u/califiafarmz

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Fun visibility results! Obsessed with the edit suddenly becoming super even right after UTRqueen Ally leaves <3

• Fiore - MOR3 - Loops Ren into her alliance w/ Natalia and pitches that they put on a "performance" to get the old fans to vote Ara but it really isn't complex at all? Her 2 confessionals are, like, OTT and MOR respectively so I feel like she's just MOR
• Gabby - CP3 - Asserts that she has to start playing the game differently like Ellie & Natalia, then does exactly that w/ the whole Ara situation. No tone imo, if she got literally any SPV I'd consider it, but all her content was pretty neutrally presented
• Lake - MOR3 - Confessional check-in after Rosa apologizes and she forgives her. I'm giving Rosa P for this scene since the onus is mostly on her with their dynamic, but I don't feel any P for Lake really?
• Natalia - MORM3 - Her usual M tone of isolating herself from Gabby/Tom + tension w/ Rosa but remaining sympathetic (as affirmed by Gabby understanding her)
• Nura - MORP3 - Bonds with Oliwia, positioned as a swing, and recaps her vote for Ara. I could see CPP if someone brought a good argument but I think MORP is fine
• Oliwia - OTTP3 - P for the same reason as Nura. Could be MORP too but I think the dead animal stuff was just a little too OTT to ignore lmfao
• Ren - CP3 - Gets more of the strategic content as the main agent of getting the Ara votes, between them and Fiore, even though it's her who suggests that they put on a performance. CP works
• Rosa Maria - MORM3 - Apologizes to Lake and then her issues with Natalia persist (+ Nat gets a conf about her lol). Tone is pretty light but I think she gets it, between the music and Lake's confessional about her + the focus on her/Natalia at the challenge
• Sam - CPN4 - Easy
• Spencer - CPN3 - Sam is definitely complex but I'm on the cusp with him! His confessional was brief but that joint scene w/ Sam felt pretty significant for both of them, plus he says he's gonna get intel from Sam and then does exactly that sooooo yeah sure CP!
• Tom - MOR3 - Not much of note. He was lowkey Natalia-centric all episode. Mayyyyyybe OTT3 but it wasn't pronounced enough for me since he got some standard alliance strategy scenes

Ara - OTTN3 - I guess? It's not as strong as her other OTTNs so I could see a MORN, but idk it just felt like she was getting clowned on all episode until her somewhat unceremonious boot. They seemed to try to put some tension on whether it'd be Fiore or her but I feel like the signs were obviously pointing to her all ep! OTTN overall. Please return </3

Contenders. It's merge so I'm going down to 3 on my chart but if I had to pick a 4th it's Ren

Nura > Spencer > Sam

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Yikes what a rough run for Ally... she was really only in like 4-5 episodes lol, seems like ONC took some inspiration from Australian Survivor

Another good Fiore and Ara episode, the sky is blue, etc.

Fans

• Ara - OTTN3 - She really just serves as a hategoat this episode lol <3
• Oliwia - MORM2 - Spills the beans on Sam, gets rejected by Ren and cries about it, and gets comforted by Nura. N for acting kinda insane (again) with Ren, P for the crying + Nura stuff
• Nura - UTRP2 - Assuages Oliwia and is otherwise just kinda there?
• Ren - MOR3 - Kinda lost here? Feels like there was some tone at the top of the episode w/ Oliwia and Sam but it didn't feel like... solely N. They did also DQ from the challenge... but I mean it was on account of Ara being the obvious boot which was backed up thru/o the ep. Cocky sure but not super N? Definitely think MOR works the best, just not sure on tone between N, M, and neutral. I have down neutral for now
• Sam - CPN3 - Recaps the Dunia vote and gets caught scheming, then has the scene with Spencer where he starts to target him officially. He could feasibly be MORN I guess but it felt as complex as they could get him for an episode where fans won the challenge

