Image credit: Monty Brinton/CBS
Each week, host Jeff Probst answers a few questions about the most recent episode of Survivor: South Pacific.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The tribes were super excited to finally get their bathing suits. I know you guys do everything for a reason, so why choose day 9 to give those to them? Why not give them the suits right off the bat, or not at all? What’s the master plan, Probst?
JEFF PROBST: We feel it is important to establish the Survivors in a way that best represents them physically. So we like to leave them in their regular clothes for a few episodes. This is what allows us to brand Cochran as the “sweater vest” guy or Coach with his trademark black long sleeve shirts. Of course we are aware that seeing people in their bathing suits can be both hot and funny and we typically but not always tie it into the first water challenge.
I always love this immunity challenge of people having to hold up weighted bags on a pole for as long as they can. Love it! Love it! Love it! It’s a Survivor classic and never fails to provide amazing drama. (Although does that really count as a new 240-pound record for Brandon and Jim since they both dropped the pole?) In any event, we’ve talked lots of times before about your favorite challenges, so now I want you to hit me with the flip side: What is the worst challenge in Survivor history? One that just didn’t work or you never really liked? (My vote would go to the S.O.S. one from early seasons where some dude in a plane would look down and say, “I like that one better.”)
First of all, good question about the validity of the record. I would say yes it still counts because they held on long enough for the Russian judge to give a thumbs up and when the Russian judge who is notoriously fickle gives a thumbs up, it counts. Worst challenge in history? Definitely not the S.O.S. I actually like the idea of that one a lot — use what you can find to make a distress signal. It’s relevant. The worst by far was one where we had some kind of a board similar to “Battleship” and you went up and pulled a lever or some other thing and it was so bad we had to make it work in the edit room. It was so bad I can’t even remember the point of the challenge or the season. (Ed Note: He’s talking about episode 11 of ‘Survivor: Fiji’, where Stacy won immunity. You can watch it right here starting at the 4:00 mark.) But it’s a great reminder of how often our guys get it right — almost every single time.
Let’s say you just got voted out by your tribe. You giving them a hug?
F— no.
I was fortunate enough to make it through the promo for next week’s challenge without getting sick. What else can you tease us up with for next week?
I’m on a plane flying to New York so the altitude is getting to me a bit, but what I most remember about next week’s episode is something significant involving Coach. That’s all you get.
For more from the host on last night’s episode, check out Jeff’s Tout page. To read Dalton’s recap, click right here. To watch an exclusive deleted scene from last night’s episode as well as our pre-game interview with Papa Bear, simply watch the video player below. And for more Survivor scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @EWDaltonRoss.
Dalton, you guys could have done better this week.
I was out late last night at Drag Queen Bingo, so I did not see the episode.
But I don’t want all my fans to worry, I will still make all the uninformed comments that I always do.
Since they have nothing to do with actually understanding the show.
My Random Thoughts:
-Brandon telling Edna that she was on the outs with the group of 6 made absolutely no sense at all, and if he’s trying to come clean on everything, why didn’t he THEN go to the rest of the group of five, and come clean on the fact that he told Edna…and then go back to Edna and tell her that he told them? And so on?
-Did Stacy decide that this week’s clichés would only revolve around eggs? “Edna is on an Easter Egg hunt right now”, and “she is scrambling like scrambled eggs in a hot skillet right now” were the two that she used before breaking into some other things that made no sense whatsoever. “I gotta lie to kick it, and what that means is I gotta lie to try to get in to fit in. You lie to kick it, with the next man.” What does that mean?
-At the end of Tribal Council, Jeff asked Albert, “Does that mean the #1 topic for Tribal Council should be trust?” Might be Yes, might be No, might be Maybe…but I’ll tell you one thing for certain: The #1 topic for Tribal Council SHOULD NOT BE RUSSELL.
For the rest of my recap, Google “Sean’s Random Thoughts”
Hey Sean, I love it when you are behind me.
