LIVE after the Survivor 34: Game Changers PREMIERE, Rob Cesternino (@robcesternino) and Stephen Fishbach (@stephenfishbach) recap the episode and answer your questions LIVE!
Totally. It would have been my survivor wet dream. Tony's paranoia got the best of him. I have no doubt that Sandra was humoring Troyzan. I disagree withthe guys with him confronting them right away. If Tony had just waited and pulled Sandra aside, she would have been straight up with him.
Yeah. Although based on the final vote, I'm guessing that was an alliance Tony was trying to get, but wasn't actually together. Or maybe the others were telling Tony they were with him, but they actually weren't.
+Kristina B I agree, because if you rewatch that moment, it was Troyzan who was bringing up Tony's name as a possible boot, while Sandra was just keeping quiet and appearing to go along with him, not the other way around.
+gar.y How about you grow up, and don't refer to a virtual stranger as classless trash? For all your complaining about the comment Eggs made, you're not exactly innocent yourself
As far as Sandra's move, I don't think she had a choice because Tony got paranoid and targeted her as soon as she had a conversation with Troy.. so if someone's coming for her she has to take that out
I think the main problem with Tony, and to a lesser degree, Ciera, is that they both came way too hard out of the gate and didn't know when to activate the off switch and just let others take the lead. With Tony, I think Sandra actually was receptive to the endgame deal he proposed to her and would've stuck with it fully had he not gone off all paranoid when Sandra and Troyzan were talking on the beach. Assuming Tony had just let it go for now and later talked to Sandra one on one, or stayed hidden to overhear the whole conversation, maybe there would've been no cause for Sandra to get so frustrated with him that she was now done with trying to work with him. As for Ciera, she already knew she was in danger after messing up on the puzzle challenge, so why create an even bigger target by throwing out 5 or 6 different names instead of taking a page from Sandra's playbook and voting for anyone who isn't her?
+Raquel Costa Glad someone agrees, because most fans I've seen have been pretty degrading towards Sandra/the other players for voting Tony out, including referring to Sandra with words I refuse to type, when in all reality, it was mostly his own actions that led to his undoing
Tony is one of my favourite players but I agree, he got lucky last time when he had slip ups because he had Trish but since unlucky him he gets Sarah instead this time and she isn't even on her tribe so he had no way to bounce back when he made mistakes. It was like Alexis in Cagayan, Rob in HvV and Russell in Redemption Island, Tony just played too hard too early.
+While You Are Reading This I Stole Your Cookies I agree with the Russell and Tony comparisons, because both of them had ample opportunity to change their games and not be so all over the place/abrasive, but they both instantly fell back on doing the same exact things, with worse results the second/third time out.
Why are they shocked Sandra was 'mean' to Tony ( and Tony was mean to people when he played.) Russell said it himself Sandra is lippy (which I love about her) and still plays a good social game. Also she was spying on players way back in Panama years before Tony's spy shack.
Props to Sandra. Usually her game is to lay low - as of right now, she is playing harder than she has ever played before. If she makes it far (doesn't even have to win), but makes it far - you have to give her credit and admit she just might be the best player in SURVIVOR history.
Remmy you're right. Tony said that too. Tony said that he should just listened and not confronted them or just talked to them about something else. He also said his other mistake is not announcing that he had an idol and that they just trying to get rid of it. He said that he should have done that to create some panic to save himself possibly.
No way! Malcolm said over and over again that he wanted to keep the strong guys around to take heat off him. That was all Sandra, gotta give her props.
Sandra voted for Aubrey simply to avoid a tie if Tony had the idol. where the other name could have been her. surprised fishbach didn't get that straight out of the gate
Queen Sandra!!!! Showing all those Russell fans that she did deserve the last 2 wins, that she didn't just float along and get to the end! Truly incredible social game!
