Anthony - MOR4
Brandon - MOR3 (though, I'd be willing for it to be something different if he lied straight up to John's face about the vote)
Donovan - CP/MORN4 (I think he's been slightly negative this episode, but can see how he wouldn't be considered it)
Eric G. - UTR2
Jacob - CP3
John - UTR2
Kate - OTT3 (I have a really hard time doing anything other than OTT'ing her even despite her lack of visibility and confessionals. Linday's comments about Kate saying that she just wanted to make merge and wouldn't go much further than that make me think her interactions in private are pretty OTT)
Lindsay - UNSURE.
Mike - MOR5
RJ - CPM4/5
Spencer - Torn between UTR and MOR, low vis.
Stacey - OTT3
Thomas - MOR3

Contenders - Jacob, Mike, Thomas, ANTHONY (I think he's seen as less of a threat than Lindsay)

Donovan - I'll give him CPN for this round although to be honest I was also considering MORN and OTTN as well but neither of those seemed quite right. Massive nSPV from Mike about Donovan, and Mike's comments kind of force us to place a little bit of the blame for Donovan's boot on Donovan himself, although yes he was largely screwed by the swap. I'm kicking myself for not removing him entirely from contenders last round, I knew he was in trouble which is why he dropped to the 4th spot but I thought he wouldn't be voted out until after John and that there wouldn't be enough Wobblies TCs for Donovan's time to come. But oh well I can't take it off now and I have to live with that blip for the rest of my miserable empty life. I can't really regret making him a contender for the first 3 rounds, though, but yeah he really should have been taken off the list after the swap. Edgic's first perennial contender meets his maker. RIP Donovan

Eric - I feel like I want to start a Type B row for the contenders list a la Natalie in Survivor Samoa because Eric is in SUCH a good position on his tribe while not being on anyone's radar but it's just so difficult to imagine someone so UTR winning Chronicles. Although I'm not 100% clear on the details, I am aware that he went through a lot in the past few days, so obviously I can't blame him for low vis at all. Hopefully he starts giving us more insight in the future, his most recent confessional seems like he has a pretty good sense of what's going on.

Kate - Steve, I get that you have her as OTT but I don't really know if that comment she made is enough to warrant OTT, especially as far as Kate goes. I did give her an N tone exactly because of that nSPV from Lindsay though. For someone who doesn't post too many confessionals, I think Kate is really interesting in general. It's funny that she's counting herself out already because I feel like many of the viewers have felt the same way about her, that she is a promising player who probably won't win because she'd probably be perceived as too much of a threat. It's interesting to see a player admit that about themselves though, and I hope that she's able to surprise herself

Lindsay - CPP5 easily for me. We have a cute little budding romance between Anthony and Lindsay (which both of them hint at, so I don't think it's an awkward one-way thing), we have her positive reflections on her recent ORG win, her fairly positive assessment of her new tribemates and her standing in the tribe in general, etc. Lindsay's insight continues to be complex and refreshing. And I was very very unclear as to the Pinkerton tribe dynamics last round because everything was still very much up in the air (and still is, to an extent), but now we do have a little bit of a better understanding. And clearly Anthony/Lindsay, while not necessarily the swings, are in the best position on that tribe right now.

RJ - 5 vis pretty much for his challenge performance. CP because he continues to give admittedly sparse but also meaningful insight about his own game and what he has accomplished so far. I see Brandon and RJ as being two of the major forces on original Carnegie, both going their separate ways due to the swap, and Brandon being the one that was able to continue to take control of his game, while RJ is hanging on by a thread. It'll be VERY interesting to see how RJ deals with being the one everyone is targeting even though he basically won the challenge for his tribe this time. It's also very possible that Pinkerton never has to see TC anyway, but I think everyone in the game senses RJ as the challenge threat so he is in trouble for sure.

Everyone else has a fairly easy EDGIC this round, most of them getting MORs.