I am a phony pretending to be the real Saline. I am the loser known as wsugar posing as the Great Saline. It is I that likes to dress in drag and party all night long until I’m good and drunk. How sorry I am to the Great Saline for acting like I can pretend to be him.
LOL
Saline you moron, I would love to take credit for pointing out how stupid you are. But it looks like there are plenty a people ahead of me in line for that.
That’s what she said.
Sean, I like your recaps! Please ignore whatever bizzaro troll posting is going on around this. I’m hoping Stacey’s “gotta lie to kick it” quote ends up on The Soup. I was a bit baffled by the attempt at a group hug at the end of tribal council. Entire tribe votes you out, not a single hug will be given. Sorry.
This recap was pretty pathetic. Did you do this last minute or something? Why bother with this? Please continue to put the same effort you have been in these or don’t do them at all. This wasn’t worth the time to even read.
Leo.. this wasn’t the recap, it was just the weekly questions for Jeff on the last episode. Dalton Ross also does the recaps – just go to the tv recaps section of EW and it is there.
Ah wsugar! Another moron speaks! Who cares who it was. Whether it was you or some other moron. Morons like you and other coward posters are all alike. Anybody that pretends to be somebody else. Especially greatness like myself is a coward. And you have those traits wsugar along with being incredibly stupid. So whether you take credit for something you did or deny it or some other fool did it really doesn’t matter. Just know that Saline is greatness while you and your pals wsugar are useless rookies.
The @Saline reply is another coward like your partner in stupidity wsugar. There’s a line that goes around the block of people looking to prove themselves on this site. Posers like the @ Anonymous coward and rookies known as wsugar. Only greatness belongs on this site like me and only people with proper knowledge concerning the game of Survivor belong on this post aswell. Not posers that can’t even name the winners of every season if you asked them point blank.
my best friend’s mom makes $77 an hour on the computer. She has been out of job for 9 months but last month her check was $7487 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read about it here MakeCash3.com
Good episode except for the duel outcome.
wsugar is a rookie that doesn’t know anything about Survivor and never will. Unlike Saline, her knowledge about the game of survivor is like a 90 year old’s knowledge of the internet.
You have to get online pretty early if you want to get ahead of Richard Saline and his stupid gas blows.
And you have to get to bed pretty early to beat the rookie idiot known as wsugar to the punch in the morning with her stupid take on Survivor and reality television in general. Hey wsugar. There’s no W in sugar. Just thought that you should know, rookie!
Frig off people – I’m not gonna post here anymore unless people stop impersonating me – I hate Brandon and all the Hantz family and wish everybody would stop posting the opposite – what a family of trolls.
I have done it again! I’ve posted under the great Saline mighty name because I am not as high in terms of worth as he is so I feel as though I must bring myself up and it is wrong. Very wrong to pretend to be somebody else. I wont’ post anymore until I can think of a name that I can post as instead of just copying somebody else’s post that only proves to everybody how much of a loser I am. To Impersonate means to copy and deny ones own worth. Which I have none! That’s why I feel the need to copy the great Saline. I hate Brandon and the Hantz family because I’m a hater and Saline is a Hantz fan and has their back 100%. I wish that all of my kind on this site would see that and stop posting negative things concerning the Hantzes and learn like I’ve learned that positive things must start being posted about them. Espeically after Brandon’s tearfull tribal speech. Once again I’m sorry for being the copy man.
What is even happening with this wsugar/Saline thing. No one cares about message board annonymous posting quabbles. Please move on.
You want to know what’s happening SJ! The great Saline will tell you. Wsugar is a rookie troublemaker that started something with me, the last person on earth you want to start something with and now she is paying for that by everyone seeing what a jerk she really is. By her pretending to be me and then apologizing for it with her phony posts above proves what a childish idiot she really is. If you don’t want to be in a war. You don’t start one. So SJ it’s not about who cares and doesn’t care. It’s personal and business between me and that rookie that thinks they know anything about the game of Survivor. And what wsugar needs to get through her head along with other impersonators is that you don’t pretend to be another poster and get away with it on this site. That’s a no-no!