Losing Tony this early definitely hurts the interest in the season for me. When you read the boot list and who makes the final 3 it is definitely 3 people who are seen as total non strategic threats from their original season. Tony was going to be a prime target no matter what he did. His downfall was not connecting more with people early on like he did in his cagyan season.
it's obvious sandra didn't tell tony the truth because she didnt want troyzan to know how close they were and would have told tony everything later but he treated her wrong so she flipped and why do they keep saying sandra survived to the merge because her tribe always won ummm villains lost all of the time on HvV in the beginning
+tim Wrong...Villains actually tied with the Heroes for tribal immunity losses, and some of those losses were more due to the Russell/Parv/Danielle alliance going on the whole "vote out the only people capable of winning any physical challenges" warpath, instead of doing the smart thing and making the Sandra/Courtney duo their first targets.
okay so they went to tribal 4 times premerge and sandra somehow survived to the merge because her tribe never went to tribal early? where is your logic?
+tim I think what Rob was getting at was that the first time, her tribe never went to tribal until Burton had the genius idea to throw the challenge to get her out, which backfired tremendously on him, which gave her around 15 days to get in a good enough spot on her tribe that she was covered once they finally went to tribal, and same in HvV, where it wasn't until episode 3 that her tribe lost a challenge, which again gave her 9 days to get into a solid alliance...a lot different than only having 3 days to find a solid enough alliance that will enable you to survive a tribal council.
but even when she went into tribal as a target early on without allies like in hvv it was just her and courtney and she was a much bigger threat and parvati wanted her gone sandra still kept herself safe planting seeds sandra really only needs a little bit of time to get in good and as long as she knows she's a target she can do stuff to keep herself safe i understand her first time she didn't go to tribal until later but in hvv even if it was ep. 3 that's still very soon and not like rob was making it out to be like she made it through without going to tribal until the merge
+tim I don't know if that was as much due to planting seeds as it was to the fact that Parvati knew that Courtney had more friends on the heroes tribe than Sandra did, so it would've theoretically been easier for Courtney to jump ship than it ended up being for Sandra
Cirie: THANK YOU SURVIVOR GODS! Thank you! I almost die of a heart attack at the end of the second immunity challenge, because I thought if Nuku went to TC, Cirie was is serious danger. I think we didn't see the best of Cirie, but nobody even gave her a chance, and I think Ozzy still can't let go. Ozzy's the same Ozzy. He's more proud than he is smart. If he really wants to get back at Cirie, the best he can do is prepare a good lie for her. But no. Cirie already knows that Ozzy is still bitter. So thank you Survivor Gods for protecting Godess Cirie! And I hope she can find her way through now that there's going to be a swap.
+a746c Interesting you bring up that comparison, because I felt both Russell on RI and Tony on this season fell into the trap of playing the exact same way that they did on their previous seasons, not realizing that maybe scaling back would've been the better move now that everyone knew what their games were all about. For Russell, maybe had he worked hard around camp and let someone else be the alpha male instead of immediately going off and strategizing with Stephanie/Krista, then he could've still stood a chance of making merge, and with Tony, sitting back and really integrating with his tribe instead of immediately going out building a spy bunker and idol hunting/not being too paranoid and suspicious this early on in the game could've changed his fate.
+aro327 So true...he had a solid group up until he got a little too paranoid and accused one of his allies of plotting against him, when the truth was that, at least from what the edit showed us, it was Troy, who never was in that 5 person alliance, who was floating around Tony's name as a possible boot, and Sandra just appeared to be totally non committal, sort of going along with whatever Troy had to say, but not taking it seriously, until Tony went off the rails and forced Sandra's hand so she had to actively campaign against him if she wanted to stick around.
Sandra: great night for her... But I don't think she was smart when Tony was leaving. She only made the target on her back a bigger one. She should have shut up.
