Episode 6

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

All discussion about everything up to episode 6!
DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING THAT IS A SPOILER PAST EPISODE 6

[survivorfan128]

Did blue get a chance to tie it up at the end ?

Red went first right ?

[Caleb]

Is it just me or Blue was one of your favorite teams?

[theacf12]

Jun 18, 2020 22:05:25 GMT -5 Caleb said:

Is it just me or Blue was one of your favorite teams?

Definitely my least favorite...

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

Jun 18, 2020 20:15:43 GMT -5 survivorfan128 said:

Did blue get a chance to tie it up at the end ?

Red went first right ?

Omg I noticed this too! Was it just bad editing? I was waiting for Blue to have another turn and they were like “RED YOU WON” I was like wait did I miss something?

[multiyapples]

Even though they were rude I wanted Arianna to move on because she's been through so much.

[amplify26]

--The little dance intro was quite cute there.
--Love hurts.
--So it was a trick after all! Woah Gray.
--Jack: "As much as this game is about karma...I'm going to bring everything I have to the table, and if karma wants to be by my side then that's fine by me."
--Hmm...an endurance-based challenge?
--Jack telling about cave strategy is not unlike how Trevor blurted out what happened at Temple.
--Jack: "Why did the baby cross the road?" Already in with the in-game banter!
--There's no way to form a triangle with your legs?
--It felt longer than a minute.
--Justin: "Yes ma'am, yes ma'am"
--What would've happened if there was a tie?
--This was an interesting variant on "Headstrong" from Hawaii, though I wasn't fond of that challenge.
--Avon's excitement after winning this challenge just made me happy.
--Jack: "You have a partner that couldn't even last a minute during a challenge." That didn't help at all... (that said, I wonder how would they do on Out on a Limb)
--Jack: "We are still here, and they're not." Pretty good argument if you ask me. That said, no endurance team has made it to the final three without winning anything, as Shea and Amelia got eliminated in Cubed. At this point in time, Lana and Trevor and Tyler and Michelle won their first missions (interesting enough, Monroe and Bryanah and Connor and Taylor won the endurance mission at this point in time--the underdog moment, I believe), so I could understand why Skyla was upset in sliding under the radar and not winning anything.
----On the other hand, they didn't rely on anybody or getting "carried" the whole way, so Jack and Skyla are doing something right.
--Is it just me, or does it feel like it's the social game which wins out here? And this is more for the endurance thread, but the latter three champions (e4 Red, e5 Green, e6 Blue) seemingly won more on their social game than on how dominant they were in challenges (Franke and Erika balanced between Purple/Green and the other teams, Alex and Cealey had their alliance with Purple, Ben and Jordyn were the most well-liked amongst the group). None of those three teams won more than two missions in their years.
----Though it's hard to compare with Karma, as there are fewer challenges in the latter.
--Jack: "There's no 'dragging' here--we do the dragging."
--So much responsibility over one little coin.
--I wonder if Andrea and Skylie keep in touch...
--Jack (on what food he misses the most): "Salt and vinegar chips!"/Luke: "Facts, facts!" The Kettle brand variant is especially good.
--Come to think of it, it reminds me of the contestants groveling over junk food on Survivor (I just love watching the auctions, haha)
--Of course there's a twist!
--Of course it's under Illya's bed, haha. Are we getting a hint here?
--Avon wins a challenge and finds the sweets--what a good episode for her!
--Michelle: "Karma wants both of you back, it seems."
--Aaron: "I need to throw up."/Andrea: "I need to pee." What a perfect time to bond.
--And they used Jack's strategy against Blue! Wow...

[carsonvega]

Aug 18, 2022 0:55:25 GMT -5 amplify26 said:

--What would've happened if there was a tie?

I thought about this too, since it was so close.  Possibly just running the mission again with only the tied teams?  Possibly running it again with a twist - like only one person from each team competing and having to balance on different stumps (to make the squatting position even more uncomfortable and thus end everything quickly)?

Aug 18, 2022 0:55:25 GMT -5 amplify26 said:

--This was an interesting variant on "Headstrong" from Hawaii, though I wasn't fond of that challenge.

Yeah, I think this challenge was superior to Headstrong from Hawaii.  It's one of the better challenges where teams have to hold on as long as they can and each team member has to put forth roughly equal effort.  I wouldn't have minded seeing Face to Face here, though. 

Aug 18, 2022 0:55:25 GMT -5 amplify26 said:

--Jack: "You have a partner that couldn't even last a minute during a challenge." That didn't help at all... (that said, I wonder how would they do on Out on a Limb)

No offense to Purple, but I don't think they'd do very well in Out on a Limb.  Red and Blue beat them by a fair margin of time in Tilt, and Pink dropped at almost the same time - but without the sweat and gravity working the same way it did in Tilt, I think Justin could hold up Avon longer than Jack could hold up Skyla.  They could have Skyla hold up Jack, I suppose, and Skyla lasted a while in the overland Fill and Spill...but I still don't think they would be favored to win.  Overall, I think Purple would finish 3rd or 4th out of 4 in Out on a Limb with the same 4 teams that were present in this episode.