I’ll explain it to you SJ! wsugar tried to be a wiseguy with me and I’m the last person on earth you want to do that with so wsugar’s post must be now shown for what it is exactly. A rookie’s crap viewpoint that is meaningless.
Here we go again with this R.I. duels ending with the same person winning again. I have watched survivor for all 23 seasons and never suspected the show of being fixed or anything like that and I don’t believe that it is. It’s just the luck be it good or bad that has always surrounded Survivor. But this same person winning thing with Christine becoming a Matt Elrod and going on a run is boring to watch. Wathcing the same person winning over and over isn’t interesting. I hope Stacey beats Christine next week and changes things up. Something that has never happened before at R.I. I’ll repeat, watching the same person win over and over is boring and we’ve seen that before already.
She has won TWICE. How is that over and over again? I would barely call that a winning streak.
What would you suggest? The producers rig RI so she doesn’t win just to make you happy? Get a life.
I don’t think Wanda was saying that at all AB(Airhead bozzo) She was only venting her frustrations that most of us all have in seeing the same person win over and over again. We’ve been there already and done that. And it’s that very scenario of the same person winning over and over again that makes Redemption Island so boring. The next duel however will be better because it’s trash versus trash. Long Island trash versus Ghetto trash. One has to go. It’s a shame it can’t be a three way duel and then you could put AB in the mix and have a third category of trash.
Hey Sean, the loser known as wsugar is upset that nobody on earth knows who she is so she had to mimic the great Saline. That didn’t work out so well did it wsugar? Stick to your own level wsugar where you belong. And that’s as a rookie.
Yeah – a rookie like you Saline – unlike the great Tommy D! I too hate the Hantz family and wish those trolls would find their own reality show and stay off Survivor!
I am not the real Tommy D! I know he is a Hantz fan while I am the true Hantz hater. Shame on me!
Wanda, you’re getting very far ahead of yourself. Christine has won exactly two challenges – against pretty weak competition both times. This hardly qualifies as a “Matt Elrod run”.
It does qualify as an Elrod run because she faces another weak competitor next week. Her old buddy Stacey.
Yes, Wanda is VERY ahead of herself.
And Rack is very one track minded. Survivor is like chess. You have to think 3 moves ahead.
I would like to know when they are going to stop showing the same contestants every week and start showing us the whole teams. When Keith and Albert did the challenge last night I stopped and wondered who the heck they were because I don’t think we’ve ever seen or heard from them before.
that usually means they go farther in the game and will start showing up more later in the season.
I hate that too, because you know the moment they get more than 30 second airtime in an episode they’re going home at the end of it. But as hmmm says, it’s safe to assume Keith, Elyse, Whitney, Rick and Albert will all make it fairly deep and we’ll see more of them then, but I don’t think any will win because they’ve been invisible.
We have. Just very little!
It is because too much time is WASTED showing RI and its ancillary scenes.
Hey Jeff,
How on Earth did Brandon pass his Psych evaluation? Or did his Uncle just get him on the show? That guy needs help!
Probst can’t hear you CB, nor does he care nor anybody for that matter. The question here is how on earth did you pass your Psych evaluation when you were tested to see if you could function being on a computer. Russell’s fame nor any string pulliing on his part got Brandon on the show. He’s on the show because he applied. He wasn’t recruited like some of the other people in this season. And the only help that is needed is a shrink for you CB, with your negativeness towards the Hantz family.
You can’t truly believe that being Russel’s nephew didn’t play a big part in his selection. It is TV, It’s about ratings, and drama. He probably failed the psych test and that made him even MORE interesting as a contestant.
You’re right – he probably did fail the psych exam – he’s obviously got voices in his head – probably needs an exorcist!
It just shows they will look past that to get a Hantz on the show.
You being on this post wsugar shows that they’ll look past anything those nutwards just to release somebody early and avoid overcrowding.
Yes Steve, I truly believe that. And you should aswell. It’s just a coincidence. You’re right about the ratings for television and that’s why he was cast. They only learned after they cast him who he was. But he didn’t fail any pysch test or anythng like that. Get your stories staight Steve because you’re way off.