Tony: I'm SO HAPPY. So so so happy these players are not the Cagayan ass lickers who knew from day one Tony was winning if he got to the FTC, and still, didn't vote him out. I've been waiting for this moment for three years! You know when you say 'OK, guys, so... Tonight it's Tony, right? It's obvious, right? You have the chance to get rid of your biggest threat so you use it, right? You're playing to win, not as a slave of Tony's, right? No, no, no, no... Woo: stupidiest player EVER! He stole Eric's title. When I saw Ciera voted out first, I thought we were gonna see Cagayan 2, and I was so SO THRILLED when I saw what we had never seen before: Jeff snuffing Tony's torch. THANK YOU! This will force players to know better. Tony was out of control, under the belief he could do anything, just like in his previous season. Don't get me wrong: Tony is an amazing player. I just hate those season where people play to let other people win: Redemption Island, One World, Cagayan and some others. I just love seasons where one day one player is in control, and the next day he's in danger.
if you don't think Sandra is a serious contender you know nothing about survivor. I have watched EVERY SINGLE SEASON and every single episode and I can tell that she IS one of the Ultimate players among with Parvati and Russel. this episode she proved why she is the Queen of Survivor and piss me off that people give Cierra and Cirie more credits on playing than Sandra. also Ozzy. Trust me they are great players but if none of them have Winning TWICE and making to the Finale TWICE in two different season the AM SORRY but you can't say shit about her. until someone WINS TWICE or make to the finals like Russel and Parvati twice as well then give up because the argument that she does not deserve is relevant. JT has a big chance to match her but by now she still THE QUEEN of survivors and reality television. She deserves Respect, ah just to remind SHE IS THE ONLY SOLE SURVIVOR THAT WON THIS HUNGER GAMES TWICE. get real people, if you know your history then you know what's right here!
remember at second tribal when jeff said "if anyone has an idol please use it now" or whatever they all looked at tony they all thought he was going to pull an idol out.
Rob you are looking super hot with the full bear and in black :D . So happy Sandra had a great showing. The naysayers can go home. She can pull off a good move when she needs to.
Sierra: I keep hearing (in most videos I've seen so far) that by finding the legacy advantage she's proving people that she's a good player, that she deserves to be in this season... WTF? She just stepped into a piece of paper! Are you all blinded by her beauty?! She herlsef said something like: I wanna make moves THIS TIME AROUND. So, for me, she hasn't proved anything just by being lucky. And if she does prove something this season (I hope), then she'd be deservent of a future season like "Game Changers 2". But she has nothing to do within this cast.
Lets put it this way, the Legacy advantage was blatantly obvious on the ground their, and everyone except her didn't notice it. Although I do agree that she still has to do something to be considered a great player, she is in here for a reason.
15:19 yep I predicted an early swap. But I said it will go from 2 to 3. But it looks like it may go to One tribe now. Anyways I said Ozzy and Michaela are in the final three. Not sure who is the third person though.
you cant have a conversation with tony about "lets not do this" he literally will vote out his best friend that has never done anything to him so if he just thought sandra was against him he'd never let it go
Tony should have used the fact that he caught Sandra and Troy talking at 4am alot more than what he did ... he should put that in the face of people who think they are in an alliance with Sandra like Hailey and Varner .. and try to stirr things up .. But he was more confy apparently he thought he had Michaela , where in fact he had nobody ..... so I gues, like many times before, they portrayed what was really going on in the tribe very poorly when editing just to surprise us ...the vibe that Tony gave from the get go didn't go away at all ... even with Caleb and malcolm ..
+TimelineUpdates I don't even think Sandra/Troy were in an alliance until Tony went crazy and forced that hand, since it seemed from the edit that Troy was the one driving home that Tony had to go and couldn't be trusted while Sandra seemed to be just humoring him and letting him speak.
When you think about it, Sandra always got kinda paranoid in her past seasons when she heard her name being mentioned. The difference is, they never really thought of her as a real threat back then, even in HvsV, so she always ended up safe in the end. Different story this time me thinks. She is a big threat now, everyone knows it, and I don't think her taking out Tony, although beautifully done, will get her any credit in this game. She's even a bigger threat now because of that...
