Flint, Family or Foe

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The beginning of the episode starts us learning the players in this survivor season, who they are and their motivation for being on survivor. It was great to watch them have their first task being that they had to use a flint to make fire with their loved one. Some of the groups could not even start a fire, so it will be great to see how they will survive the rest of the season after being separated from their family members. With their loved one they went all of the group development stages on the island when they got there and the first thing they had to do was make fire.

Once the groups were divided into the blue and orange groups, the Tuckman group development stages began to take place. The forming stage was the most prevalent in this episode because they had been just divided and the first challenge had just taken place. the forming stage was great in the hunahphu tribe when Jeremy won the challenge for them. They all bonded with their group goal of being one step closer to winning and he was able to winner them food which is a plus. Some of the personal goals were taking place in this episode because some of the people wanted to prove to themselves and their tribes that they belonged and could help.

During the second challenge for immunity that involved the whole tribes they both showed achievement norms. On the blue team John stood out by helping people with his body on tribal challenge and did everything he could. Achievement norms means that members will put all their time, energy etc for the best interest of the group. With him doing that them that allowed the blue team to be energized and win the challenge. No one in the tribe argued with the way the puzzle was being solved and just went with it. We will see if they continue to remain on top.

Suck it up and Survive-Or?

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In the first episode of survivor, suck it up and survive, many text concepts are illustrated.  There are clearly group goals in the sense that both teams have to compete in the group activity, even initially as Jeremy and Val compete against one another they have the interest of their team to place first. They put aside their personal interest of caring for their spouse to provide beans and fire for their tribe. Another example is the race where they work as a team to complete the obstacle course and puzzle. The prize being immunity, both teams have their eyes on the prize. Aside from the group goals there is a clear Balancing between group goals and Hidden Agendas. While the team members are focused on the group goal, they are also concerned about proving their self-worth and deciding on personal strategies to keep themselves from being voted off the island. Val illustrates this by holding onto her immunity idol; this is a tool to further her personal agenda of staying on the team. Whether she belongs on the team for the better of the team is yet to be decided but she personally will stop at nothing to do everything she can to prevent being voted off even if she is not stronger than other tribe members. I believe that ultimately there will have to be a balance between individual goals and group goals. As this takes place individual tribe member hidden agendas will surface and only individual goals that further the group goal will begin to be rewarded. Of course there is still room for error in this as the tribes are still forming storming and Norming. There is still opportunity for strong bonds between tribe members to cause for inadequately performing team members to stay because of personal dislike as in the case of Nadia being voted off. It seemed due to what appears to be primary tension among the tribe and the fact that the tribe just didn’t like her. I don’t think it was due to her inability to perform for the tribe.

Survivor Week 1

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The first two weeks of survivor clearly demonstrated how important the process of group development was. The first two proponents of group development were front and center. The forming stage and the primary tension stage are what led to the first two contestants getting voted off of the show. The first contestant Nadiya was voted out because of primary tension.  The other tribe members were uneasy with her because of her previous actions on a different show. The other members did not trust her and you can see that there was not much disclosure with her. There was a lot of short, small talk when she was around. The group as a whole were all being very polite to each other but Nadiya could never advance past the primary tension stage with the group.

The second tribe member that was voted out was Val.  Val ran into a problem because she did not get time to form bonds with the rest of the tribe during the forming stage of group development. Val missed the vital first few days of tribe bonding. Her lacking prescience early on led to the rest of the tribe bonding without her and that left Val as the odd person out. The rest of the tribe was well into the group development process while Val was still attemtpting to get past stage one.

Episode #2 Survivor

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The second episode of survivor revealed the needs of the tribe members. Josh showed a need for inclusion in his tribe  Coyopa when he took both sides in elimination.  In the end Josh did what he thought came more to his convenience when it came to eliminated someone in his group. Josh put up Baylor for elimination acting like it was all part of his plan to make the guys think he agreed with them.  In my opinion Josh had a hidden agenda to eliminate Baylor. Josh also seemed dishonest in this episode.

      Val and Baylor showed the need for control when they where deciding to vote Dale out because he came off to them as weak to their tribe. A personal member in the Hunahpu tribe is Natalie because she doesn’t show feeling towards the guys in her group Natalie she is self motivated. In the Coyopa tribe Jeremy is a overpersonal member when he builds a relationship with everyone in his group and acts like he takes a personal interest in him. Jeremy is really friendly with his group and finds ways to make things go his way.

In the Hanahpu tribe John plays a self-centered role by being selfish in finding idols first instead of figuring out with his tribe why they are not winning the challenges. Lastly, Val came off as very assertive when she put Baylor on the spot by revealing to everyone what Baylor’s plans were which Made everyone question who she was loyal to. Val was trying to cover her self by saying the truth and to probably have lesser chances of being eliminated. This episode had the groups competing harder to get saved from the isolated island.