I also 100% agree with you on contenders, Steve. The loss of Donovan (and probably John next round, assuming that tribe loses again), means Jacob/Thomas (and possibly Kate) might not be targeted at all in the early stages of the merge. Either way, Jacob is pretty well-liked by most of his tribe, and is pretty well protected. Anthony is also a strong contender at this point, I held off on giving him contender status because of confessionalgate but I think that situation has mostly blown over by now. The only contender I'm not 100% sure about is Mike, because Brandon has explicitly stated that Mike would go after Donovan and John. The thing is, though, is that Stacey would very likely go against Brandon at that point since she wants him out and is just biding her time right now. It also seems that Eric, while benefiting from Brandon's protection, is a tiny bit uncomfortable with working with Brandon JUST because they've been in a previous game together. He seems very keen on staying loyal to his original Rockefellers, and that could very well mean that Mike/Stacey/Eric team up to vote Brandon out if the Wobblies get whittled down to 4. But I have a feeling we won't be seeing that many TCs for the Wobblies.

I think the contenders are perfect even with you not knowing the merge was coming up. I don't see any of those 4 being the first targets right now and see them all as potential late game players. My gut tells me that Lindsay pushes Mike, Eric, Anthony more towards going with Jacob and company for now.

based on brandon's confessional, original vanderbilt might be in minority in which case RIP half of my contenders. but yeah i'd have to hear lindsay's perspective on it first, because she could just be telling brandon what he wants to hear

I'd be a bit surprised if it's that straight forward. Lindsay has been dreading seeing Brandon all game, she's wary of RJ, etc. Then there's the flip side of that, where Stacey has heard everything Brandon has heard from John, and she plans on telling RJ everything too. If it happens, it's not a long term thing, and I think the most that comes out of it is a John boot before something changes, as I just can't see those two sides sticking together at all.

EPISODE 6:

Anthony - MOR3
Brandon - OTTN4
Eric - MOR2
Jacob - CP5 - Think his video confessional finally gave a glimpse into him being a sneaky player laying under the radar and playing nice guy.
John - OTTM3 - I was leaning negative, but there were people on his side, plus I think it's hard to justify him as completetely negative when his main adversary is Brandon.
Kate - OTT4
Lindsay - CPM5 - Borderline OTT. Don't think she's a completely negative tone, but a lot of her antics are starting to alienate her allies a bit, which they've all made note of. Told Jacob she has everyone wrapped around her finger and seemed a bit cocky about it.
Mike - MOR3
RJ - CP3
Spencer - UTR2
Stacey - OTT
Thomas - I think his last second confessional was pretty CP, and I'm leaning towards a positive tone because he's so honest about everything (thinking he's a bad Survivor player that has had good circumstances). Something about him is just a breathe for fresh air to the game that I think would be shown positively.

Contenders - Jacob, Anthony, some combo of Mike/Lindsay/Thomas

sorry i'm behind on this
i'll update by tomorrow hopefully

Sagar asked me to take over while he's a bit swamped with stuff going on, so here you go!



Episode 6 explanations are in a post above. Episode 7 was difficult, as people were busy with Thanksgiving stuff and the vote was early this afternoon, meaning lots of people didn't get confessionals in. I did my best with that. Any suggestions for changes are appreciated.

Anthony was a bit off the radar this round, smartly IMO (I think it's his best bet to stay under the radar during the reign of Lindsay). I think Eric had a break-out episode, getting lots of visibility from the Lindsay stuff, becoming more of a clear part of peoples plans, etc (if he was a little more charismatic, I could see a slight CP edit). Jacob loses a lot of his charisma in writing and quickly fell back to his solid MOR edit. Kate, to me, is almost always an OTT presence even with a lack of confessionals. Lindsay was originally a mixed CP tone for me, as her health storyline makes it hard for me to N her, but she's fallen out of favor with pretty much everyone due to micromanaging. Mike is solidly MOR with a good visibility as usual. RJ didn't have too much content, but his content was charismatic as always and was a nice mix of OTT interaction and good thinking (letting Lindsay get her way until her reign is over) with a hint of RJ charismatic cockiness that would get a mixed love/hate edit IMO. Spencer had thoughts, but he was another person pretty much off peoples radar this round. Stacey bordered on OTT again, but I think her thoughts were introspective enough to warrant CP, as opposed to others that talk all strategy without showing much personality. Thomas had potential for a good episode, but then he got high.