So here's the question then for Tony's vote out. Did Tony ultimately punch his own ticket home because his tribe couldn't stand him anymore or was it because he's too much of a danger in a merge?
Ciera: I feel for her. I really like her attitude and willingness to make moves. She's not scared and she doesn't like to be anybody's puppy... But I have to say that she obviously cannot read people, and she didn't learn her lessons from Second Chances where what got her out, was herself not being able to shut her mouth. She would tell the wrong things at the wrong people at the wrong time, so I guess it was only fair she was voted out firts. Oh, and also: SHE CAN'T DO PUZZLES! Guys, stop giving Ciera puzzles, she always loses! What I can say in her favor, is that clearly, all players have so much respect for her. There were so much bigger fish to fry, still, they went for her.
It's time we all agree that the "She voted out her mom" was not a cunning and terrific move, but rather a move she was tricked into making by the people around her and she did not in any way benefit from it.
I was actually more shocked by the fact that Tyson was into girls than I was about Stephen being straight...Stephen strikes me more as the Cochran socially awkward type, while Tyson was pinging the gaydar some, so I was shocked when he showed up on BvW with Rachel and later married her.
Gabriela Mallo True. I got that vibe about Tyson but I think he is more weird pervy type. When I saw Stephen on his first season, His Instagram was all about drag queens and gay guys. That's why I'm confused!
At around 55:00 where you're discussing how Sandra convinced Michaela to vote out Tony... Having a 9-person tribe can also lead to have a tie (now without a revote). So, knowing Tony and Sandra voted for Aubry, let's suppose only one of them did that and each side voted against either Tony or Sandra, then we'd have a 4-4-1 vote, should there not be a consensus, they're drawing rocks. I probably think that's why they sided with Sandra.
So from a producer standpoint they always make it seem that its one of two people going home, e,g, michaella and cierra for the first boot. For the second boot they made it seem like it was either tony or sandra with it being 4-4 and michaella being the deciding vote. but for no reason aubry is written and also by sandra??? And then everyone else including caleb who said he was with tony voted for him. I was really lost here
+Lauryn Olivia No kidding...anyone who's seen his season of BB knows that Caleb is easy to manipulate into doing what you want him to do...what shocks me more is her ability to sway Malcolm, who is far from clueless about how the game works
Tony sounds like he has extreme ADHD and to be honest, when you have that, you are sometimes when stressed you are at the mercy of it. When you are out there you don't have meds or coffee to help you calm down, and having a raising mind at night it very common, you add stress it makes it so much worse too. So I can't judge Tony, I know how it feels with stress and ADHD takes over and it is not a good feeling and you do feel you are worse enemy when your mind causes you to not act the way you want too,
That's what I'm thinking too...I'm ADHD and have several family members on my dad's side who are that way too, so I recognize the signs, and Tony checked off every box.
thank god Sandra had a big episode because i dont feel like she will last long. neither will cirie. both tribes are too aware of them as threats. and my heart bleeds. if im right, im rooting for aubry (robbed winner) and Micaela challenge beast to win.
Cirie was fucked from the get go with that tribe...who was the genius who decided to put her on a tribe with Ozzy, who is still not over the fact that she was the driving force behind his Micronesia blindside?
