Who is Out

WEEK 2: Pinned

2007-09-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

How embarassing for the WWE as an entertainment company, and the only professional television personality in Survivor history, to be heaved over the top rope so early by amateurs.

Ashley's only tag team partner in our game, Rich Leist, can climb a sidewalk tree in Boston in the middle of a freezing February evening.

Full Updated Excel Sheet Here

Week 1: Caroline's Curse Continues

2007-09-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

Revised Excel Sheet for our pool here. New and Improved COLORS.

Reality Casting Director Caroline Kunitz's "first eliminated" curse continues. The initial embarassment, the curse confirmed in the So You Think You Can Dance pool, and now this Survivor China first week loss spreading to her husband, Matt (2nd photo). Also comisserating over Chicken, Jen Romanski (bottom photo, left).

Survivor FINALE: #1 in the Draft, #1 at the End

2007-05-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to LT Thompson (Hickory, North Carolinian 'current, Financial Advisor 'current) who outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted 8 television industry professionals from LA to win the Spring 2007, Survivor Fiji Pool.

LT beat out 5 professional reality casting directors, an executive producer, 2 couples, a pair of artsy brothers, and 3 USC film school diplomas (over a billion dollars in TV output) in bullseye'ing Earl Cole (Millionairre '07), with the 1st overall pick of the draft and riding him for 14 weeks to victory.

We would add a picture of LT here, but we cant see through the wall-to-wall babies over at LTandLela.com. We must sub him out with a preppily monikered newborn ("Winslow") pulled at random from the spring crop that is sprouting over at our #1 referrer website.

Be advised that this hereby expends the once-a-year exemption to the TheCHIMP.net's strident "no baby news" policy. Interested in playing the fall edition of the Survivor China pool? Throw your torch in the ring here.

Survivor Week 13: On to the Finale

2007-05-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

As we miss attending our first live Survivor Finale this year, we have this trusty viewing guide for at home viewing.

If you're still looking for the excel sheet to see how the jury breaks down, read here.

NOTE: 3 of the Final Four Draft Players are comissioners themselves. LT (Amazing Race Pool Comissioner), Rappa (Idol Pool), MG (Survivor Pool)

Enjoy the three hours on Sunday. No More Reality Pools until September after this.

Survivor Week 10: 2 Rats and 2 Idols

2007-04-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

REVISED: Spreadsheet with remaining players only, conveniently arranged by current alliance, check it out!

Stacy (Ru) and Dreamz (Rappa) both abandoned the two amigos (Alex and Edgardo). My head almost exploded trying to predict the vote.

An insightful strategic overview of the road ahead for everyone besides Earl, Yau-Man, and Cassandra over at Reality News Online.

Flashback: LT selecting Earle with the #1 pick in the draft - a pick that continues ripening.

Survivor Week 9: Twist Victim

2007-04-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Michelle (Rappa) got burnt by a creative game twist that changed the predictable merge pattern of Survivor. In interviews she said "nobody says this game is fair". Our pool is fair ....and competitive. Check up on where you stand here.

The producers avoided the season pivoting "vote at 10"/merge episode with a twist. Traditionally, this episode telegraphs the rest of the season - with 9 people left, usually split 5-4, a systematic pickoff of the minority ensues. By avoiding a group vote at 10 this week, the show has set up a wide open end game.

This could go any way from here on out with the dominant blocs being dyads in stead of tribes:
Rocky-Dreamz
Alex-Edgardo
Yau-Man - Earl

Strategic analysis (not spoilers) says that one of these three dyads will claim 2 of the (presumably) 3 seats before the jury.

Full strategy overview here. (It took me 2 times to understand the probabilities inside.)

In our pool,

Ru (Stacy/Edgardo) is locked up in the "horseman" alliance
Ashton (Yau-man/Boo) has potential diversity as Boo remains a wild card
Mikey (Cassandra, Alex) has outstanding diversity with players in opposite alliances.

Survivor Week 7 & 8: L is for Loser and Lisi

2007-04-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last week the commissioner went awol (Spring Break in Cancun?)so this updated spreadsheet is for 2 weeks here. With Lisi's elimnation, Tyler is now on permanent spring break. Go Seniors!

Note: Spreadsheet now includes JURY members and their original tribe affiliation. With only 6 or 7 more eliminations before the finale, it is time to start thinking about the end game.

Strategic Overview of Our Pool

Original Ravu left: 4 (Mookie, Yau-Man, Earle, Michelle)
Original Moto in "the Click" Left: 4 (Alex, Boo, Stacy, Edgardo)
Original Moto Outcasts Left: 2 (Dreamz/Cassandra)

Doesnt look good for "the click" in the event of a merge. It is unlikely that Dreamz/Cassandra will stick around with the original Moto. Even if there isnt a merge, Alex/Edgardo were stupid to vote out Lisi as in the case of another Ravu loss, it will be 2 vs. 2 in the vote, and Mookie intentionally told us this week that "the immunity idol is in my pocket".

