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EW: I remember when I was out there in Nicaragua for the San Juan del Sur season you had to call off a water challenge you were building due to difficulty with the strong current and how it impacted the platforms. It may have even been this same one for all I know. How were you finally able to get out there and do a big challenge on water?

JEFF PROBST: The waters in Nicaragua were very tough for us this year. Our marine team working together with our art department is truly something remarkable to witness. What the audience never sees and should never even think about is all of the underwater structures that it takes to pull off a challenge in the water. It's a massive "underworld" that can take weeks to create, and during the challenge there are almost always a crew of people underwater making sure everything is okay. Personally, I have a very limited knowledge of engineering, so whenever I arrive at a water challenge I am always like a wide eyed five-year old getting his first look at the LEGO factoryit just blows my mind what they can do. So in answer to your question we just got lucky and the water cooperated and we were able to pull it off. One day earlier or later, who knows? That isn't always the case with water challenges; Nicaragua just happened to be particularly tricky.

All of a sudden, everybody is getting naked! Max, Shirin, Hali, and Jenn all went au natural in this one episode. What's this all about? Is it just the next step in shedding the shackles of society? Is it a comfort issue of getting out of dirty clothes for a bit? Or, perhaps in the case of Max, is it just a way to ensure a little extra camera time? What gives here?

I think it's a combination of all of the above, depending on the person. Max was very clear that he was giving a nod to Richard Hatch, so I think for him it was a "Survivor moment." For Shirinn, I think it was 50% strategyto align more closely with Maxand I think the other 50% was the bit of her "No Collar" coming out to say hi! For Hali and Jenn, completely different. They're young, beautiful women with a much more carefree attitude toward life, and so for them I'm guessing it was just a fun ideaone they would have done with or without cameras. I love the free spirit. It bums me out how uptight most of us are with our bodies. Who cares? Just go have fun!

It's been interesting how even though you have split the players up into No Collar, Blue Collar, and White Collar, we still see divisions among age. The three youngest people on No Collar have formed a strong alliance (and made Nina cry in the process), while So and Joaquin targeted the oldest person last week on White Collar, and Dan and Mike have had trouble fitting in with the younger folks on Blue Collar. Why do these age differences and issues with compatibility seem to cross all other lines?

Great question. I can only relate it back to my own life experiences when I am pretty sure I did the same thing. I saw older people as "out of it"their time was over and they most certainly didn't "get it" anymore. In Survivor, being older is also seen as a physical disadvantage. It's fascinating for me, because I am now the "Older Guy" and it hurts the heart. I don't get the same looks I used to get, I don't think people see me as relevant as I used to beall of those same things end up coming around and before you know it you're getting subscription offers for AARP. Not that I am I'm just saying. The great equalizer is the brain. Young people, generally speaking, are not as good at playing the game as someone in their late 30s or 40s or 50s. Strategy really benefits from experience. So don't count out all the oldies just yet!

Two strong outings so far. Tease us up for what's in store next week.

We start to see the nuances within each tribe emerge and this is where tribal bonds are going to strengthen or begin to fall apart.

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http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/04/jeff-probst-explains-why-everyone-survivor-getting-naked

If Joe has any brains in his head, he'll go to Nina and promise to protect her from the means. Be her friend and she'll vote your way from now on.

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If Joe has any brains in his head, he'll go to Nina and promise to protect her from the means. Be her friend and she'll vote your way from now on.

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He is missing the brains.

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We start to see the nuances within each tribe emerge and this is where tribal bonds are going to strengthen or begin to fall apart.

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Way to go out on a limb there, Probst.

That was pretty boring after the challenge...

Eff that deuscher yankee trash for disparaging Texas. Hey idiot:

Mass pop: 6.7 million
Texas pop: 27.0 million

Where do people want to live again?

And what kind of adult mocks someone literally behind their back? Childish and pathetic.

That whole tribe is disfunctional, yet they keep winning.

I'd like to congratulate myself on being the first person to have a player eliminated from the Pick'em. The rest of you are now in a 18-way tie for first.

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If Joe has any brains in his head, he'll go to Nina and promise to protect her from the means. Be her friend and she'll vote your way from now on.

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He is missing the brains.

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He could have kept her for a long time if he tried. He mentioned knowing ASL. He could have communicated in secret with her without even having to sneak off into the woods to chat, and no one would be the wiser.

Anyone else finding 90% of the contestants this season annoying?

There are always grating personalities/annoying voices but this season seems inundated

my first thought when i saw all that mud during the challenge... was to grab a handful of it and start plugging holes with it as much as possible while the water is filling up... I don't know if that was stated to be against the rules... but it certainly would have made sense to me

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Anyone else finding 90% of the contestants this season annoying?

There are always grating personalities/annoying voices but this season seems inundated

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I thought this same thing last night. It seems like the same personality types are grating on each other pretty quickly. Although I do admire the two no-collar girls for going surfing. So few of the people (at least those shown) seem to ever get out and enjoy where they are. I always feel like I'd get voted off early because I'd want to go exploring and be an easy target.