Favorites

• Fiore - CPN4 - Hiding in the trees and turning people against each other, ok Tony Vlachos. "Natalia fucking sucks am I right?" <3
• Gabby - OTTP2 - I'm not against a 0-conf CPP2 because her P scene was really high-impact, but idk, I feel more inclined toward OTTP since Fiore/Lake/Natalia feel way more CP in comparison. Also her being like "I'm gagged" at the vote lmfao OTT!
• Lake - CP4 - Easyyyyy. Catalyzes the flip vote even if it doesn't end up going how she plans. Her confessional w/ her strategy of flipping votes without breaking her promise was def complex! I'm not sure that she gets any tone here but I presume we'll get it next episode
• Natalia - CPM4 - Borderline OTT? Maybe even MORM again... but I do think her continually contending with her guilt re: Gabby/Tom while also trying to Play The Game got strong enough focus to make her CP. P for the constant sympathetic framing and music cues, N for the SPV from like half the tribe lol
• Rosa María - UTR2 - Kinda just there
• Spencer - MOR2 - No confessionals but I think the scene with Sam was big enough to make him MOR, nailing the plan Sam had. But I'm not against UTR either
• Tom - MORP3 - Considered neutral but I think the continual focus with Gabby was enough to make him P. He could also be like, borderline CP I think? Idk I'm wavering between MORP and CPP for him. Maybe I'll do it just for the fun of having all the shades of CP this episode

Ally - CPN5 - Big strategic force and also definitely cops some solid N thru/o the episode for being the Girl Who Flips On Her Friends. Not an unusually P exit so I don't think she's quite M. UTR overall.

I ended up going Nura > Spencer > Rosa > Lake last episode, but I feel like I'm ready to drop Rosa for now.

I'm gonna move Lake up to 3rd, and then Oliwia/Ren/Sam are closesly competing for that 4th spot. I think I'm feeling a little stronger on the former 2 than Sam though. We'll see...

Highest rated episode of the season (by a big margin) and the highest score of the season for Fiore (with an 8.94)! Thanks for voting x

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Unsurprisingly I thought this episode was excellent!

Fiore had funny confessionals, the Lake/Spencer dynamic moved in an interesting direction, Ara was both insane and hilarious (and catalyzed an interesting vote!), Oliwia somehow continues to deliver something new and ridiculous re: Ren, Sam actually ~felt~ like a villain this episode, and of course, the stars... Nura and Ren were AMAZING all around. I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been super sold on Ren as this relentlessly positive character, as it felt like the same kind of OTTP reduction that we got with Tristan last season, but damn did this episode shut me up. We got to see Ren get petty, irrational, and emotional - all great & new things and dynamics that really highlight the key differences between his and Nura's characters. And do I even need to write about Nura? This felt like the Nura Episode we've been building up to and I'm immensely satisfied with the result. Rejecting Ara and sending her into a tailspin, antagonizing Ren whenever she gets the chance, but still there's a simultaneous recognition that her irritation with Ren is justified, given what she knows of him and his botched attempts at talking things out with her throughout the episode. These 2 have had tension building for some time, and the fact that it culminated in (1) both of them being petty and shortsighted, (2) both getting tunnel-vision on voting the other out, and (3) both being devastatingly blindsided by the 3-1-1-1 ousting of their #1 ally? It's so good. Some really interesting character work with these 2 that I could go on and on about, plus some good one-liners to boot!

Potentially my fav episode of the season.

Favorites

• Ally - UTR1 - What is there to say at this point lmao
• Fiore - OTT3 - Two silly confessionals about her SoCiaL GaMe and then she (comedically) wins the challenge for being short and celebrates it. Not opposed to MOR3 either though, bc I could see the argument that she was purely narration
• Gabby - UTRP2 - Definitely P, she spends most of her scenes downtrodden and mopey about the rift between Natalia and Tom. Could reasonably be an OTT(P)... but she was too low impact for me so UTRP felt right
• Lake - OTTM2 - Literally just fights Spencer the whole time lol. Her main difference from Spencer in the edit is that she gets 0 confessionals, and basically no depth beyond defending Bruno postmortem. She definitely antagonizes Spencer (N) but I think she's also sympathetically portrayed in pointing out Spencer being an ass + grappling with her own morals as they clash against how the game works (P). Might bump her up to a 3, not sure yet
• Natalia - MORM2 - She coooould be OTT here, but the admission of her lie to Gabby + consequent confessional explaining that Gabby/Tom feeling betrayed is why she initially avoided personal relationships? I think that's more than one-note. Tone is hard... I went with M because she got some N SPV from Fiore and Gabby, but also was very evidently remorseful and got some P musical cues
• Rosa María - MOR2 - Verrrrry blink-and-you-miss-it confessional, so she could reasonably be UTR. But the fact that she follows up on voting out Bruno + feeling stuck between Lake and Spencer is enough of a throughline for me to make her MOR
• Spencer - CPM3 - He gets 2 of the most astute confessionals this ep, one where he enumerates a plan to work it out with Lake during the sitout, and one where he again tunes into Sam's manipulation of his team. Not 100% sure on tone - but I think he's at least N for continuing to be abrasive and tunnel-visioned on the game, which is confirmed in his first confessional about repairing his relationship with Lake. He says he wants to make amends for the sake of repairing the slim majority alliance, which is proof that he is yet to understand that the rift with Lake is a relationships thing and not a numbers thing. But I don't think he's just strictly N? I think there's demonstrated progress from his prior complete dismissal of her, and the fact that they come to a small resolution during the sitout feels like they both cap the episode with mixed tone.
• Tom - UTR1 - Could reasonably see a vis bump up to UTR2. But definitely just UTR neutral imo