Survivor #2 Method to this Madness

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In the second episode of survivor It seemed to me that the dynamics of both teams were very different. With Hunahpu still on an undefeated winning streak and Coyopa not advancing in the competition Coyopa’s members were very frustrated with always worrying about whose going to be the next one to get voted off the island. In this episode I thought that josh displayed inclusion needs because his whole plan was to be on both sides of his tribe. He wanted to be liked by both the girls and the guys. Which in my opinion is a really smart move because if your liked by everyone then your chances of getting votes in elimination are very slim.

The need for control came in the competition when kelly, Val, and Baylor were discussing who to vote off the island next. They all agreed on Dale but Baylor deciding to go rouge didn’t choose to follow because she wanted to do what was best for her or what came to her connivence. Unlike Coyopa, Hunahpu’s member Jeremy is a very overpersonal member of the tribe. Jeremy is an overpersonal member because  he is very friendly and tries to create a close relationship with everyone of his group members. The total opposite of Jeremy would be John from Coyopa because he plays the self-centered role by only thinking about securing himself by finding the idol to have better chance in staying longer in the game.

At the end of the episode when the Coyopa tribe found themselves in elimination once again I thought Val and Kelly were showing their assertiveness when they were trash talking with Baylor.  When the two members were verbally attacking Baylor I thought it showed how passive Baylor was because all she could say was “wow”.   This episode revealed a lot more drama then the first episode and it made me want to know what will happen next.

 

 

Blood Vs. Water Episode 2

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In this Survivor episode we see cooperation within groups rising for the Adults or the Blue team while the Yellow team with the teens and few adults are breaking. The method used in the teen is teen mentality. Use your head on who was the worst by standard and vote them out. Adults are doing fine because they understand and respect each other by default on how each person is and even if they lose they know it was not because on purpose but they lacked potential to a certain challenge. The teens however focus on who is best at challenge and who is “skeptical”, “sketchy” and try to compromise who votes out. The Blue team is winning because they put their hardest even when emotions come and sway their way from focusing.

At the end of the episode John votes Val. out because he lost her trust but promises made were also broken by this action. It also makes a statement to this team that they only are using by who is best and worst not who is efficient and cooperative in the game.

Though it was as expected from the previous episode Val only had one so there is no way to have two but the teens took those words and pined it against Val.

In comparison to Chapter 3 of the text I saw one big thing play out more than then the rest. That was Team or Member Assertiveness. Like stated before Val lies to John and John takes that as an offense and votes Val out. It makes Val playing as a risk taker and trying to make it so she can survive but it also gives John the notion that he does not want to waste his mini idol for Val and keeps it for himself.

But earlier you can clearly see that the group needs  were met. Members Confidence drops when Hunapu fails to win yet another match and for member roles each member of the group now associates with a certain role. For example Josh thinks of himself as the balance, a mediator, for his male and female team members.

But again the biggest thing that I believe that will play out till the next episode is John take this assertiveness to another level.

Survivor Post 1

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I wasn’t much for survivor prior to this class. I even had an old classmate on a prior season who got in fourth place and guess what? I still didn’t watch it. Shamelessly though, after this season’s first episode, I already found myself craving the next. Jaimie Hoffman, you got me hooked.

I love the core concept of this specific season: blood versus water. Watching loved ones compete against each other could not make it any better; I love a good competition so if a loved one wants to battle it out, bring it on!

Even after the first two episodes, I still cannot pronounce either tribe names or name a favorite. I’m still getting to know everyone just like they are. Though I will comment how the Coyopa has a lot of growing to do as a group in comparison to the Hunaphu who seems to have synchronous communication down.

Granted they work as teams throughout the challenges, the competitors easily remind us that in the end, only one wins the one million dollars. No matter how well they seem to work with each other, you can tell which players already have that mindset that it is ultimately them against everyone.

Survivor entry #1 suck it up and survive

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        The first episode of survivor took place at San Juan Del Sur and immediately the contestants were placed into two groups blood vs. water. The first challenge  was with the couple Jeremy Collins and Val Collins and although both are in highly trained professions Jeremy comes out victorious in the end. After Jeremy sends his wife to the isolated island for two days he was looked at as a strong asset for his tribe Hunahpuh.  shortly after Jeremy was talking about himself as if he was already named the tribe leader by saying  “everyone wants to talk and be cool with the prom king.”