Once we have a bit of separation in points Ill start posting the standings here. Right now it's 18 people with 8 points and yours truly with 7.

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Although I do admire the two no-collar girls for going surfing. So few of the people (at least those shown) seem to ever get out and enjoy where they are. I always feel like I'd get voted off early because I'd want to go exploring and be an easy target.

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I think the reason most don't is because it waste energy which needs to be conserved for challenges.

If anyone is familiar with Kissing Suzy Kolber then you are familiar with the character Tommy from Quinzee. Rodney is the real life Tommy from Quinzee

Tommy at his best - Language is NSFW

Its best to read Tommy out loud. I always find that Im laughing too hard to actually finish a post.

"Where is your god? Did your god light this fire?" Lindsey is straight up BSC. I actually agree with Rodney regarding his comments about her facial tattoo.

Joe makes another bonehead maneuver by not using Nina in the challenge. His Survivor IQ is very low.

Shirin is beyond annoying. Everything she does is irritating.

If Joaquin had the clue, and it suggested he look in a "nook", why was he rooting around in the weeds? Trying to throw the others off?

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"Where is your god? Did your god light this fire?" Lindsey is straight up BSC. I actually agree with Rodney regarding his comments about her facial tattoo.

Joe makes another bonehead maneuver by not using Nina in the challenge. His Survivor IQ is very low.

Shirin is beyond annoying. Everything she does is irritating.

If Joaquin had the clue, and it suggested he look in a "nook", why was he rooting around in the weeds? Trying to throw the others off?

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I don't think having Nina not help was that big of a bonehead move. They weren't going to win anyways, and it looked like only 4 people were carrying the tubs for the other teams a lot of times, too. It's just hard to walk with that many people that close.

Kind of a boring episode, but sometimes there are going to be duds. I do wonder why they cast Nina to begin with - I think that is one that Probst and company let slip through.

they probably were hearing it from the disability bangers about nobody being cast lately. Seems like they had a deaf woman before who went home quick, and maybe someone with a fake foot? Can't remember now.

I had high hopes that someone would make Nina their stool pigeon early, but the no collars are rapidly becoming the no clue tribe.

The way they're falling apart, Joe might need to start cozying up to one of the remaining girls or the other. If they get down to three without merging, the two of them could vote him out pre-merge.

Yeah, they had someone with no foot. I think she did poorly.

Kelly.

http://survivor.wikia.com/wiki/Kelly_Bruno

She got shoved down by Naonka over a immunity idol clue.

Man, in reading that wiki link about Nicaragua, that was a great season. Lots of great players and drama.

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Joe might need to start cozying up to one of the remaining girls or the other.

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why not both... free no collar love. A triple love coupling would be powerful and something survivor has never seen before

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EW: There's no doubt that any difference can really stand out in Survivor and Nina repeatedly referenced her hearing disability as a reason why her tribe would not accept her. However, her tribe countered that she was the one focused so much on that as opposed to them, and we saw this play out at Tribal Council. You were out there and got a good feel for them at the two Tribals. Were they ostracizing her because of that or was she making too much of her own lack of hearing?

JEFF PROBST: This brings up two key points that anySurvivor player must master if they have any chance to win: #1. You Must Be Self-Aware. You have to be have some sense of how the world sees you, how you come across to others. If you don't possess #1 then you can't get to #2 and #2 is the one that gets you voted out. #2. On The Island, Perception Is Reality. Period. So now let's take the case of Nina, who I think is a really devoted mom and wife and probably has a beautiful lifeoff the island. But what I witnessed during casting and on the show is that Nina is not aware of how she comes across to others. Lack of self-awareness. Nina does complain a lot. You can make the argument that "you'd complain too if this happened to you" and that's a fair statement. But onSurvivor that complaining is read by others as being a pain in the ass. And worse, she placed her need to complain on the shoulders of her tribemates for not doing a better job of dealing with her hearing issues.
From what I saw of the tribe they did try to accommodate Nina initiallybut there was a point where they started to see her as more of a victim. And whether or not that is true, is unfortunately irrelevant. It's point #2On The Island, Perception Is Reality. Once they saw her that way, her game was over. Personally, I felt for Nina because I think she really wanted to fit in and be a part of the tribe and I think we saw how tough that is for her to do. And it did make me ask myselfgiven the same challenge"How would I do?" It's very easy to critique from the sidelines and say, "Oh, just deal with it." It's another to be the one actually having to deal with it. I applaud Nina for coming on the show and giving it a shot.

I love your big epic challenges, but I also like it sometimes when you just keep it simple, and tonight's contest was a perfect example as teams had to race back with giant buckets of waterhowever, with holes in the bucket that needed to be plugged along the way, making teamwork a key component. Tell me your thoughts on these sorts of challenges as well as what you were thinking when you saw No Collar sending Nina away, thereby leaving more holes completely unplugged?

