Ep. 4 - "That's When I Knew"
The penultimate episode is here. Here’s 10 things I learned from episode 4.
#1 - Tommy’s Big Move at the Vote Changed Surviving Barstool Forever
Tommy holds onto the Safety Idol. YouTube/Barstool Sports
Kelly, Bri, Donnie, and Nick got played like a fiddle. They know it, we know, and now anyone who will compete on future Surviving Barstool seasons will know it and keep it in mind the next time someone says they are playing a safety idol. To use Nick’s words, “Tommy’s snake shit” worked on a bunch of people who came into Tommy’s gun fight with Slappers Only. Having praised the outwit nature of the move, I think the biggest lesson to learn from it is two things. One, for everyone in the Barstool office who inevitably is taking notice of Season 1 and projecting themselves into the game (or future seasons of the game) they will think they are not susceptible to being fooled by a move like Tommy’s. They will write in their blogs or go on the rundown and say that he is playing against a bunch of amateurs and that they would never allow it to happen. I don’t buy it. Tommy seized the day and they don’t want to give credit to him and they are doing it so they can get on the next season. Moves like this create a buzz. Buzz like this creates reactions. Reactions like this cause future seasons of Surviving Barstool. Have I mentioned I’m available to play?
#2 - Tommy is Guaranteed Final 4
“I still got the idol that i’m gunna play tonight so I guarantee myself a spot in the final 4. And THAT IS HOW YOU F@!#ING PLAY SURVIVING BARSTOOL!” - Tommy Smokes
YouTube/Barstool Sports
The lesson here isn’t that Tommy’s seismic move has guaranteed a spot in the final 4 or he gave a self proclaimed “masterclass” on how to play Surviving Barstool. The lesson is there is still a long way to go to get to the final NA Bar and an even longer path to travel to the $10,000 and title of Sole Surblogger. Buckle up Tommy and take out your Survivor notepad. You’ll need it.
#3 - A Loved Ones Visit Parody Works in the Barstool Office
The “loved ones” gimmick is usually a major highlight of most Survivor seasons. It makes the characters shed their scheming and strategy minds and replace it for some raw emotion that makes the viewers connect with the castaways. After 30+ days and 10 episodes, seeing the embrace and connection between loved ones quenches the viewers thirst for the show like a refreshing New Amsterdam cocktail. Having said that, Surviving Barstool didn’t deliver that at all. Of course not. That wouldn’t be Barstool. However, the loved ones parody did shine some light on the host KFC, his salesmanship on the bit, and introduce some other Barstool characters like Glenny Balls and Frank the Tank. The bit worked.
Loved Ones Ring Toss Trivia Challenge. YouTube/Barstool Sports.
#4 - Trivia Challenges Are Always a Good Idea
Barstool has many different established and popular content creators and platforms, so it makes sense to utilize them in Surviving Barstool challenges. Jeff from “The Dozen”, Barstool’s trivia competition steps in to deliver the multiple choice trivia questions. If players answer correctly, their “loved. one” gets to try and toss a ring onto a NA bottle. First to 3 wins safety.
Trivia can be tricky. If I’ve learned anything from MTV’s The Challenge, trivia challenges can be filled with dumb math and spelling questions that only TJ Lavin seems to enjoy (love you Teej). But, the lesson here is that if you have an established trivia presence, use it. The questions were challenging enough but didn’t take away from anything.
#5 - Tommy Tries Too Hard to Be Cool
Tommy gets the question wrong about Harry Potter’s owl and proceeds to comment “sorry, I’m not a nerd” and then desperately look to his loved one for reassurance that what he said was a funny joke. It wasn’t Tommy. Nobody laughed and you sounded desperate. Stop trying soooo hard.
#6 - Kelly is a Legit Threat To Win
Kelly wins her second NA Safety Necklace and stay in the Lounge. She picks Bri to spend the night with her. Kelly is shaping up to have a winning case to plea to the jury. She has won 2 challenges. She made alliances. She was double crossed by Tommy. Those three pieces could give her enough votes to win even if she goes up against Tommy. Remember, in Survivor, the jury is faced with voting for either who played the best game or who they like more. Kelly is playing a good game and is not disliked, except by Trysta.
#7 - Is Donnie Actually a Threat?
Kelly and Bri seem to think that Donnie is some major threat. In previous episodes players felt Donnie was a challenge threat should the challenge be physical in some way. Plus he proved strength in the eating challenge. Then, we learn that Donnie approached Bri on day 1 to form an “unlikely alliance” or people you wouldn’t think would work together. Smart move. Plus they are both “Massholes” so that helps. But, I don’t see it. I feel like Donnie is not much of a threat and there must be something I don’t know about his persona around the office.
And then…
Donnie commits Survivor suicide when he blows up Bri’s plan to blindside Nick. He does this by sending a response to Bri’s text not to her, but instead to a group chat with Tommy and Nick in it revealing the plan. Dumbass!
YouTube/Barstool Sports
#8 - Donnie is a Dumbass
See previous statement.
#9 - KFC is the Right Person to Host
YouTube/Barstool Sports.
Over four episodes I’ve learned that KFC is the perfect person to host Surviving Barstool. He seems like the one with the most reps at hosting and facilitating conversations. He is at home playing bartender at the NA Bar. He sold the crap out of the loved ones introductions. Lastly, he isn’t influencing the game, but rather letting it happen and having fun with his front row seat for the action. I don’t think Big Cat or Pres could have done that.
#10 - The Winner Will Be Nick or Tommy
I think the biggest lesson learned is Tommy, Kelly, and Bri need Nick to be voted out next (especially Tommy), and Nick needs Tommy out next. Will that happen we’ll see. In the end, the final 3 will be either Nick, Kelly, and Bri or Tommy, Kelly, and Bri. Nick has the best chance of winning because I think he gets the “I like him the most” voters and the “I’d rather give the money to him” voters. In those two categories Nick is the favorite with the runner up being a toss up. On the other side of the coin is “he/she played the best game” voters. Tommy is the favorite in that category followed probably by Kelly. The combination of the two categories makes it tough to project who will ultimately win but here are the penultimate rankings.
Rankings
1 - Nick - Super Likeable, Everyone likes him, No blunders, Didn’t Piss People Off
2 - Tommy - Played best game, BUT hurt people along the way
3 - Kelly - won 2 challenges, hurt Trysta, played good game, made mistake of talking too much
4 - Bri - no challenge wins, secret Donnie alliance got exposed, newbie, not as likeable as others.
Donnie - 4th member of jury
Zah - 3rd member of jury
Trysta - 2nd member of jury
Cowboy - 1st member of jury
Hope you enjoyed reading about what I learned. Let me know what you’ve learned from watching Surviving Barstool. Leave a message in the comments below or
Tree mail - tribalcouncilblog@gmail.com
Instagram - @tribal_council_blog
Facebook - tribalcouncilblog
Thanks for reading. Be sure to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest.
The blog has spoken!
