Survivor (TV series)/Headscratchers


 * What happened to the Russell Factor? It looks like after Nicaragua, people have been pulling idols out of nowhere with no clues in the first week. We finally got to see a clue, and it's the same poem. What happened to those visual cues? Did they ever state whether or not they thought the visual cues were too abstract or too much of a giveaway?


 * The "Purple Rock". why do they do this, still?
 * It's used to discourage tie votes and to give an incentive to players to pick sides. Tie votes used to be broken by past votes(meaning, of the people who are tied, had the most votes cast against them in previous rounds) happened one apiece during the first two seasons, but with alarming frequency in the third season, Africa. For whatever reason, the producers didn't like that.


 * In those seasons with returnees mixed with "favourites"...why in the hell do these people who're long-time fans of the show not vote these guys out ASAP? Haven't they seen Fans vs. Favourites, where even the returnees admitted that returnees have an unfair advantage when it comes to those kinds of seasons? I dunno about you, but if I got onto a season and saw two returnees coming off the plane to join us, I'd get that person out as soon as possible...or suspect that everyone's going to get too starstruck to


 * Since they seem to be invoking Reality Show Genre Blindness, has anyone ever tried to be someone who'll be so epically stupid they'll hand the season's designated "carry" the million? Other than Fabio?