By Jeff Pitman | Published: October 30, 2017
A look at Ben's unexpectedly important moment, Chrissy's unexpectedly manipulative power plays, and where Roark's exit from her first Tribal Council falls on the leaderboard of late early boots. Plus a vidcap gallery!
By Pat Ferrucci | Published: October 27, 2017
Pat examines Ryan's swing vote decision, and most Survivor gameplay, through the conflicting ethical theories of ethical egoism and utilitarianism, and how the best plays appear to be the latter while actually adhering to the former.
By Dan Otsuki | Published: October 27, 2017
Dan takes a critical eye to Ryan's big move, and posits its long-term significance, and praises Ben's moment, Mike's find, and Chrissy's manipulation. He also holds out hope for an Ali comeback after the fifth episode of Heroes v Healers v Hustlers.
By Jeff Pitman | Published: October 25, 2017
Jeff breaks down a highly successful swap episode, looking at couples broken and united, Advantagegeddon redux, Joe's big idol playing game, and Mike's big game-playing streak.
By Ben Martell | Published: October 24, 2017
Ben praises a successful swap, and boldly predicts which tribe might be the big loser from it (hint: anti-Matsing), the fate of an idol mind, and the future success of a dork alliance, a disadvantaged voter, and someone fishing for allies.
By Dan Otsuki | Published: October 20, 2017
Dan finds problems with three key characters, praise for three new couples, and a divided opinion on short-lived but luck-based twists, as in the fourth episode of Heroes v Healers v Hustlers.
By Pat Ferrucci | Published: October 20, 2017
Pat evaluates the tribal swap through the lens of group cohesion theory, and finds the new Levu tribe lacking, as seen in Episode 4 of Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers.
By Ben Martell | Published: October 18, 2017
Ben examines how timing affects the success of Survivor moves, with some good (Ali), and some bad (Cole), and some more good (the upcoming swap) on display in Episode 3 of Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers.
By Jeff Pitman | Published: October 16, 2017
In an attempt to diagnose the season's underwhelming start, Jeff zeroes in on three problems endemic to the three-tribe format, and offers tweaks to fix them. Also a defense of Patrick, a preview of the swap, and a fashionable vidcap gallery.
By Pat Ferrucci | Published: October 14, 2017
Pat refutes Malcolm Gladwell's outlier hypothesis, instead arguing that Robert Merton's theory of cumulative advantage applies better to Survivor, as seen in Patrick's exit from Episode 3 of Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers.
By Dan Otsuki | Published: October 13, 2017
With horror shows on his Friday-the-13th mind, Dan praises the show's focus on ill-advised, bumbling gameplay, plus the surprisingly good showings of two previously overlooked contestants.
By Ben Martell | Published: October 10, 2017
Ben takes a quick look at the departed Simone's game, ponders the significance of the Ben-Chrissy pairing, examines Joe's gameplay, and praises Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers' apparent return to editing form.
By Jeff Pitman | Published: October 9, 2017
After just two episodes, Jeff takes a mostly over-extrapolated look at the contenders for winning Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers. Plus a vidcap gallery also about the number two.
By Pat Ferrucci | Published: October 6, 2017
Pat looks at identity priming theory, and how this affects Survivor players' early tribal boot decisions, as seen in Episode 2 of Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers.
By Dan Otsuki | Published: October 6, 2017
Dan looks at the importance to the narrative of people playing the roles of literary fools (of various types) in the second episode of Survivor: Heroes v Healers v Hustlers.
By Jeff Pitman | Published: October 2, 2017
Jeff looks back at the season premiere of Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers, and finds it mostly solid, albeit with an outsized focus on a twist that went nowhere, and a glaring deficit in focus on the booted player. To make up for that: A vidcap gallery.
By Pat Ferrucci | Published: October 2, 2017
Pat focuses on a relevant facet of social identity theory, in-group/ out-group bias, to help explain why Katrina was the first person voted out in Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers. Then looks at the tribes in greater depth.
By Ben Martell | Published: October 1, 2017
Ben takes stock of the state of the strategic metagame entering the season premiere of Survivor: HHH, then looks in-depth at the Heroes, Healers, and Hustlers tribes, and the Super Idol, plus a few odds and ends.