Fans

• Ara - OTTN4 - I can see people wanting to go CPN, since the implication is that she called the shot on Dunia, but honestly? The entire move was emotionally driven. Plus imo there's no coming back from her insane reaction to Nura's rejection (<3). Ara got 2 confessionals - they consisted of (1) "When I want something, I get it" and (2) "NO ONE REJECTS ME!." Mama that's OTTN
• Nura - OTTM5 - She invented snark omg <3 Easy OTT, and she honestly felt OTTN for a good majority of the episode, up until Dunia's boot - she gets petty and snarky with Ren at literally every opportunity, including at the challenge, and throws out his name in front of him lmao. P from Dunia before the vote, and then of course their tearful farewell is some easy P for both of them.
• Oliwia - OTT3 - Stalks Ren, gets butthurt when he doesn't wanna talk to her, questions if she's even meant to have friends, and then gets swiftly manipulated by Sam. I feel like I've typed that exact sentence for her before lol. "I BROKE her spell over you :D" is insane like she's kind of a queen #sorry
• Ren - OTTM5 - Honestly I think him and Nura deserve matching ratings for their amazing performances this episode <3. As much as I think Nura was a little more N than he was, the major takeaway is that these 2 tunneled so hard on being mad at each other that it got their shared #1 sniped by Sam and Ara.
• Sam - CPN4 - Main vote driver and the one who gets credited with the actual strategic reasoning behind the Dunia boot (which was set up however many episodes back during one of their scenes together!). I'm really torn on the tone here but I'm leaning towards yes on giving him N - Spencer's confessional sees through his front (light N SPV), and then he gets some really weird sinister music as he tells Dunia she can always trust him (right before voting her out). Idk. If you disagree lmk why!

Dunia - OTTP4 - Spends the episode somewhat in-the-background, getting over the fact that Nura and Ara kissed, and then gets an insanely OTTP exit. There's like, some light strategy trying to pivot the vote to Ara... but it's really just setup for the 3-1-1-1. Plus, the fact that her entire motivation is that Ara's bad for Nura, and her parting words are her saying the branch was special because Nura picked it? It all feels too OTTP to be anything else. MORP overall

Contenders are hard guys! I intentionally left them off my chart this episode, solely because I'm pretty torn about what direction I wanna go in. Let me walk through what I'm thinking...

