Survivor! David vs. Goliath

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Another very entertaining episode. I don't like how they went to 3 tribes, but I think it lucked out and provided good storylines on all tribes. No tribe is totally lopsided as far as Davids vs Goliaths go. Each one is manageable for the Davids.

The idol nullifier is interesting in theory, but it's another advantage that is so difficult to know when to play correctly. You'd have to have someone who you know has the idol, is dumb enough to make it obvious, and would likely only play it on themselves or one close ally. Oh... we have Dan on this season? We shall see how this plays out... The advantage would be interesting to use inside your own alliance, too. For example, let's say Davie and Carl are close enough that Davie shares he's playing his idol on himself. Well, Carl could have a shot to take him out by nullifying his idol. Interesting dynamics, but again, hard to play correctly.

The challenges was fun. The wheelbarrow type thing with blindfolds is new and exciting. I liked the blindfolded maze, too. They done a lot with callers this season. I don't remember any other season having this many callers in a challenge. What, is this 3 already in 4 episodes?

And oh yeah, Bi. I kind of predicted she would leave the game with her injury after they showed it last week. I just thought it would have been a quick exit for her this episode, followed by a tribe swap staying in 2 tribes. Probably the best choice for her professional career, but must have been tough for her to leave. She didn't seem all that upset, though, considering the circumstances. Possibly a mix of personality and having time to process it before announcing it. Or maybe she wasn't a huge fan of the show before coming out. It also seemed like Jeff wasn't that surprised, so I'm assuming she talked to production before that moment. The way Jeff also called on her about the injury made it seem like he knew what was coming.

The Tribal Council was exciting. Alec has been dead quiet until tonight, but I thought he played that TC beautifully for what he wanted to execute. He waited until the last second to make the move, then to me it seems like he told Kara to vote for Davie as an excuse for why he whispered to Elizabeth. This reaffirmed Kara, who then reaffirmed Natalia. Davie also played this amazingly. Took the target completely off his back, and put both targets on two other people. He didn't even have to really think about using his idol, even though he should have had a 50/50 shot of going home. Kudos to him.

Overall, I think Alec made a dumb move. He could have accomplished this at camp behind the scenes and had the same outcome. Now he made a very public play and will be viewed as a big threat the rest of the time he's in the game. Too early to make these public displays. Maybe later in the merge, but not now. He's a natural threat come the merge because of his physical stature, but now he has this threat of strategy looming over him. Although, it was probably good to break up the girls alliance from the Goliaths.

Natalia clearly needs a little work on social skills, as she was such a sore loser. He's smiling because you're totally acting like a 2-year-old who didn't get the lollipop at the grocery store. The fact that she couldn't function after the blindside is kind of sad. Not a good look on national television.

As of right now, with the vast majority of the season to go, here is my power rankings for best player... not necessarily who will win, but best player:

1. Christian
2. Davie
3. Elizabeth (stunned by how good she is)
4. Nick
5. Mike
6. John
7. Angelina
8. Carl
9. Kara
10. Gabby
11. Alison (based off of practically nothing, which shows how accurate this is)
12. Alec
13. Lyrsa
14. Natalie
15. Dan

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

"Guys, the David tribe lost a member. That's such a David thing to happen. Can you believe how much the David's have to overcome?"

I really cringe at Jeff's heavy handedness in emphasizing the theme.

An unpredictable outcome, but as much as ever that is why Survivor continue to entertain. You just could not make this stuff up.

 

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First, another full evacuation! Being in Fiji every season now could mean this happens more frequently since they catch part of cyclone season. That's now two times in 5 seasons (2.5 years). It'd be interesting just to see what their conditions are like for that evac. I know they probably aren't allowed to talk to each other, but are they still separated by tribe? My guess is yes because they were still surprised when they saw Natalia was voted off.

Second, we are getting some interesting twists on challenges this season. I loved the immunity challenge. The drawbridge aspect wasn't thrilling but it was new and fun to see. I LOVED the snake maze at the end of the challenge, too. Seems super challenging.

I was honestly surprised by the vote. I didn't think Mike would flip without having Angelina on board, too. But I guess either way makes sense for him. He wasn't in with Natalie or Angelina's core group on the Goliath tribe, so why not form a stronger alliance with the Davids? I don't think the other Goliaths will be that upset with him because he wasn't with most of them. They'll still hold more resentment toward Alec because of who he betrayed, and where he was in that Goliath tribe alliance. Overall, I think it was a smart move by Mike, and I really like how he's playing. He's smart, but he's playing low key and behind the scenes.

