Redemption Island: Episode 5

 I thought the most interesting part of last week's episode of Survivor was how it revealed the weaknesses of Moon's entire team. First, Boston Rob mentions that keeping Phillip around will keep the heat off of him. Second, Krista is annoying & gets voted into Redemption Island. Third, David is now very much aware that he's player #6 in his 6-player alliance. Moon may be winning the most points right now, but his position is rather precarious! 

Gotta say, while having Phillip on the tribe may keep the heat off of Boston Rob, KEEPING him on the tribe will draw a lot of heat too! I'm sure he's thought through this, but it's going to be a tricky dance to keep everyone balanced. I really hope that Stephanie and Saggy Bottom Panties both make it to the merge, because I think the two of them together could really create some fireworks!

Other than that, my only other contribution is that Purple Team is in a lot more trouble than they thought they'd be. They're ahead by 1 tribe member now, but that tribe member hates them. So really, Yellow Tribe is up 1 player at this point. Which really highlights another aspect of the bad karma that throwing a challenge will give you. Your team voted someone out, sure, but the other team also DIDN'T. It's a 2-person swing. Really, they should have figured they'd lose a challenge eventually & that's when it'd be a good time to vote Russell out. Now they're in quite the pickle! 

The Standings
 

Team #Winning!: Moon - 46 pts
1. Boston Rob (20 pts)
2. David (13 pts)
3. Krista (13 pts)

Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 43 pts
1. Grant (10 pts)
2. Rooster (23 pts)
3. Andrea (10 pts)

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 38 pts
[1. Evil Russell (10 pts)]
2. Sarita (13 pts)
3. Julie (15 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 33 pts
1. Mike (15 pts)
2. Matt (3 pts)
3. Stephanie (15 pts)

Team Saggy Bottom Panties: Me - 30 pts
1. Phillip (10 pts)
2. Ashley (10 pts)
3. Natalie (10 pts)

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 25 pts
[1. Francesca (0 pts)]
[2. Kristina (10 pts)]
3. Steve (15 pts)


Power Rankings

1. Team Cockydoodlebug - Crow away team Rooster, your team continues to dominate! Andrea is my MVP of the week because of her insightful view of the social game, and her willingness to consider an alliance with someone who's tantamount to being a leper. She's right in that she can't make plays now, but I think that she'd be open to a drastic move should the opportunity arise. My favorite part of this episode was the way they showed her body language with the other girls & then hearing them all talk about each other in their Talking Head interviews. The anthropology major in me was tickled to death!

2. Team Fabioesque - Maybe I'm just in a funny mood right now, but I'm really starting to love Team Fabioesque. They get their weekly rent of 1 point from Matt every week, and alliances are starting to be forged on the assumption that he'll return. That's the game working for you! Mike's still very strong, and Stephanie is both resourceful & crafty! Again, really hope she makes it to the merge.

3. Team #Winning! - Already discussed Moon's team at the top. I'm sad that as soon as I posted that I like David he got all bitchy about not being allowed to do a puzzle. It's not like he's even solved one yet, right? The only other puzzle challenge they've had was the challenge they threw! Stop being cocky when you've proven nothing. The same might be said of Moon, who called this a "two horse race" after only 3 episodes :).

4. Team Evil Crushell - I have concerns about Sarita. I love that she's one of the very few females to be the leader of a gender-mixed alliance. That's a hard gender stereotype to break with a group of strangers. I don't like how unilateral her decisions are. I think her reasoning was sound in choosing Stephanie to lead the challenge, but if/when a tribe loses the tribe will often turn on the leader who makes the "bad" decision. She needs to step a little more lightly to avoid becoming a sacrificial goat!

5. Team Saggy Bottom Panties - My team was sad before because of Phillip but now I've learned that my two female players also have bad personalities! I picked Ashley & Natalie because I thought that they wouldn't be those vapid girls who didn't do work & decided to hang on coattails the whole game. Turns out that's exactly who they are. Sigh. At least all 3 are still in. With their powers combined this may be the most despicable team ever!

6. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Baggins is down to Steve. A solid, but lonely player. Sadly, Steve < Saggy Bottom Panties in the Survivor Pool world... though probably not in real life.