• Lake piques my interest because she's swinging hard in the other direction from her first season - she's grown and learned to stand up for herself, but now it's to an extent that her moral righteousness is negatively affecting her relationship with Spencer as well as her attachment to the game at hand. The fact that she's consistently made to grapple with her morals against the game design reminds me a lot of what we saw with Logan last season, which could be good for her winning chances - but it could simultaneously be bad since Logan literally just won lol! I'm leaning a little more towards growth arc for her in this moment.
• Natalia is a fascinating one because she felt like the most obvious antagonist of the favs tribe (bar Spencer lol) and she's now morphing into some kind of a redemption arc it seems. That could very easily bode well for her, perhaps into a CPM winning arc, but I can also imagine a world where she gets merge-booted after atoning for her lies with Gabby and Tom. Plus, with Fiore's confessional basically abandoning their alliance this episode, I worry about her game position from this point on. Still, she has the edgic ratings to make her way to the end, so I'm not out on her.
• Nura was obviously a huge character this episode and has had a consistent story with regular check-ins. With Dunia gone and a new schism between her and Ara, I think her potential opens up here, but her low confessional count and relative detachment from strategy can become a point of concern post-merge if she doesn't start getting some more vote-related content soon.
• Oliwia has had an insanely OTT and character-driven premerge, with a mixture of tones, and a consistent storyline with her social struggles and ineptitude. Plus, despite her OTTness, she remains attached to the votes and decisions (even if it is because Sam's manipulating her half the time). All of these pieces bode well for a DC winner, and I've admittedly not been considering her much because I thought she was slated for an early boot... but the fact that she's still here is drawing my attention as merge presumably gets closer. I had her as a contender way back during the premiere and I'm not opposed to putting her back up there again.
• Ren finally got some tone that wasn't a bunch of relentless P, and now I'm really starting to see a more rounded out vision of him as a potential winner. A P-toned winner (see: Logan) really doesn't need much negativity premerge, but ideally they should still get at least one episode where they're not explicitly "in the right," and he finally got that here. He's received tons of focus, he has complex relationships with Nura and Oliwia, and I can absolutely see a world where that trio leverages something against remaining the Ara/Sam duo and produces a winner.
• Rosa María has the right kinds of premerge mixed tones and strategic waffling that are a tried and true hallmark of DC winners (even if they end up skewing overall negative [Riya] or positive [Logan]) and the level of game involvement that I'd expect her to get if ONC wanted to make her win this time. But I also worry that this 2-season arc of her naïveté - reinforced by her continued wavering this episode - may come back to bite her once again, at the hands of a villain like Sam, down the line. Her contendership for me relies on where this dynamic with Spencer and Lake goes next.
• Sam is hard because he's almost too perfect for me to really see him as a DC winner. I'm starting to see him as more and more of a "final boss," so to speak, for the eventual winner - whether that's him getting blindsided postmerge, being annihilated in a jury vote, or losing the final. But, at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if the vision for his character was a CPN villain winner. He's a hard one to pin down.
• Spencer, like Lake, piques my interest for the character trajectory they seem to be working towards. He is very slowly working out how to play the game socially, although he continues to be an asshole and filter everything the lens of THE GAME. Him starting to trend in a bit more of a sympathetic direction this episode makes me think he's definitely on a journey trajectory, and I'm not sure if that lends to a win for him. The reason I'd put him above Lake is due to his focus re: Sam, as he remains the only one to see through him, which feels important.

So yeah, 13 people left and there are 8(!!!) that I'm genuinely considering lol. I'll take the week to parse out who my 4 are, but for now this is where I'm at!

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Yay thank you to everyone who voted <3

What's everyone's favorite and least favorite parts of the results this time around? Here's mine:

• Favorite - Ren somehow being #4 most likely to go home next and #4 most likely to win, at the same time
• Least favorite - That ridiculous overreaction of an episode score

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I heard that this episode is being panned and mass disliked because... a guy (Bruno, at that) went home? Idk, I get the idea of being upset over the gendered trend, I guess... but at the end of the day, Bruno's character had kind of run its course and tbh he was the most annoying one left, so I'm fine with him going here. Honestly, I just think the viewing of the show (and most RTV shows) through a placement-based lens, like you're betting on horses and getting upset because the girl horses keep beating the boy horses (or vice versa), is just a losing game and not fun in my eyes lol. I prefer to enjoy the characters for what they are and what they do in their time shown, not what placement they got. I'm happy with a (or multiple) season(s) where all of the top 8 are men, so long as they're interesting and developed on the way there.

Anyway as I said I think the Bruno boot was a good choice. I don't necessarily LOVE the way we got there because I think Rosa not fact-checking with Bruno over Spencer's lie is a boot arc we've gotten quite a few times now and evidently nobody ever really likes it. That said, I do think Rosa was a prime candidate for this given the S2 rewrite's re-characterization of her as being a bit naive and sometimes presumptuous to a fault, and I don't think that this series of events was really all that crazy. I mean, when you have Lake as the voice of reason, saying what the audience is explicitly thinking and urging Rosa to talk to Bruno, it feels like there was more care put into the sequence of events than, say, Zaid's boot last season. I think Rosa being frustrating to watch is intentional but I also think that how she ends up so torn was very clearly shown to us, so I'm not all that upset nor do I think this is OOC as people seem to think. This iteration of Rosa with naive judgment, who's developed trust issues from the last time she played, is clearly the direction that they've chosen for her (which, I might add, is way more believable for a character her age!), and you either gotta get with it or get over it!

