Perhaps. Of course, I consider everything that happens on the show to be a conspiracy on the part of the producers. That's what the show is, that's why it's so good. There's no doubt in my mind that they shuffle things around based on the situation. Among other things, when people go out due to injury, they are forced to change things up. If they have the ability to do that, they have the ability to change things at any time. I don't consider that a bad thing at all, it's smart producing.

And I KNEW it was weird that we saw James grabbing a banana on the way to that challenge. Never seen that before, never seen any survivor eating a banana, and yet there was a huge bunch of bananas on the tribe flag? Totally caught my eye. And totally confirmed what I had long assumed, that they're provided with some minimum amount of sustenance that we never see, and any fishing and foraging and hunting they do is bonus, the difference between maintaining healthy body function vs. having extra energy to do things.

You sure they didn't pick the bananas themselves? I didn't see the bananas that clearly but that was my assumption.

I'm with CP....no evidence that the bananas weren't picked by the Survivors themselves.

Perhaps. But seriously, have you ever seen a banana on the show before? We see them eating all kinds of fruits and coconuts that they pick, but not once have I seen them eat a banana. And yet Amanda was talking about "banana etiquette" as if it's a common everyday thing.

This is a guess, but I'd say that bananas are a more rare commodity. To me this is more plausible than it being "extra" food.

If it's rare then it's even less likely that they wouldn't show it. Those people freak out with joy if they catch a 2oz. clam. But they won't show them finding a giant bunch of bananas and we wouldn't see so much as a banana peel? Doesn't make any sense to me.

I remember a previous season where some of the survivors were upset at someone on their tribe for eating the bananas when they were still green instead of waiting for them to ripen. I don't remember which season though.

We haven't seen much this season regarding food and food prep at all. I think that with 10 years under their belts, the producers don't want to waste time on anything unless it's a plot point.

Wow. So many things to say about that episode.

One, I'm more convinced than ever that the producers actively tailor the challenges to benefit one tribe over the other. The heroes got a pure physical challenge, which they've absolutely dominated (and not just because they had James, every one of the heroes had been dominant in those challenges), and then the EASIEST puzzle in the history of the show in the immunity challenge. You can hardly even call it a puzzle. It was only a puzzle if you call "here are 26 letters, alphabetize them" a puzzle. No logic involved, pure brute force. Notice there wasn't even any communication necessary between the people working on it. Just put the pieces in place. I hope they're proud of themselves for putting together a puzzle a 5 year old could handle.

I'm also more convinced than ever that Russell is not going to make it to the end. He broke Rob. Broke him good. What broke him was that Russell purely out-thought him. There was no leak, Russell just figured out Rob's game and Rob had no idea how to handle that. So why do I think that means Russell won't make it to the end? There's no way Russell breaks Rob like that, and makes it to the final jury again, and then cries and begs for the stupid title on live TV. No, he gets voted out, and the only way his ego would let him accept it was by thinking, "Well, whatever, I out played Rob and I have a million under my belt from last season. I'm the greatest survivor ever." When he found out he DIDN'T have that million under his belt, he lost it.

Coach...you're dumb. Just dumb.

But Jerri may be dumber, or that was a cruel edit. Because she looked delusional in this episode. Coach says, "I'm not pissed because you're asking me align with Russell, I'm pissed because you went and made a promise that would obligate ME without bothering to talk to me first." Jerri summarizes it as, "Coach just doesn't get it and is naive to hang on to loyalty." Err, ok. Then Rob says, "You know what the right thing to do is," clearly meaning that he thinks the smart and honorable thing to do is stick with him. She summarizes it as, "Rob said I should do whatever will keep me in the game the longest." No, that's not what he said at all. Delusional, or some serious editing, or something.

I Don't know, go back and look at it again. Russell is practically laughing while he's making the offer. Russel gets quite when he's down, boisterous when he's up. I'm going to stick with my Russell goes far prediction.


Coach...you're dumb. Just dumb.