After a long hiatus, the Talk Time thread is back!
Here are the questions for today:
1) Were you surprised by the outcome of the challenge?
2) Were you surprised with who got the Samadhi?
3) Thoughts on the current possible alliances?
4) Thoughts on Angela's apology to Eric?
5) Are you surprised which Endurance alumni came back? What did you think of their feature in the episode?
6) Favourite moments of the episode?
7) Based on the whole season, who do you think is going home first next episode?
8) Do you have any questions for the contestants? (I will get back to you as soon as I get their answers!)
1) I was mildly surprised. Yellow had been middle of the pack in terms of most of the missions up to this point, and neither Daniel nor Allison had been considered especially strong by many of the other contestants. That said, Walk the Plank-style missions are kind of hard to predict. Chris E3 and Demian E3 did worse than many would have expected in Out on a Limb, and Aaron E1 in the somewhat similar Water Logged was also out earlier than his previous mission performances would have predicted (although of course getting so much water dumped in to his bucket made a big difference). So...good for Daniel and Allison! I was actually more surprised that Allison mentioned Daniel's previous struggles out loud during the mission; not that Daniel wouldn't have shared something like that with her but that they might not want all the other teams to know about that. Since it won them the mission and Daniel's not having any ongoing issues stemming from his early childhood, I guess I'm just being overly cynical.
2) Again, I was mildly surprised. It seemed like Blue's only alliance was maybe with Black, while the largest alliance was Orange/Brown/White/Gray. I know the perception largely seemed to be that O/B/W/G was weaker, but 4 teams is still a lot to overcome, so it would probably be better to try to weaken that group first?
3) So, it seems like it's Red/Green/Yellow, Blue/Black, and Orange/Brown/White/Gray; I'm not sure where Purple fits in. We haven't seen much between Eric and Anthony, so I tend to think that Purple might go with R/G/Y or maybe Black if push comes to shove, since "the Holy Trinity" seemed to get along with Eric reasonably well in the one previous episode, and Angela seems like she might like to steer clear of any Audrey-related drama, at least for now. I don't think any of the three alliances I listed will get all of their teams through to the final 4.
4) Angela seemed genuine in her apology. I think she and Eric will work well together. I have to admit I was a little skeptical of their decision as a team to not try to win the mission. I think it makes sense to throw a Temple mission if only your allies are left and you're sure they won't send you to the Temple, because you let them take more of the heat for sending other teams up to the Temple (like E3 Chris and Lindi did in Squaring Off, and E5 Dakota and Kelsey did in Walk the Plank). But in an Endurance mission, the piece at stake is really important! With that said, with 10 teams still in the game at this point, there's a LOT of game left, and quite a lot could happen before the end, so...maybe it won't cost them?
5) No, the specific alumni who came back didn't surprise me, since all of them were listed as favorites or role models by at least one of the contestants. I do think the description of Cealey as having "a heart of gold within" was maybe a bit generous, but I do appreciate the effect of the passage of time and the fact that of course JD wouldn't introduce her as a pure villain. I generally liked that the alumni came back, although in some ways there is something special about only seeing the contestants and JD during an episode; it kind of makes the Endurance experience seem more unique and special (even though of course we know that other people partook in the experience each time, whether it was the camera crew or alumni like Jeff and Max working behind the scenes in E5 or now Lilly in Karma). With all that said, if returning alumni that are favorites of this season's contestants continues as a trend, I want to see Erika the most, since Emily named her.
6) While I normally dislike distraction tactics, I actually liked Blue team's cheering during the mission. It's not like they were berating the other teams (other than Justin saying "suckers", I guess, which seemed somewhat joking anyway). If Audrey can't deal with a little cheering, too bad!
7) Hmm, I don't have a good read on this. It truly does feel like anyone could go home or could win at this point! I guess I'll say White (Michael and Christina) is probably going home first - they don't seem very strong, they're probably viewed by Brown and Orange as the most expendable within their own alliance (if there's any discussion of not wanting to rock the boat too much yet, and/or a desire to simply send up weak teams who have little chance of winning future missions as was done during the first elimination of E2, for instance), and they also don't seem to have a lot in terms of long-term storylines that need to be resolved before they leave.
8) I'm not sure if any of my strategic quibbles (with Purple throwing the mission and Yellow giving the Samadhi to Blue) would make good questions or not; the teams have already kind of explained themselves but at the same time I'm not sure they've thought of all the implications of what they've done. Still, it might not be appropriate to "suggest" strategy by asking a question. I'll leave it up to you.
TEAM RANKING by how much I like them:
Tier I: I currently hope one of these three teams win.
Yellow (Daniel and Allison)
Purple (Eric and Angela)
Black (Caleb and Miranda)
Tier II: I generally like these two teams, I want to see more from them, I think they might move up into Tier I within another few episodes.
Red (Scott and Jessica)
Green (Ryan and Meghan)
Tier III: I'm pretty neutral about these three teams, don't love them but also don't have anything against them.
Brown (Patrick and Emily)
Blue (Justin and Sofia)
White (Michael and Christina)
Tier IV: Mild dislike.
Gray (Jason and Tiana) - Jason seems a bit cocky at times, a bit too negative at others, and Tiana hasn't shown a whole lot that would make me like them enough to make up for Jason.
Tier V:
Orange (Audrey and Anthony) - they both think way too much of themselves, and they're taking time away from contestants I would like to hear from more, which is a bad combination.
TEAM RANKING by how I think the game might turn out:
1) Red (Scott and Jessica) - have been near the top in all missions so far and have the beginnings of what could be a good alliance, it might take them all the way to victory.
2) Black (Caleb and Miranda) - have a really good connection, haven't looked bad in any mission yet.
3) Orange (Audrey and Anthony) - do seem pretty strong, even though I dislike them I feel like they're going to be bringing the drama for the majority of the season.
4) Yellow (Daniel and Allison) - pretty good start, but feel like they may end up losing a heartbreaker Temple when there are 4 teams left.
5) Purple (Eric and Angela) - will probably win at least one mission before the end and surprise a few teams, but I'm not sure it will be enough to get them to the end.
6) Brown (Patrick and Emily) - yes, they were not especially great in the team color mission, but I think they'll do well enough to make it almost halfway.
7) Green (Ryan and Meghan) - Audrey and Meghan are at odds, and I think Audrey "wins" this showdown.
8) Blue (Justin and Sofia) - not quite sure how they ended up on the radar of both the R/Y/G and O/B/W/G alliances other than by having a good but not first place result in the team color mission, and I guess Audrey hating Justin. It seems like they could go to the first Temple. I think they're too strong to leave first, but they probably won't survive Temple the second time.
9) Gray (Jason and Tiana) - haven't really done well yet, except Jason in the partner mission. I don't think they'll get it together in time to make it deep into the game.
10) White (Michael and Christina) - as I wrote above, they just seem unlikely to win and kind of expendable at this point.