Natalie and Angelina are just pathetic this episode. I don't really know what to say about the jacket controversy. Both of them were just children in the situation. Natalie was bad, but I'm more appalled by Angelina. Why is she entitled to other people's stuff? And I know I said I like Natalie, but this episode turned me completely off. Although, I will say she is one of the best villains we've seen in quite some time. Because she's not trying. She just is. Like Kass tried to create a persona. Natalie is naturally a villain. Much like Abi-Maria, but in a more entertaining way.

And also... an agreement/commitment before the swap means absolutely nothing. Go by the words of Tyson Apostol when he said you have to forget about your old tribe on swaps because you don't know what's happening on the new tribes. Treat your new tribe as your tribe. Make bonds and alliances with them. And then when you swap again or merge, you have them as options, but you also may still have allies from previous tribes. If not, at least you have some kind of an alliance. What you don't want to do is go into the merge without any solidified allies with your fingers crossed that your original tribal alliance is still intact. That's where Mike is smart to make this move. Making it for his current tribe, rather than past tribes.

Now my current best players (again, not based on who will win, but who is playing the best games... recency bias could play a factor because I have seen some of these players do much since last episode):

1. Christian
2. Elizabeth
3. Mike
4. Nick
5. Davie
6. John
7. Dan (he's much better without the girls)
8. Gabby
9. Carl
10. Lyrsa
11. Alec
12. Angelina
13. Kara
14. Alison (she's at the bottom because I've still seen zero gameplay from her this season)

Now that Natalie's gone, I don't feel like anybody is playing a train wreck of a game. Yes, Alec's move was strategically questionable, but at least he seems to socially be fitting in with the Davids. I felt bad putting some players so low, but it's overall a very solid 14 remaining castaways as far as quality gameplay goes.

Loving this season! I hope it can keep up past the merge without getting too gimmicky and crazy.

 

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So turns out Angelina was actually on board with voting Natalie out, but she wrote Lyrsa's name instead and acted surprised when it was Natalie going home because she was hoping to get Natalie's jacket.

 

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Natalie Interview: https://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/201...ngelina-because-she-was-thirsty-for-a-jacket/

 

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Loved that immunity challenge! While Jeff pushed as he always does, I felt like it was authentic emotion. Not producer influenced. Not like the Cirie balance beam in Game Changers.

Interesting we saw that back and forth between Gabby and Alison. Honestly, Gabby is someone who can pull on certain people's heartstrings. She doesn't mean to, but her constant need for reassurance and acceptance can get certain people drawn in. I bet that plays into something in the future, or we might not have seen it. Alison has gotten the purple edit this season, which isn't good for my female winner pick, but I like the little bit I've seen so far.

Moving forward to the vote, since I feel there weren't tons of other hot topics this episode. I was shocked by the outcome! I totally thought Mike would swing for Angelina. He talked all episode about how he can't trust her. Rule #1 in Survivor is keep people you can trust and get rid of those you can't! I think he made a move that could be fatal to his game. He's now said to the David core that he isn't willing to work with them. But he was on the bottom of the Goliaths. Perhaps he could get together with Alison and go to the Davids with Nick.

I have kind of been talking knowing the merge is coming, so I might as well get to that, too. You have to assume you're going to merge at 13, and I'm sure that was weighing on Mike's mind, too, since he didn't want to lose the Goliath numbers advantage, but one player I'm curious of is John. He hasn't had to do much strategizing, but he's been pretty good in the social game. I'm interested to see if he sticks with the Angelina group, or if he is open to working with anyone. So much muddy water at this point with so many different combinations. So that's a perfect time to bring back my Survivor power rankings!

These power rankings are not for who I think is the best, but for who I think is most likely to go home next episode. I wait until the merge because it's just to hard not knowing which tribe with go to Tribal Council. And I know I have very little to base this first merge boot off of, but it's fun to speculate. #1 is the person I think is least likely to go home, and #13 is most likely to go home. Here we go!