The above exorcist post was made by myself who is an impersonator going around pretending to be other posters on these recaps. I’m on meds for it. It wasn’t posted by the real Tommy D who I know is a die hard Hantz fan.
And wsugar you along with Steve are wrong. They didn’t look past anything. Brandon applied and he was excepted. It isn’t any more complicated than that.
I’m sure a certain portion of the contestants failed the psych exam. Anyway, what is the pass/fail criteria? Maybe fail is pass and pass is fail.
Jim the Jerk Rice failed the exam. Just like that Brain Heidek guy that won Season 5.
I truly have nothing against the Hantz family. Just seems to me that this kid has major issues going on and should probably not be on this show. He’s mentioned that he has been in trouble in the past and it doesn’t seem like all of his issues have been resolved.
P.S. If you think that him being a Hantz had nothing to do with him being on the show you are delusional.
If you have nothing against the Hantz family CB than you should be doing someting else with your life at 1:21 in the afternoon instead of talking against them on this post. Brandon has issues he’s working out inside him. Nothing major at all. And it’s no different then issues that everybody has from time to time. He belongs on the show more so then even the two returning Allstar players. As far as Brandon’s past goes he was nothing more then a bully in high school which pretty much makes up for 98% of American’s population when they were teenagers. It’s no big deal. He’s overcome his demons and is trying very hard to be good. So go bury your head in the sand with your delusional comments about him being cast because he is a Hantz! Now that notion is delusional!
When the descriptive words they flash on the TV screen along with your name reads “Russell Hantz’s Nephew” instead of your actual occupation, then there is a HUGE clue as to why you were cast on Survivor.
Totally untrue Katrinka! The reason why it says that is because of two things. First, they learned that he was a Hantz from the season playing out. Duh! Those words and captions you see Katrinka are done in the editing room after the season is over. And as far as the message itself leaving out an occupation is because he’s the first relative of a former contestant to ever be on the show. It’s a Survivor first! That’s why it says that by his name.
I think the worst challenge in survivor history (for me), would have to be in marquesas, when they flew kites.
I agree Ann. That challange was very lame.
Forgot about that one, that was pretty bad.
We’re trying to wsugar!
I wonder if the others would be so quick to say things like “Look who his uncle is!” when referring to Brendan’s behavior on the show. And how differently would things play out if they didn’t know he was related to Russell ?
Anybody that makes fun of Brandon is just falling into that trap that all haters do. If you’re going to hate. Hate the right person. Not Brandon or Russell Hantz. Hate on Jim the Jerk Rice instead.
Umm, an apple can only fall so far away from the tree, even if it lands on a downslope;
Would people F- Off and stop typing under my name – I love Jim – he’s awesome, unlike Brandon – what a loose cannon!
Good point Jerri! Or all these judging fools on this post being so quick to judge the guy based on their knowledge that he’s a Hantz.
Hey Steve! An apple doesn’t fall to far in the Rice family tree or in your family’s ancestry. Downslope or not Steve is messed up with his warped view of Hantz logic and facts. I”m the phony Saline but yet I’ll defend the Hantz family on that one just so he doesn’t have to and as to the other comment right below Steve made by me, myself. I’m not the real Saline. So pay it no mind. For I am pathetic! Brandon is a good guy. Phony posters like myself are the loose cannons of life.
No way that was the worst challenge ever Probst!!! It was unique and interesting to say the least. Probably the kites challenge or the dancing challenge from Fiji were the worst ever! Anyway, I don’t think there is such thing as “worst” challenge.
I knew I was right about what I posted two weeks ago about J.T. tying Rupert’s record with that weight challange.
★ ★ ★ KING RUSS FOREVER!!! ★ ★ ★
We love you, Russell Hantz!!
Do yourself a favor and follow him on Twitter @RusssellHantz.
He’s been live tweeting during Survivor, and he’s hilarious!
~ Keep Hope Alive ~
Hope will be Kept alive!
But not Saline.
Hope for this fool wsugar died way back with the dinosaurs!