ERIC surprisingly jumps into the last contenders spot over Thomas, as he's getting super close to Jacob who holds most of the power in his hands at this point, is close to Mike, was shown by Stacey as someone who tries with her unlike a lot of the others, etc. I think he's a long-shot, but he is slightly more in the picture than Thomas at the moment.

Also, format changed because I'm too OCD to not have shit centered. SORRY, SAGAR. The rest of you, not sorry, DEAL WITH IT. ;) Also, snazzing up the contender colors because WHY NOT?

thank you Steve <3

smh called it

shut the fuck up aaron

This was a BIG episode for most of the cast.

RJ - I played around with giving him a negative tone. He was pretty negative throughout the episode with his thoughts, but I felt like they were pretty on point and it'd be edited in a Jeremy kind of way where it's somewhat complaining/whiny, but we should be agreeing with him. He's also hugely respected by the cast, which was highlighted. With all of those things combined, I think a mixed tone is perfect. I do think his overall rating for the season leans more towards the CPN side, so I'll keep it as that for now.

Anthony - Solid MOR episode from Anthony. Vis. would be higher in most episodes, but with a lot happening, everyone can't be +4 vis.

Eric - Pretty straight forward.

Jacob - Again, his CP'ness shines through on video confessionals. KEEP DOING 'EM, J-MONEY. Another episode that highlighted that he's really in the middle of things.

Kate - Bashy video confessional talking about Stacey being annoying, screwing over Lindsay (HER WIFE, YO). Written confessional about wanting to punch people in the face. I get that it's her sense of humor, but it would 100% get a negative edit.

Lindsay - I love Lindsay, but it's so hard not to give her negative tone right now. The players like her as a person and her attitude is not poor, but they have their frustrations with how she micromanages, etc (how many times have we been through this?) So, what does she do this episode when she realizes that she's being seen as running everything? Becomes totally non-committal and frustrates people that way, too. I try not to weigh the health things going on into edgic, because I would just CPP the girl and call it a day, but it's not fair. (GET WELL SOON, LOVE <3)

Mike - I toyed around with OTTN, but thought that might be a little too harsh for him. He did blow up his game again, but he's not particularly over the top about it. He deserves the negative tone though, for sure.

Spencer - Pretty straight forward.

Stacey - The OTT is obvious with her RJ reactions, quickly spilling the beans to RJ that Mike was gunning for him, etc. Played around with giving her a positive tone, as her sentiment towards RJ is genuine, but it also could have come off as a bit desperate to viewers (SORRY STACEY, LOVE YOU). Actually, still considering changing it to positive as I type this. OOP.

Thomas - Besides Lindsay's overall character, I think Thomas's thoughts = the most complex thing(s) going on. I struggled with his tone a bit, but at the end of the day, I feel like if you read into all of his thoughts, he's the player that is easiest to root for in a totally positive way.

Contenders - J-Money is obvious. Anthony is obvious. Thomas is a bit of a long-shot (I unfortunately think he's gonna overplay trying to get Jacob out at some point) but his position right now is good, and I think he stands a better chance at winning over someone like Eric, who is our last contender. Kate is well positioned, but her general attitude about saying she's not here to win makes it hard to justify putting her anywhere near the contenders list.

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS, CONCERNS, ANYTHING?

Also, I think if there's little content this episode (very likely), I'm going to combine 9/10 on the chart. Okay? Okay.

Steve @ 2/12/2014 6:29

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS, CONCERNS, ANYTHING?

Don't mind if I do :P

Im confused by all the Lindsay CP's. She definitely had CP episodes but I think a lot of the time she's more OTT.

Maybe thats just because Im having traumatic flashbacks from last season of this:
"So, what does she do this episode when she realizes that she's being seen as running everything? Becomes totally non-committal and frustrates people that way, too"

I think there can be a thin line between lots of ratings. UTR/MOR can go either way, for example.

I've been tempted to OTT Lindsay, and I can totally see it. I think her character/persona is complex, and there's a lot of internal struggle she goes through (DEEP). At this point, maybe it IS actually becoming over the top, as it kind of just keeps repeating itself over and over.

I just find it hard to OTTN a player like Lindsay, because she's definitely not the type of player/person that generally gets that.