Aug 18, 2022 0:55:25 GMT -5 amplify26 said:

--Jack: "We are still here, and they're not." Pretty good argument if you ask me. That said, no endurance team has made it to the final three without winning anything, as Shea and Amelia got eliminated in Cubed. At this point in time, Lana and Trevor and Tyler and Michelle won their first missions (interesting enough, Monroe and Bryanah and Connor and Taylor won the endurance mission at this point in time--the underdog moment, I believe), so I could understand why Skyla was upset in sliding under the radar and not winning anything.
----On the other hand, they didn't rely on anybody or getting "carried" the whole way, so Jack and Skyla are doing something right.

I've probably mentioned it before, but I'm going to say it again here - I do think E4 Blue should get a lot of credit for winning the Superteam mission for their Superteam, because Shea did a good job being the leader, not messing up by putting one beam/plank on top of another like Isaac did.  So, if winning a mission makes a team deserving of being in the final 4, E4 Blue was always going to be more deserving than Karma Purple unless Karma Purple won the mission in this episode.

With that said, there's a lot more to being deserving than winning missions.  The interesting thing about Purple was that all the other teams knew they weren't very strong, and Purple parlayed that into making the other teams want to have them come along until deep into the game.  For instance, if Gray or Blue had won Ring My Bell in the previous episode, I'm pretty sure Red and Pink would have been sent to the cave (unless Avon had had to be pulled from the game and they decided to keep Justin around and make him play missions alone or not at all for all missions requiring a partner).  And then if Gray or Blue had won the mission in this episode...I honestly do think it would make sense for them to send whoever survived between Red and Pink and then Gray if Blue won or Blue if Gray won - it is really nice to have a team in the Final 3 (Purple) who is quite unlikely to win the mission that round.

So, when one team continually protects another team over multiple eliminations (like E5 Purple protecting E5 Green after Superboats and Fill 'Er Up), or two teams protect a weaker team over multiple eliminations (E2 Green and E2 Brown protected E2 Yellow), that feels like the protected team is being carried.  But when one team basically convinces all the other teams to keep them to the Final 3, it really doesn't feel like that team is being carried, at least not as much - it's more like that team is being kept because they get along well enough with everyone, and the other teams think that they can beat that team when they need to.  The other teams just needed to hope that the mission at Final 3 was not a purely mental challenge.

Aug 18, 2022 0:55:25 GMT -5 amplify26 said:

--Is it just me, or does it feel like it's the social game which wins out here? And this is more for the endurance thread, but the latter three champions (e4 Red, e5 Green, e6 Blue) seemingly won more on their social game than on how dominant they were in challenges (Franke and Erika balanced between Purple/Green and the other teams, Alex and Cealey had their alliance with Purple, Ben and Jordyn were the most well-liked amongst the group). None of those three teams won more than two missions in their years.
----Though it's hard to compare with Karma, as there are fewer challenges in the latter.

The social game definitely wins in Karma, with so many fewer missions than Endurance.  The Endurance missions and their associated Samadhis really encouraged the players to think about having to handicap their allies, if their allies were more likely to win than teams they were not allied with (the most notable example being E4 Purple giving E4 Green the Samadhi for Circle of Trust; a second example being E6 Green giving E6 Red the Samadhi for 3 to Go/Shark Bait thereby revealing earlier than they might have otherwise that E6 Green's closest alliance was with E6 Orange, and so E6 Green and E6 Orange were planning to protect each other if either of them had controlled who got sent up to temple at Final 4).  Since Karma did not have a way for the teams to handicap each other in missions (only for the Cave of Karma which felt less consequential, comparatively), there were fewer chances for alliances to be exposed early.

With that said, you do have a good point about the last 3 seasons of Endurance having winning teams that were stronger socially than in terms of being able to win missions.  It would be fair to point out that each of the winning teams in E4/E5/E6 had some luck - E4 Red benefiting from Purple having to go to the temple after Waterworks/Fireball and then also getting the Circle of Trust mission at the perfect time, E5 Green getting a final pieces mission in Slingshot Alley that they could handle better than E5 Purple, and E6 Blue simply being luckier than E6 Green at the Final Temple.  So, a team absolutely terrific at winning missions (like E1 Blue) could still win a potential future season of Endurance or Karma without necessarily having a great social game.  But having a good/great social game basically never hurts!

Aug 18, 2022 0:55:25 GMT -5 amplify26 said:

--Jack (on what food he misses the most): "Salt and vinegar chips!"/Luke: "Facts, facts!" The Kettle brand variant is especially good.

I also like Salt and Vinegar chips and Kettle brand!  I probably don't like them as much as Jack, Luke, or you - I wouldn't have Salt and Vinegar chips every time I have chips because I'd have to have some Barbecue chips.  But Salt and Vinegar is a good choice!