Episode 6 - Impenetrable-ness...

Wednesday concerts and gorgeous March weather weekends make it hard to be prompt with the Survivor blog. Luckily Monday nights and Tuesday's at work are there to catch up and drop some Survivor Pool bloggage.

The episode started as we all expected. Shirin was bewildered by what had just happened. Other tribe mates told her straight up that she was shady with Max and it did actually seem to click with her at least a little. She attempted to mend some relationships instead of just throwing in the towel. Meanwhile, on the other tribe, Rodney and Joaquin reverted back to their high school days and bonded over a discussion about chicks and booze. This alone seemed to form the basis of a "final two, bro" plan. "Work hard. Party harder." wannabe Batman said to Joaquin (who I'm sure would argue that he should be the Batman of these two jokers).

An extremely close reward challenge had the teams launching bean bags via a slingshot at wooden targets and easily segued into several "David vs Goliath" proclamations after the Red tribe posted a narrow victory.

The Blue tribe went back to camp where Joaquin tried to convince Sierra that she was going to have to side with one of her attackers from the Blue Collar tribe. He tried to woo her to him and Rodney's side. To Sierra's credit she seemed to carefully evaluate all the possible situations, which definitely came into play later in the episode.

The question I posed from last week was quickly answered when the Blue tribe decided to throw a memory immunity challenge. What looked on TV to be a very obvious tank on Mike's part must have looked much more convincing to all in attendance and he managed to give Kelly the win... after 3 painful tries. The whole idea behind throwing the challenge was to get rid of Joe, a strong player and big potential threat come merge. Mike re-evaluated after returning to camp and seeing Rodney and Joaquin so buddy-buddy. Mike rallied Joe and Dan, and then made his argument to swing vote Sierra. He must have been convincing and/or Sierra's disgust for Rodney won out and she sent Joaquin packing. I'm assuming they sent Joaquin home instead of Rodney, because Rodney had more potential to coming back to the Blue Collar alliance than Joaquin would have.

This leaves Rodney and Tyler out in the wind, at least until the merge next week when Tyler should benefit from re-joining some other tribemates. Rodney might have to suck it up and come crawling back to the rest of his alliance hoping they can shield him from the vast amount of votes that should be headed his way. Shirin should also be very thankful to the Blue tribe for throwing the challenge as I don't see anyway that she would have survived if Red had lost that challenge as they should have.

The Teams and Points:
(Parentheses indicate order players were picked) 

AndBag: "Maximillion" - 22 points

1. [Max (2) - 3 pts] - out 3rd
2. Carolyn (7) - 11 pts
3. [Lindsey (10) - -1 pts] - out 2nd
4. Mike (15) - 9 pts

Michal & Ben: "Jennicide" - 41 points

1. Shirin (4) - 10 pts
2. Jenn (5) - 15 pts
3. [Joaquin (11) - 8 pts] out 4th
4. Dan (14) - 8 pts

Moon & Melissa: "Livin' On A Prayer" - 40 points

1. Joe (1) - 10 pts
2. Kelly (8) - 10 pts
3. Will (12) - 10 pts
4. Sierra (13) - 10 pts

Doug & Bri: "Jacked for a Reason, Bro" - 24 points

1. Tyler (3) - 10 pts
2. Hali (6) - 10 pts
3. Rodney (9) - 9 pts
4. [Nina (16) - -5 pts] out 1st

Doug's Power Rankings:

1. Livin' On A Prayer - This team looks like it could still bring in a lot of points. It all will come down to how strong post merge alliances are. I think Joe will be in a much better place with some of his no collar teammates and new potential alliance members joining together. He could win a lot of individual points too, which might have him live up to his #1 pick status. 
2. Jacked for a Reason - Rodney needs to scramble, but the merge may just save him for a little. The alliance that has most of the No Collar members need his vote. Tyler and Hali should be safe for a few more weeks as I don't think they stand out - good or bad compared to the other players. To have a chance at the pool win, at least 2 members of this team need to land in a majority alliance, and then we need some individual reward/immunity points to catch up. C'mon Tyler, use that big head of yours.   
3. Jennicide - Losing Joaquin is the only reason this team dropped to 3rd. It was a tough decision between 2 and 3. While I don't think any of their players are in immediate danger, I don't see them winning a lot of points post merge either. Dan and Shirin seem to be on the "sit out" list quite a lot, which will hurt. Can Jenn pull in enough points to keep this team near the top? The point head start to-date will certainly help. 
4. Maximillion - They have two seemingly scrappy competitors with Mike's stock still on the rise. Only two players left to make up some significant ground, though. *So you're sayin' there's a chance?*  

Douche of the Week:

Not a ton of super douchey candidates this week. I'll throw Rodney my vote for being so cocky about how he has everything planned to make it to the final and claimed to have everyone in his control.