And now the show itself!
They dove straight into the middle-of-the-night Probst visit, so no built-up suspense or drama there. It really is a terrible way to leave the show, but there obviously was no other choice about it. I'm glad that they ended the episode with a "Terry's son is doing okay!" clip at least.
Next they switched up the tribes again - hurray! It'd be nice to see them stuck with this new dynamic for a couple of weeks, but I guess it will be short-lived with a merge on the horizon. Important lesson to all future Survivor contestants: if Probst ever asks how your team dynamic is, don't say that it's awesome! He will totally screw you over by switching up the tribes, just to be mean about it.
The reward challenge was uninteresting & seemed like an obvious attempt by the producers to get everyone all oiled up at an ideal time in their current weight loss program -- they're not yet emaciated, but they've lost most of their baby fat.
The scheming after the challenge was much more interesting. I loved that Ciera put her foot down about being the decoy -- there are not enough contestants who take something like that seriously! I mean really, the conversation of "we're going to tell him it's you just in case he has an idol" should be met with far more alarm than it usually is. I'm not sure that Kass made the right decision in teaming up with Ciera, Abi-Maria & Spencer... what a volitile group! However, as a fan I'm much happier having Spencer in the game over Woo.
Then we got to watch Stephen try to get his tribe to make the right decision in voting out Joe before the merge... and then have an embarrassingly emotional moment afterwards when his plan is rejected. I get why Jeremy doesn't want to vote Joe out yet, but at the same time he needs to trust in his consigliere & the alliance that he currently has. He's got a good thing going for him, he shouldn't risk it by assuming that all the brawny folks are all at the top of the chopping block if one of them goes.
At the same time, Woo - another physical threat in this game - got the boot. I don't think he was a threat at all, but Ciera wanted to target someone else & Abi-Maria was chomping at the bit to take her Brazilian vengeance out on him, so out he goes. Which got me reflecting on the fact that the Survivor contestants often do a lot of collateral damage to each other. Ciera's mad at Savage, so she takes it out on... Woo. This is pretty standard fare for the show. Makes you realize how dangerous politics are in the real world too!
The Score:
Michal & Ben - Contrarian Ninja Stack: 92 points
- Tasha (19 pts)
- Kelley (17 pts)
- Stephen (17 pts)
- Kimmi (18 pts)
- Kass (21 pts)
Doug & Bri - Survivor MacGyver: 54 points
- Spencer (7 pts)
- Joe (23 pts)
- [Shirin (-4 pts)]
- [Terry (9 pts)]
- Ciera (19 pts)
Bagdrea - Ghost Coaster: 48 points
- Jeremy (22 pts)
- [Jeff (0 pts)]
- [Monica (12 pts)]
- Kelly (6 pts)
- Abi-Maria (8 pts)
MoonBee - Woofully Inadequate: 41 points
- [Vytas (-5 pts)]
- [Woo (8 pts)]
- Keith (23 pts)
- Savage (18 pts)
- [Peih Gee (-3 pts)]
Power Rankings:
1. Contrarian Ninja Stack: Our entire stable has made it to the merge, which is fairly remarkable. Considering how many players are left, I suspect that making the merge does not equal making the jury (which is when the positive points come into play) but we'll have to wait & see. With the upcoming merge, Chaos Kass rearing her head again, and Stephen getting overly emotional about strategy I'm not willing to say that anyone on this team is safe at the moment. However, we have a very comfortable lead, a 2 player advantage over everyone else, an immunity idol, and alliances all over the place so the outlook is quite positive for the contrarians.
2. Survivor MacGyver: Spencer & Joe both made the merge! By the skin of their teeth, to be sure, but it's game on now! Spencer could find his lack of strong alliances to be an advantage now & become a crucial swing vote. Joe I'm still fairly unimpressed by. He lacks the subtlety needed to be a good social gamer & strategist. We'll see how much his physical advantage will help him coming up, though, and his 5 person alliance is still probably the strongest one in the game. Ciera finally got a bit of air time, which was a nice change of pace for MacGyver as well. Losing Terry was devastating though. They were in line to enter the merge with 4 contestants, which is a really good spot. And Terry would have been out of the doghouse with the tribal switch & impending merge.
3. Ghost Coaster: I did not expect Kelly or Abi-Maria to make the merge, so kudos to the Coaster on that. It'll be interesting to see where they end up falling in the post-merge alliance world. Will Tasha try to bring Abi back into the fold, even though she just voted out Woo? Who on earth will Kelly ally herself with?
4. Woofully Inadequate: MoonBee is down to 2 players. Savage is getting good air time & Keith is actually tied with Joe as the biggest point-earner in the game so far. Still, having just 2 players left in this game will be a deficit that's extremely difficult to overcome.
Potential Alliances Post-Merge:
Here's a list of the 9 original Bayon who are still in the game: Jeremy, Joe, Ciera, Fishbach, Tasha, Kimmi, Kass, Keith, and Savage. That leaves Spencer, Abi-Maria, Kelley, and Kelly as the odd ducks out. HOWEVER, there is also the 5-strong Ta Keo (part deux) alliance of Joe, Kelley, Keith, Kass & Ciera.
That would seemingly put Spencer, Abi-Maria, and Kelly on the chopping block. Kelly I can see going pretty quickly... she doesn't have any real alliance and no one really wants to protect her. But Abi-Maria & Spencer both have some ties & short-term alliances that could result in them getting some protection from a potential original Bayon blitzkrieg.
At the same time, the idea of targeting the "golden boy" that is Joe is something that should go viral. If we've learned anything from this season it's that alliances can change as quickly as the weather, and I don't see an original Bayon alliance actually lasting for that long.
My hunch is that the 5-strong alliance will show their hand too early & it will result in a split between them, the Jeremy/Kimmi/Stephen alliance (who will likely bring in Savage & Tasha), leaving folks like Spencer & Abi-Maria playing the role of swing vote. If this is the case, would Spencer stick with his frienemy Kass, or go back to Jeremy, who potentially would be allied with Savage, a guy he's not currently a big fan of? I can see Abi sticking by Tasha, but she also could easily be lured away by anyone else who strokes her ego & gives her what she wants...
Douche of the Week:
Jeremy for eating the pig brain on the way out of the immunity challenge. As Ben notes, if he really wanted the protein, he would have taken the whole thing with him. As it is, he just wanted to show off what a tough guy he was.