Topic: S31: Spencer Bledsoe (Takeo)

[mmmpshow]

Following Episode 8: Spencer still does not impress me because he appears to be employing the Sandra Diaz-Twine strategy of simply being an extra vote for a majority alliance. If he reaches the final three (assuming it is not two or four), he will not impress any of these veteran players with this strategy. If he follows Ciera's advice to consider the end game, then his best move would be to turn the tables on Joe and Keith, who he only recently joined at camp. However, he probably would not feel as protected by Ciera and Kelley Wentworth as he currently does by the larger group led by Joe, Tasha, and Jeremy. At the same time, he did get chummy with Wentworth during the previous episode, and perhaps he will reconnect with her if there is further dissention among factions favoring Joe and factions favoring Stephen Fishbach.

[mmmpshow]

Following Episode 9: Spencer made the wise move to side with Stephen Fishbach, Jeremy, Ciera, Kelley Wentworth, and Ab-Maria in voting out Kelly Wiglesworth. He and Wiglesworth had played a similar game of building relationships with past opponents, except Wiglesworth probably would have received much greater favor than him if the two were among the finalists, since Spencer's previous reputation of being a schemer would have been counted against him. Of course, this vote seems to further solidify that point, even though it was driven by Fishbach. Regardless, Spencer creates a better opportunity to goes further in this game with this move rather than staying with the old Bayon alliance of Joe, Keith, Tasha, and Kimmi, who certainly would have targeted him and Wiglesworth for elimination before Jeremy and Fishbach. It would appear that he should stay with this voting block going forward, since he is probably the second most likeable of the six after Jeremy.

[mmmpshow]

Following Episodes 10, 11, and 12: Spencer has shown a lot of growth from the early stages of the game and from his previous season. His building of personal relationships has proven to be invaluable. He has navigated through being on weaker tribes and in bottom positions within them during the first half of the game and outside of core alliances following the merge. He has quietly shown loyalty to nearly all remaining jurors and potential jurors by siding with them at one point or another to aid in making moves, yet he could not be pegged as a ringleader for any specific elimination. If he reaches the final vote and makes his case to the jury, he will have to be persuasive in explaining how he did not simply cast "add-on" votes, rather he was instrumental in deliberating and ultimately deciding to change the tide of the game. He could easily say that about three of the four most recent eliminations (Kelly Wiglesworth, Stephen, Joe).

[Hysha]

I hate you Spencer. I hope you don't make it to the F3. :/

[mmmpshow]

Following Episode 13: Spencer has been the star of the second half of this season, particularly for being the proverbial "swing vote" in four of the past five eliminations. (The only one where he was not that was when Jeremy played his idol to protect Stephen.) Yet his latest strategy of rewarding power players by keeping them around and eliminating the so-called "goats" is flawed. As much as Spencer might be able to argue his pivotal position through the merged tribe portion of the game, he cannot make nearly the same argument for loyalty as Jeremy and Tasha can. No matter how much he will make his analytical arguments to the jury, personal feelings will still be involved. In that light, Spencer was loyal to members of the jury for no more than one vote in a row. He sided with the faction of Kass, Ciera, Abi-Maria, and (potential juror) Kelley Wentworth to spare them at times, but by the next vote, he had jumped ship against them. He never appeared to want to work with Kelly Wiglesworth. He has no shot of receiving Stephen and (potential juror) Kimmi's vote if Jeremy or Tasha are his opponents. Andrew Savage might admire Spencer both as a young man and as a player, but his old-school mentality might side with Jeremy and certainly Tasha, with whom he had spent the most time on the island. Joe might even feel a little betrayed that Spencer did not fight harder for him, especially if his stated argument was to reward the power players. As much as Spencer wants to be credited for his powerful play and for knocking off the proverbially weaker opponents as a sign of loyalty, his potential opponent in Jeremy can make the same case and also demonstrate a far greater degree of loyalty (none more so than saving Stephen). Spencer's only chance to win is if Jeremy is eliminated and he was not responsible for it (i.e. Wentworth's idol).

[mmmpshow]

Following Season Finale: As explained in previous posts, Spencer has been fighting an uphill battle and showing steady improvement personally and in having a greater impact in the game. At the same time, his decision to be loyal to Jeremy while believing he could make a winning case against him at the final tribal council was deeply flawed. Even if he would have lost Jeremy, Tasha, and Kimmi's respect by eliminating them and taking Keith and Kelley Wentworth (or Abi-Maria) to a final three, he would have won the respect of many more jurors who would have seen him make the last bold move in a series of bold moves that propelled him to the late stages of the game. For the most part, his responses to the jury's questions were on point and revealed his growth both personally and within the confines of the game, yet nothing he could have said would have created a more favorable perception than the one Jeremy created.

[Ryan]

Spencer had such a great first half of the season - then the last four episodes, he really got cocky again, and going to the end with Jeremy wasn't the right idea.

Shame he dropped so far in many folks' survivor books.

[Hysha]

Apparently, Spencer has unfollowed Kelley Wentworth on twitter for unknown reason. Shame on you Spencer. You're so bitter. She did nothing to bother you. lol I liked you on Cagayan, but the last episodes of Cambodia...

[gamerfan09]

Apparently, Spencer has unfollowed Kelley Wentworth on twitter for unknown reason. Shame on you Spencer. You're so bitter. She did nothing to bother you. lol I liked you on Cagayan, but the last episodes of Cambodia...

Me AF in regards to Spencer/Tasha/Jeremy tbh (imaging SJDS in place of Cagayan for Jeremy)

I liked all three in their first outings but Cambodia.... ugh they are ruined FOREVER for me.

[Hysha]

I don't get why people wanted him to win. I mean, if you go to fb, people is just: "I wanted Spencer to win!", "He's the only one that deserved to win!", blah blah. Ok, he won IC, and he was on the bottom, but once he aligned with Jeremy, he was a goat until the finale. And then, he turns to a bully to try to win. They (all three finalists) deserved the win on their first seasons, not here. (Well, I prefered Tasha and Spencer over Tony, but not Jeremy over Natalie. <3)

[Bookworm]

I wasn't rooting for Spencer, but he did play a good game, albeit he and the rest of his alliance got a bit arrogant. I do feel bad that Survivor has been ruined for him, though.

[ZouLy]

I must admit that in first, I thought Spencer will be sitting in the same player's row alongside Cochran and Fishbach as one of those brainly-intelligent player... but oh well... 

[gamerfan09]

If only Shirin survived Episode Two and Spencer went then we wouldn't have had to put up with him 999999x every episode. *sighs*

Liked him in Cagayan, was great here, but REALLY got unbearable starting the Joe boot episode. *sighs deeply*

[Marionete]

He didn't get unbearable, the edit did.
Anyway, he has grown a lot irl because of the show, so I'm happy for Spenc.