Ashton's Boo/Yauman slate serves as the biggest "Odd Couple" of the pool. While both are on Moto, it appears they have never spoken a word to each other. Interesting diversity.

For a more expert opinion, Professor Jeffrey Sadow gives a strategic overview of Lisi's exit and the game at this point, here.

Somehow he gets interviews with the cast the night they are voted off....hmmm, I need to get on the CBS Press Tour list!

Survivor Week 6: Survivor Amazon Revisited

2007-03-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

It's battle of the sexes from Survivor Amazon again as the promoted tribe reshuffle goes down before the opening credits - Burnett must have been chomping at the bit to hold viewers, especially on a new night.

Updated spreadsheet here.

Tyler is screwed. His last remaining Survivor is Lisi, soon to be the only girl (well..... kinda) in Ravu. "Well .....Kinda" for two reasons: 1) If you ask Rocky(MDK), there already was a girl in there, but he is pictured wearing a "Worlds of Warcraft Online" headset above. And reason #2: Lisi. Not so much with the whole feminine charm.

The reshuffle fallout:
RU: is now balanced between the tribes
MDK is still all orange even after the split, even though his boy Mookie tried to flip on Rocky.
Rappa still half and half as her team members just swapped.
Ashton goes all Green/Moto

LT's #1 Pick of our draft, Earle, has finally ripened. Earle assumes the #1 position in the game going in to week 7.
The Survivors we as a group picked at the bottom: #14 (Rita), #16 (Lilliana), #17 (Anthony), and #18(Sylvia) are 4 of the first 6 eliminated.

Next week! Another TK episode that will be watched in her company.....woo hoo!!

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Survivor Week 5: In a RUSH

2007-03-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

If there was a sane commissioner of our Survivor pool, this would be the normal recap:

Rita (Ravu/Mikey) - OUT

Alex (moto/Mikey) arrested in real life for battery and other charges

No Survivor next week, Next Survivor on WEDNESDAY night March 21 due to NCAA tournament – looks like a desperation tribe reshuffle is coming to save this lopsided slaughter of a season

Survivor Week 4: Double Damage

2007-03-04T21:15:00.001-08:00

Updated Excel Spread Sheet Here.

Spend all week celebrating your Oscar win for "Best Reality Fantasy Pool" Commissioner ever?
That's what I did, and if you had won one also, you too would have been clutching your gold statue so tight that you couldn't pick up the remote to turn the channel to Surivor.

This week's analysis is open to anyone who emails me their commentary and I will post it immediately.

Until then, take it from this guy, the dean of Survivor Strategy.

Survivor Week 3: "Un-RAVU-ling Quickly"

2007-02-22T23:07:00.000-08:00

Check out the increasingly green excel spreadsheet here.

Supv Producer "TK" had her first episode of the season, so we were excited for this one. This means TK wrote, edited, and had primary responsibility for the story of this epsiode. Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, we praise thee for excluding her from our pool!

This week, I watched the episode twice in a night, in honor of TK. The Fear Factor eating stunt played well from the living room of Fear Factor’s executive producer, Matt. Rocky (Matt) swallowed his meal during the eating challenge, like his namesake from the movies chugging an egg smoothie. He killed it.

There was forshadowing to the night. As I pulled up to Matt's house Tyler was running out for a “work emergency”…60 minutes later one of Tyler’s peeps would be run out also.

Last week eneded with Moto up 9-8 and Boo's slapstick physical comedy a coming attraction for this week's greased slide challenge... Boo (Ashton) found his jockstrap and was 100% less goofy then last week as he skated through the skee-basketball reward challenge. Sylvia (Tyler) thought she was walking on broken glass.

Make that 2 people: Both Ramsey Brothers suck at greased skeeball. Yau Man (Ashton) and Silvia (Tyler).

Balls: Sylvia digging in front of the tribe, which I think Detective Yauman, who last week did a grope/inspection of Sylvia, might have spied her digging. There was a shot of his telescoping eyes spying Sylvia digging to China, ...or from where they are in Fiji, digging to West Virginia?? (TK, was that intentional?)

Crazy Monkey Says: Why did Moto re-send Sylvia to Exile? First vote-off Jessica has said online that during Sylvia’s initial tribe selection, ““everybody could see that Sylvia and Cassandra were bonded. And I think some people were afraid that we weren’t on Cassandra’s team, because we thought she might stack the odds.” In the case of a tribe merge/swap, were Cassandra/Moto trying to steer the idol towards someone sympathetic, or at least know where it is, by sending the same person over and over.