Ok moving on

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The visibility came out perfectly and I just wanted to comment on that because I found it satisfying... onto the fun stuff

Fans

• Ara - CPN4 - Her playing up the heartless villain role, even in confessional, but obviously being into Nura and flubbing when she called her a good kisser, was some AS Riya realness. I think there were elements of OTT as there always are with her, but I think this episode was a more complex one for her - she saw through Ren immediately, continued with trying to get in with Nura, and... was evidently successful lol. Don't think she's P at all for her crush on Nura or her sad face in confessional lmao
• Dunia - OTT2/OTTP2 - Is this a stretch? Her confessional was literally "get it together, you can't be jealous of a 21 year old" which felt super OTT. I thought P for her little crush on Nura + shutting down when Ara kissed Nura but I wasn't sure. Open to doing that still, plus OTTP2 is fun
• Nura - UTR2 - She was a pretty central focus point for Ara and Dunia, but I didn't feel like she really got enough to break UTR on her own? Ara called her a good kisser and Dunia has a crush on her but neither of those felt like P tone really... just characteristics of the other two's presentations? If anything I think some P would come from the kiss itself. Idk
• Oliwia - OTTN2 - What an odd character...
• Ren - MOR3/OTT3 - The carnival stuff felt OTT but I think their confessional about the ulterior motive of trying to get Ara away from Nura added a little depth to the whole thing... but it was also kinda OTT in delivery. I'm torn but leaning MOR for now
• Sam - UTR2 - EZ, just commentated on whatever was happening throughout the episode, and then used the goat to win the challenge lmao

Favorites

• Ally - UTR2 - RIP she's back in townsperson territory
• Fiore - CP3 - Strategic confessional about Natalia needing to lean on her (which is later proven right), gets into Spencer's head (saying Bruno is more loved than him, which sets into motion his move to get out Bruno), and then she gets a confessional seeing right through Spencer's lie and recapping her move. Definitely CP. Fiore, the goat -Gabby -me
• Gabby - MOR3/OTT3 - Teetering but leaning OTT, because even though she was somewhat MOR for trying to mediate and push through with Natalia, her obsession with the animals and her second confessional were super OTT. She cooooould have a light P but it wasn't pronounced enough for me personally
• Lake - MOR3 - She's the voice of reason to Rosa and gets a shallow confessional "forced to choose between friends." Even though I think Bruno and Tom are P, I don't think she was since her relationship with Bruno didn't really get continual focus, and rather she just gave him some more P on his way out lol
• Natalia - UTRN2 - No confessionals and I don't think she was involved enough to break UTR at any point. N for the fight with Tom and closing off from him and Gabby. Briefly considered UTRM but, as with Ara and Riya, I don't think a regretful sad face is P
• Rosa María - CPM4 - EZ! Definitely the complex character of the episode, gets P for all her internal conflict and being scared of getting burned again, N from getting duped by Spencer and not listening to Lake's rationale, then making a decision that she realized was the wrong one afterwards
• Spencer - CPN5 - Again and obviously. Nasty Spencer really is SO back <3 I'm starting to think that the redemption I thought I saw coming may be much farther away or not coming at all. Off him as a contender (finally)... for now...
• Tom - MORP4 - I wanted to give him M because of the fight with Natalia at the start, but I think she was more clearly portrayed as N whereas he leaned more neutral there since he was trying to help her out near the end and she just shut him down. P for being Bruno's new bestie allllll episode. I don't think he quite hit CP even with all the scenes he got so MORP works best

Bruno - OTTP4 - Obviously! Briefly considered M, but I just don't think there was any substantial N and it's more that I just find him kinda annoying. Tons of P throughout the episode and especially from Lake and Tom. OTTP overall

Contenders
Nura
Rosa María
Sam
Lake

Considering
Ren
Natalia
Fiore

I guess so
Dunia
Spencer
Oliwia
Ara

Not seeing it
Ally
Tom
Gabby

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Better late than never...

Thank you to myself and the 39 other voters for episode 10! x

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