09:29 AM EDT 05/15/2013
Stephen Fishbach
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs: Survivor's Fans Only Hope Is Favorites's Infighting
Originally posted 03/07/2013 09:45AM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"If there's a merge coming up, we need strong members. But we also need loyal members."
– Stephen Fishbach, Survivor: Tocantins
What a blowout. Wednesday on Survivor, the Fans continued their epic losing streak. They lost the reward. They lost immunity. The Fans are losing so badly, they lost their biggest member to an errant dust particle.
Who could ever have imagined that putting 10 veterans of a game against 10 newbies would be a blowout? The Fans' only hope now is that the Favorites succumb to infighting.
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs: Is Sherri Channeling Sandra Bullock on Survivor?
Originally posted 02/28/2013 11:55AM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"People are so dumb in this game. I mean, they talk way too much."
– J.T. Thomas, Survivor: Tocantins
Does Sherri remind anybody else of Sandra Bullock? I don't just mean the physical resemblance.
Last week, Sherri pulled off The Blind Side, wresting control of the Fans tribe from the Cool Kids. This week, things have gotten Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs: Sherri Biethman May Be the Best Player on Survivor
Originally posted 02/21/2013 09:15AM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"When you're out here playing this game, your mind does crazy things."
– Amber Brkich, Survivor: All Stars
What would happen if we turned the inmates of an insane asylum loose on an island and asked them to play Survivor? In Survivor: Lunatic Island, we finally get our answer. They break down in tears. They channel their relatives – living and dead. They create elaborate fantasy worlds to cope with the extreme conditions.
The Favorites this season were cast for their erratic behavior – and they're delivering. So Brandon had a meltdown? Brandon's in a continual state of melting down. Dawn started weeping? Her code name, "True Grit," has to be ironic.
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs About Season Premiere of Survivor: Caramoan
Originally posted 02/14/2013 09:10AM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"I should've trusted my instincts from the beginning."
Francesca Hogi, Survivor: Redemption Island
Oh, Franny – no! Survivor: Caramoan premiered Wednesday night with naïve fans and vicious favorites. After an action-packed episode of alliances and counter-alliances, Francesca became the show's first-ever double-first-boot.
"I did make Survivor history," she says.
There's something wonderful about the Fans vs. Favorites concept. You have these wide-eyed baby giraffes stumbling with eager awkwardness up the Caramoan sands. Then there's this squad of MMA fighters who've turned to cannibalism.
The fans ooh and aah at their tribe flag, and fight about how to make fire. Reynold, Allie, Hope and Eddie make a cool-kids alliance and gaze at their perfect reflections in the surf. The jilted girls back at camp make an alliance. Nobody has the numbers. This would be amateur hour on a normal season.
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs: Show's Worst Players Will Make Survivor: Caramoan Great
Originally posted 02/13/2013 10:15AM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"Survivor's not meant to be a comedy routine."
– Cochran, Survivor: South Pacific
Here's a riddle for you: What do a zombie, a flip-flopper and two train wrecks have in common?
They're all part of a new cast of "favorites" on Survivor: Caramoan (Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET on CBS), the new season that matches 10 new competitors against some of the worst players in the show's history. Game on?
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs: How Denise Stapley Won Survivor
Originally posted 12/17/2012 02:30PM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"You need willpower, strength, integrity, intelligence and a little bit of luck."
– Ethan Zohn, winner, Survivor: Africa
"Everyone loves an underdog story," Malcolm said earlier this season. On Sunday night, Survivor: Philippines came down to one big question: Who was the underdog that was telling the story?
Two sets of underdogs were dog-fighting for dominance. Mike Skupin and Lisa Whelchel were tails among lions: outcast at the bottom of Tandang, the dominant tribe. Malcolm Freberg and Denise Stapley were heads among sheep: leaders of Matsing, a tribe that every week went to the slaughter.
Through great play and good luck, Denise emerged as the alpha – winning the title of Sole Survivor, the $1 million prize and the Final Fishy.
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs About Lisa Whelchel's End-Game Survivor Strategy
Originally posted 12/13/2012 11:45AM
"You're going to want to show that either you were the top villain or the top hero or the top something. You're going to want to show you had the gameplay to get you there, and you even turned on your own to get you there. That is the game."
– Rupert Boneham, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Oh, Lisa. I don't know why week to week I let you toy with my heart the way you do.
Almost every episode, Lisa announces her Survivor coming-out. She's been passive – but she's finally ready to take control of her destiny and make a big move. Tonight. Seriously. Right now.
Except it never quite comes together. The wrong person wins immunity or the right person makes a heartfelt appeal. "I could've played a great game," Lisa told her brother last week, channeling Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront.
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Stephen & Daniel Fishbach Blog: How Family Visits Change the Game of Survivor
Originally posted 12/06/2012 09:00AM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"Don't eat me."
– Daniel Fishbach, Survivor: Tocantins
How can you not get teary-eyed at the family visit? Six people who've left behind everyone they know, who've pushed themselves to the limits of their endurance, who've betrayed newfound friends – suddenly they get a dose of unconditional love. It's like a Christmas special.
We also get a brief snapshot of the oddballs behind the Survivor contestants. There's Abi-Maria's mom, who's just as challenge-impaired as her daughter. Lisa's well-groomed brother seems more like Blair Warner than does Lisa. There's Malcolm's "knucklehead" little sib. And was anybody else worried that Skupin's son was destined, by right of birth, to fall off that tree and get a very special family medevac?
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs: Abi-Maria Gomes Has 'Subtlety of a Wounded Walrus' on Survivor
Originally posted 11/29/2012 04:45PM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"You need to pick one side or the other. You can't keep flipping."
– Amanda Kimmel, Survivor: Micronesia
Hey guys – I have a secret. It's a really, really big secret. You'll never discover it. Not even if you follow me around all day. Look – just follow me a little. Please? For your sake. This secret is frickin' huge. It's going to change everything.
Okay, here's a hint. Starts I. Ends with DOL.
It's an immunity idol, alright?! And I have this secret paper here, which proves it. But I'm going to rip it up into little pieces. Because it's soooo secret.
Poor Abi. Is there anything more heartbreaking in this broken world than someone pretending that they have a secret? The dreamy Malcolm said it best on Survivor: she's like a wounded ex-girlfriend.
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Stephen Fishbach Blogs About Pete Yurkowski's Missteps on Survivor
Originally posted 11/25/2012 04:00PM
Stephen Fishbach was the runner-up on Survivor: Tocantins and has been blogging about Survivor strategy for PEOPLE.com since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @stephenfishbach.
"This is like a chess game ... You can't just think about tomorrow. You have to put yourself in a position that you can be there in 30 days. You have to think about that now. Because otherwise you won't be there."
– Jonathan Penner, Cook Islands
Pete Yurkowski was the dominant player in the dominant alliance in Survivor's most dominant tribe ever. He could just taste that oversized million-dollar novelty check. But on Thursday, instead of eating novelty check, Pete ate crow. Where did it go wrong?
Peter Panned
1. Raw skills: Pete's a model and an engineer, two professions not exactly renowned for their people skills. Like an engineer, Pete set up an elegantly structured alliance. Then, like a model, he just sat back and looked pretty.
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