I love these types of challenges where there is a mixture of physical with strategy under the umbrella of teamwork. Okay, my truth about what I think happened with Nina. I think that as a group, the No Collars are pretty caring humans. I also think they're pretty bright. When you look at that challenge, so much of the communication is happening without players looking at each other. You're plugging holes, stepping over obstacles, standing under gushing wateryou really have to scream and be able to hear each other scream in order to be effective. Again, this is just my personal opinion and nothing morebut I think they felt she was going to be a liability because of her hearingbut they couldn't say that for fear of being seen as discriminatory. So they blamed it on vague answers that really made no sense. I felt for both sides. It's a tough call. There is a million dollar check for ONE winner. It forces you to make decisions that sometimes you aren't proud ofand that's what I think happened in this case.

I don't think you have ever had a season where varying definitions of work ethic have not created some major strife between contestants, and we saw some blow-ups on the Blue Collar tribe this week between Mike and Rodney and Mike and Lindsey. Did it surprise you to see this happen on the tribe defined by their physical hard-working life-style, or is that exactly what you expected to happen here? Plus, who really is to blame for those fights?

My initial reaction was surpriseI didn't expect to see such emotion in every aspect of their game. But then I started thinking of our reality crews that shoot the tribes on their beaches. Those people are definitely "No Collars": They live a life on their own terms for sureBUTwhen it comes to working that beach, they are 100% blue collar. They bust their ASS every day to get the shots and sounds we need to tell the stories of our contestants. It's humbling how dedicated they are. And when I think about them after work is over, it's the same. Whether they are drinking beer or playing dartsthey are doing it with the same vigor that they have on the beach. They laugh so loud they wake up the rest of the crew. And if an argument breaks out over which Football/Rugby team is betterit can get heated and even more people are awakened! In other words, they do everything they do with total investment. That was really enlightening for me to make that connection. Blue Collars don't just work hard, they do everything with intensity. I'm not the first to say it, but without blue collars, 'merica doesn't exist. They are the back bone of everything. As to who is to blame for the arguments who knows. For this I say refer back to question #1.

Bonus question! Just curious: Would you stand there and watch two howler monkeys have sex and then offer a detailed play-by-play account for your friends?

Uh, no. I might watch them that could be fascinating for a minute. But no, I'm not that interested in then sharing every detail with the tribe. I love that Shirin does those kinds of things. I have NO idea if she is 100% authentic or just a really crafty player who is "playing" a bit of a role. Doesn't matter, so long as sheis self-aware and knows that perception is reality! Is this getting through yet?!

No Collar is on the ropes and it looks like we have some more drama at Blue Collar coming up. What can you tease for next week's episode?

I can't tease it hard enoughnext week is awesome. Dare I say the best ep of the season? So much good stuff including aSurvivor/medical moment. ANDnext week we are giving you TWO EPISODES! Two! Back to back! And in the second episode we have more amazing Survivor moments including a Survivor/wildlife moment. I'm really not hyping itit's a great two-hour block.

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http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/11/survivor-host-jeff-probst-has-fascinating-theory-huge-no-collar-challenge-fail

Thanks BL

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"Where is your god? Did your god light this fire?" Lindsey is straight up BSC. I actually agree with Rodney regarding his comments about her facial tattoo.

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I thought this comment from the tattoo girl was way out of line and disrespectful.

Muck,

How likely is it that the pick 'em could end in a tie? If so, what is the tiebreaker?

I was thinking of woodburning a desktop idol for the champ. I made one for my family pick 'em and it is a huge hit. The winner gets to hold on to it until the next season.

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She will have a lot to answer for some day...

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Explain

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Muck,

How likely is it that the pick 'em could end in a tie? If so, what is the tiebreaker?

I was thinking of woodburning a desktop idol for the champ. I made one for my family pick 'em and it is a huge hit. The winner gets to hold on to it until the next season.

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I suppose it's possible, but it doesn't seem very likely. If they had the same # of people reach the merge and picked the same 2 people to go further in the game, and those 2 people finished first and second, that seems like it would be likely, but with blindsides, HII, people playing idols and failing to play idols, not to mention people getting eliminated in a different pattern once the merge hits - I would imagine it would be a smallish chance.

2 hours tonight.

thanks for the thread cleanup, staff

Why did they kill a hen and not the roster?

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Why did they kill a hen and not the roster?

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Probably thought they needed rooster AND a hen to get eggs.

Ugh, double whammy in the pick'em

I lost one myself.

Ok, enough happened to warrant a standings update tonight!
Apologies to the Max and Lindsay lovers out there. Our four new leaders each recorded 5 points tonight - meaning all four of their picks made it through unscathed and they each had Jenn (found HII) as one of their four. The tribe switch-aroo definitely livens up the pick'em.

gravy97 13
double aught 13
tx1c 13
Aero Aggie 44 13

LHIOB 12
MooreTrucker 12
hurleyag 12
BlackLab 12
zap 12
Ronnie 12
Cheese Sndwch 12

Unthought Known 11
txaggiefarmer05 11
Earp16 11
Muckraker96 11
Quinn 11

ChipTAC01 10
jdgilberg 10

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Why did they kill a hen and not the roster?

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Because they're one of the dumbest tribes we've seen in recent memory?