Crazy Monkey Now Says: Whoever walks in to Exile Island next is getting a crazy gift. Presumably Sylvia didnt tell anyone else about the clues, so she takes the golden info on its location "to the grave". The next exile-ee will win the lottery so to speak.

The Votes Split:

Voting Against Sylvia: Stacy, Yau Man, Anthony, and Earl
Voting Against Anthony: Sylvia, Mookie, Rocky
Rita voted Earl

LT got as many votes as Sylvia (4, split between Anthony and Earl) Too bad we cant vote him out of the pool for that.

Mookie and Rocky are on the outside of the voting circle, for Rocky it is the 2nd time. Maybe they were just trying to flush out the idol from Sylvia and Anthony would have been an adequate rebound victim if she had it.

We head in to this week with Moto up 9-7. On to week 4 ....and the "next on" shows more proof that 50 lbs of gut fat are still not enough padding for Papa Smurf's ribs. Tony Roma's endorsements forthcoming.

Rita and Her Fame Whore Family

2007-02-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Rita (Mikey) from the Moto tribe has it in her blood. Her brother is Nick Verreosfrom Project Runway. (Season 2)

Nick's way less cool blog is here.

Survivor Week 2: Caroline's Curse

2007-02-15T22:34:00.000-08:00

EXCEL Spreadsheet results for this week: Click Here.

3 Peas in a Pod. A truly amazing feat as Caroline Kunitz is OUT of the pool after only 2 episodes, as Erica's yelping got her canned. Submit your ideas for a prize to honor this achievement here.

I got to enjoy this episode in the company of 4 of the 8 of the participants in our pool: Rappa, Tyler, Ashton, and Myself.

Yauman (Ashton) got in to the Mardi Gras spirit with his welcome back “hug” - pickpocket/snoop/ “feel her up”
LT checked in from the east coast to note: that there is nothing better in the show than Dreams’ ‘being homeless vs being survivor’ monologue
One Ramsey Brother who just returned from FIJI, encouraged us all to rejoice in “Caroline’s weak gameplay”.
Voting Note:Even Rocky, who 3 days earlier said he wouldnt vote against his alliance, gave Erica the heave.

CELEBRITY SPOTTING: Survivor Fiji Supervising Producer, "TK" has commented on our pool. See her comments under last week's post! Cool!!

Dr. David Bloomberg, Phd, thoughtfully explains Why Erica Lost over at Reality News Online.

Survivor Episode 1 - Did you Draft Well?

2007-02-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

Check out the full tribe diversification of your picks and weekly results here. It is a nifty Excel sheet designed by LT for Amazing Race.

Casting Backstory on Jessica: Jessica was supposed to be on Big Brother: EXES a few years ago, and was contacted cold by Lynn Spielman's dept. A few days before the hourse, her ex boyfriend called her and told he he was going on Big Brother. They put it together and she pulled out of the show.

Notes and Observations:

The 20th survivor who quit on the way to the beach must have been a female, with 10 males and 9 females landing on the beach. It must have been so last minute that flying in an alternate was out of the question.
Unlike the last season, this group of Survivors knows that there are going to be 9 on the jury as Dre said in his cbs.com video, “I only need to make 5 friends to have on that jury” Very quiet first episode for 1 and 2 picks Earl and Gary (LT and Tyler)

Surprises – Yau Man and Sylvia (Ashton and Tyler – the Ramsey Brothers have good sleeper picks). Yauman is from Borneo – where the first season of Survivor was shot.

The Kunitzes are overly invested in Orange/Ravu, not diversified at all, with 4 out of 4 in the Ravu Tribe, now 3 of their remaining 3 in Ravu.

Dissection of the Voting:What's with the wild votes you ask? Rocky and Macy Gray both said they “wouldn’t write down Jessica’s name”. To not ostracize themselves from the majority by voting Rita, and to appear non allied themselves, they both threw out wild votes in seemingly random directions. Rocky for Mooky and Macy Gray for Yao Man, who did the most in this episode and least deserved a vote of anybody.

The Road Ahead - To Look For:
Alex and Stacy are seen spooning together (thanks TIVO) on night two infared cam before the the Dreamz/Rocky blow up, and end up on the same tribe together the next day. Something to look for.

Brewing Rivalry Alert: Mooky and Rocky. Rocky took the early spotlight by trying to open the box and earning a crowd chant. Mooky then took center stage to read the tree mail to all 19. At Tribal, Rocky threw his meaningless vote to Mooky.

Why Jessica Lost, by PHD, David Bloomberg.