, Phillip has been doing really well so far. His antics are silly enough that he's like an in-joke to his own tribe and the viewers. Remember that scene recently with him and Brenda dancing - half of it was ridiculous, but another half was genuine stupid fun between the both of them. That's where he exists, this grey area.

However, Brandon is pretty much the same person in some respects. While his emotions overtake him, so far this season he has scaled it back. Even though he dumped the rice, by bringing it up in advance and NOT acting on it for so long, there was a battle going on inside to not do it. He was honestly trying to keep himself in check! He was trying to be mature about the whole issue too. He opted to not go out in flames originally when he called the tribe meeting. So you can't say that he's 100% out of control when his actions showed he was actively trying to change.

The straw that broke the camel's back, the REAL event behind everything was Phillip shaking his head "No" to Brandon when Brandon questioned his authority on judging each person's worth. I have no idea what Phillip really said, but the quote the show gives, "You should go, "Missed a close call"." - that was a completely blatant constructed phrase. He did NOT say that at all. I don't know how you can't hear that that wasn't constructed. The unnatural pausing, it sounds like 2-3 phrased spliced together... and it's presented to the viewer with the back of Phillip's head so we cant' match up his lips to see what he really said. Who knows what he really said, but it was this response from what I saw that changed everything. Brandon raised his eyebrow, so it must have been something with impact. However, doing so Phillip came off as arrogant, while invalidating Brandon, and reinforcing the negative image of himself as the know it all leader. Now the idea that Brandon was no longer in control of his own destiny was firmly planted in his head... and this was ultimately the driving force behind everything else that conspired. Dumping the rice was a sin that couldn't be forgiven (and for good reason)... they'd vote him out for that act, not Phillip rounding up his gang and getting him evicted because he personally wants him gone (doing this would be a sign of power, something that Brandon thinks Phillip does not deserve to have... it also would be beating him via rules of the game). He HAD to make a statement so to not let Phillip "win".

Really though, I see this as more of Phillip's fault than anything. He could have prevented his all by not fanning the flames. For somebody with doubt, you don't be overly confident in their face... go back and watch what conspired when Brandon tried to apologize. That was the wrong way to do it. Telling somebody harshly that they shouldn't be biting the hand that feeds them when you KNOW they are unpredictable!? And the quick witted answers, like "Um, hello, this all obvious!?" attitude. He could have simply lied or said some crap that Brandon wanted to hear... I think it would have prevented the entire rice episode. Was he blind, arrogant (like if doing that is beneath him, especially for somebody he doesn't respect), or was it on purpose? I seriously cannot tell. The next day Brandon woke up pissed as hell about that don't bite the hand that feeds you comment. That's pretty rude regardless.

To the person who suggested they get more rice, why should they? They didn't step in when NaOnka stole some food and hid it. There was also another recent season where one tribe had TONS of rice (I believe it was one with some guy with a lot of chest hair, country like) while the other tribe were living off scraps, like starving 24/7. When they merged, apparently they still had a rice segregation... with alliance that was being picked off having most of the rice (and not sharing, so as they got picked off, each one had a larger serving). The crew didn't step in there either.

Willie head butted another player didn't he?

Ok, I need to call this **** out because it is 100% FALSE. I followed that issue closely as well when it originally happened, to see if it was just manufactured drama or not, and it was. Yes, Willie got into a heated argument with another player, and at any moment it could have got physical... and then it didn't. However, as he was going to leave, he put his head down and accidentally bumped him. I know it sounds fishy, when I described it, but it was an awkward moment that was NOT intended. The show and everything wanted to call it a headbutt and created all this nonsense around it, but no, I saw it go down and it was the kind of bump where even calling it a bump is exaggerating it! It was nothing. But due to The Glass House's abysmal ratings, they ramped up the whole event (like forcing him to leave) to make it ~drama~ and spice up the show. Plus Willie also happened to have the Hantz name, and I got a "Who cares? He's just a disposable Hantz" vibe to it. It was stinking bull**** IMO, and I will call it out for that whenever it gets brought up because if it was any other player in any other game, there would be no eviction and no drama queening it up.

[teatime]

To clarify, he was calling Phillip bitch not Dawn whom he likes.