+Cam Perry No kidding...Ozzy is still holding that grudge 12 seasons later, and most likely won't stop until he either gets her out or gets himself voted off, whichever comes first
Don't get me wrong, I like Tony. I think he is a grate player. I am mad at him for not laying back and chilling out. I was rooting for Tony but as soon as he started getting paranoid and started running around, that's when I was like 'get him out'. It was frustrating cause he was in a decent, not good but decent, position but when you purposely try to get people suspicious of you that's when I give up on them. He only has himself to blame
Personally, now that The King is off the board, I want the Queen off the board too (ALTHOUGH I do like the two of them) I just think it's time for a new winner, one who hasn't won before (although I also liked JT) ie Malcolm, Caleb, Tai. Shouted at Andrea for not picking up the #secretadvantage . I did like Sierra getting it though, because last season I wasn't happy with who got the Legacy Idol. Never liked Cirie so wouldn't shed a tear if she is next. Loved Tai and the facials he was giving when talking to Cirie. Malcolm got SO close to winning IMMUNITY for his tribe but alas, now that would have been a comeback for sure. Great episode!! #Survivor500
+Jake Conley I don't know if it's as much her as it is that Ozzy is clearly out for revenge after Micronesia, which always seems to be the case on All Star seasons...people will get revenge on those who have screwed them over either directly or indirectly (see Jerri with Tina/Colby on All Stars and with Rob on HvV, and Tasha with Kass on Second Chances)
As for the editing: it started last season. They create surprise and suspence by hiding dialogues and details... That's not fun or interesting. They lead us to believe Tony was staying. Come on, guys, Survivor is already awesome, no need for these cheap moves.
Survivor really became Big Brother last night, a horribly misleading edit, and as soon as one group is in danger of getting steamrolled they just throw in a coup da ta (or tribe swap in Survivor terms).
Great to have you back Rob! Awesome episode of Survivor! Two of the most annoying peeps gone woohoo. I hope Cirie is next, I can't stand her, too funny how she referred to herself as a "legend".
I do think she's a legend in the same way that Rob was in All Stars...right around the time of the first All Stars, Rob had this reputation as the best player to never win, which unfortunately led to his early exit that season, and I see the same thing happening to Cirie this season, because don't forget that her tribe also has Ozzy, who is vocal about the fact that he's hungry for some revenge after what happened in Micronesia, where none other than Cirie was responsible for getting him blindsided, and she is also high on the list of best player to never win.
Yeah, I find her annoying and full of herself. There are a few legends in the 17 years of Survivor, Boston Rob would be at the top of my list to name one. She convinced Eric, a boy, who was naive, to give up his immunity. That's her claim that's it, not a legend by any means. I can not see her making it far this season at all. She is a weak player who loves to weaken her team by voting out strong players. She won't be able to manipulate the many strong & smart cast mates this season. Rob Cesternino was dubbed that by Probst, I would agree, but frankly I would never put him in a category with Cirie as Rob is leagues above Cirie. Should be an amazing season though if last night's episode is any indication. Cheers :)
+Gertie Alba There is this general perception, backed up by a lot of the Micronesia jury, that she would've been the winner instead of Parvati had that season not had the last minute switch to a final 2...Erik said that when he gave her full credit for organizing his blindside, and Ozzy seems to be targeting her precisely because he sees her as the one most responsible for ending his game when they played together
true. and i think he should be reminded that he won the million in his season by default, because woo was a doe-eyed twat. it was trish who did the work for him to get that spot. he ain't nowhere close to being 'strategic' as he thought he is. lol! he's an idiot. that spyshack was merely a tool to aggravate his incessant paranoia. sadly, he had no trish this season to sedate him. lol. not sorry!
I'm so happy Tony was voted off. He's one of my least favorite players. Thank you Sandra for working your magic. Now I'm open to anyone else winning this season.
I'm generally not a fan of loud mouth obnoxious personalities. I prefer winners like, Cochran, Jeremy , Sandra, Yul Kwon, Denise Stapley, and Vecepia Tower.
Yeah, I think Tony gets WAY too much credit for his season... He got so lucky with Chaos Kass flipping when he played the idol on the wrong person... then even luckier when Woo brought him to the finals. I'm so glad we don't have to listen to his stupid confessionals all season.
+lski22 How was she handed a victory when she was the one who put together an alliance against Tony shortly after she got wind it was her name coming out of his mouth?