         It was clear that after Hunahpuh’s first victory both sides of contestants were already planning on sides to take. Whether it be with the boys or girls. It was here that the tribe was showing signs of the forming stage because everyone was being nice to each other but just to see who was trust worthy and a good asset for later on in the competition. Unlike Hunahpuh, Coyopa had lost both challenges in the first episode so when it came to having to decide who they were going to vote out first their was a lot of primary tension within Coyopa. They hardly had any time to create a good group bond like Hunahpuh had done because they had lost every challenge so far. So when it came down to eliminating someone it seemed to me like they voted Nadiya out not based on her performance or what she had done wrong but just on the fact that she was on “Amazing Race.”  It was assumed throughout the group that she was untrustworthy due to the primary tension they had within the group.

Another thing I saw a lot of in each tribe was conformity because in both tribes their was one if not more contestants conforming to another in order to create an alliance with someone to help themselves out. For example, in Coyopa I think that the girls only join in with each other just so the rest wont think they have a hidden agenda and  criticize them. In my opinion I thought Jaclyn didn’t really have much to say and just conformed because all the other girls were doing it and she is a follower in my opinion. This was my first time ever watching survivor and it was very entertaining to watch.

Survivor blog 02

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And so it begins. It was blood against blood. They begin with cutting ties between friends and family. Two tribes were formed, the Hunahpu tribe known as the Blue tribe, and the Coyopa tribe known as the orange tribe. You begin to see once formed the forming of the groups with how they start to establishing goals and being a motivation and relating to one another to come together and be able to win.

We further then begin to see how first being set into a group of strangers can normally be awkward at first and scary, but then we see how in the blue tribe we begin to see unity and with that people in a way see him as a leader, someone to respect. Jeremy gained a lot of trust and formed relationships with his members showing that he cared. A lot of teamwork was shown making them a strong tribe. This will benefit them in future challenges having that established to be successful, and everyone contributing. Meanwhile this was going good, the other tribe, the Orange tribe was not having the best of time and were having their issues. This is there story.

The Coyopa tribe were in complete mess. They became divided and seemed as if building alliances within the group. When the voting came down to play we saw two different view the being either eliminating the oldest member or who the men thought was untrustworthy and shown to think she was a hidden agenda. Because of these strong feelings Nadia was sent home.

And so it begins…

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In the first episode of Survivor a lot happened. Not only were the new cast members divided up among their loved ones and forced to compete against one another, but they started to form alliances. In this competition it is crucial to form some type of alliances in order to have a successful strategy. Who they chose to communicate and work together with may be the key to being the ultimate survivor.

This episode conveys a major relation to group development. Although the formation of the cast’s groups were chosen at random, the real group development begins within each team. As they all try to identify each members strengths and weaknesses they start to decide who they will and will not trust. The first challenge is accepted by firefighter named Jeremy, who is set up to go against his wife-Val.  The challenge consists of various obstacles in a race to be the first to finish. Jeremy finishes first which results in Val being sent off with another one of Jermey’s team members-Keith, to exile island. This is crucial because the first few days is when each team is getting to know one another and begin to form relationships. During this forming stage all members explore their personal and group goals, this is most likely a strategy used in order to gain personal success. So, with Val and Keith on exile island they are unable to start getting to know their group members and puts them at a disadvantage.

Being the first day on the island the primary tension between the new members is broken up as they become acquainted. So far everyone has been fairly nice, and polite but as the show goes on I would imagine there will be more drama and true colors will begin to show, and that is when things will really start to get interesting.  All coming into their teams as newcomers each member has anticipations and expectations of what each person should bring to the table. On one team the oldest member-Dale -55, must prove his worth to his team. He does this by essentially sacrificing his reading glasses to create fire through the magnification. The team is impressed but still categorize Dale as a weakness who will only physically slow them down.

Each group starts to form their goals which is mainly to win the challenges and prove to one another they are an asset to their team but not a threat to individual goals of winning over all. Of course everyone wants to win, but the impressions that are made are ones that can make or break them, being that their fate is essentially in their competitors hands. The groups norms or rules are established and right now seem to be being followed. I believe as the show continues more group norms will be broken and begin to create tension. I think whats being expected of one another is trust in sticking together within the groups they have formed. By this I mean when they have chosen who they want to confide in and work together to rule the majority of the vote as a strategy to pick off other group members one by one, then they will have a sense of trust in the allies they form. Although at some point the breaking of this trust is inevitable. Conforming to similar mindsets and attitudes will distinguish who members will align with. Those members who chose nonconformity may result in being excluded from their team, leaving them more vulnerable to being voted off.

Lastly the group motivation as well as individually is provided through the hope of winning the money by being the last man standing. Motivation may be represented within the groups as individuals gain a sense of meaningfulness to their team. As the show progresses and teams begin to advance their progress may also be a means of motivation. While each challenge is a step closer they may only become more and more motivated to win. But as the groups and allies begin to be broken up they may be faced with other challenges, only time will tell who has what it takes.