1. Davie
2. Carl
3. Elizabeth
4. Alison
5. Nick
6. Mike
7. Kara
8. Gabby
9. John
10. Dan
11. Alec
12. Christian
13. Angelina

PS - How funny is it that both Jeremy and Lyrsa have to go on the pre-jury vacaton with Natalie?

 

[JenniferS]

Popping in to say “hi”. I’m three episodes behind.

 

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Lyrsa Interview:
https://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/201...the-merge-and-to-not-make-it-was-devastating/

 

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Interesting immunity challenge tonight. I will say, those kind of challenges are so much more fun to watch than running through an obstacle course and finishing with a slingshot or puzzle. I'm all for more endurance challenges. My favorite challenge is the one where they hold onto a pole for as long as possible. My favorite tribe vs tribe challenge is when they hold sandbags and have to tread through water to catch up and tag the other tribe.

I'm starting to really like Alison. She hasn't gotten much air time until last episode, but I like what I see from her. I would love for the alliance of Alison, Mike, Alec, Christian, Nick, and Gabby go far. That group contains all of my favorite players. My two favorites are Alison and Mike. Christian is probably my third.

I saw a tweet from Brian Corridan of Survivor Guatemala making a perfect comparison. Angelina is RC from the Philippines, except she's even more RC and RC was. So true! I really like Brian. Even though he has only played once and was a pre-merge boot all the way back in season 11, he's still a very active member of the Survivor community.

Overall, I agreed with Angelina that Christian is the biggest target. But she is not tasteful in her delivery, and it's so obvious that she's faking it in order to manipulate others. You saw what happened when she didn't get her way. She pouted and tried to get back at them by telling Elizabeth. Gabby was very smart to have Elizabeth blow it up at Tribal Council. She knew she was still going to take Elizabeth out, but now she gets to stick with that plan, AND Elizabeth opened the fracture publicly between the Goliaths. It's obvious now that Dan and Angelina aren't getting along. It's obvious that Alison has reservations about playing with Angelina. That bodes well for the Davids, particularly Christian, Gabby, and Nick if they can hang on with their three Goliaths. I also think it bodes well for the "bottom" Goliaths, Alison, Mike, and Alec. Because if they got to 7 Goliaths you know it was likely that Angelina, Kara, Dan, and John would stick together. So a good night for the Davids + the three mentioned Goliaths. A bad night for Angelina, Dan, John, and Kara.

This cast is so good. The editing is so good. Something about tonight's edit was just so unique, and it was fascinating. I felt like I was actually there and could feel the vibe of the moment. I feel as if the producers and editors have allowed us to get to know each and every player. They are all interesting, and I feel like ANY of them could pull something off that could change the game. Each and every one of them has potential, and I LOVE that. A far cry from last season where only 3 or 4 of the merged 13 had potential to change the game. The only players I'm bored with are Carl and Davie, possibly because we saw none of Davie and only Carl before the challenge, but I still feel like they have potential to make a move.

Here are my power rankings. Remember, this is who I think will go next week... not who is the best player.

1. Kara
2. Carl
3. Alison
4. Nick
5. Mike
6. John
7. Alec
8. Gabby
9. Christian
10. Dan
11. Davie (I just have a weird feeling about this one.)
12. Angelina

 

[artvandelay]

Interesting immunity challenge tonight. I will say, those kind of challenges are so much more fun to watch than running through an obstacle course and finishing with a slingshot or puzzle. I'm all for more endurance challenges. My favorite challenge is the one where they hold onto a pole for as long as possible. My favorite tribe vs tribe challenge is when they hold sandbags and have to tread through water to catch up and tag the other tribe.

I'm starting to really like Alison. She hasn't gotten much air time until last episode, but I like what I see from her. I would love for the alliance of Alison, Mike, Alec, Christian, Nick, and Gabby go far. That group contains all of my favorite players. My two favorites are Alison and Mike. Christian is probably my third.

I saw a tweet from Brian Corridan of Survivor Guatemala making a perfect comparison. Angelina is RC from the Philippines, except she's even more RC and RC was. So true! I really like Brian. Even though he has only played once and was a pre-merge boot all the way back in season 11, he's still a very active member of the Survivor community.

Overall, I agreed with Angelina that Christian is the biggest target. But she is not tasteful in her delivery, and it's so obvious that she's faking it in order to manipulate others. You saw what happened when she didn't get her way. She pouted and tried to get back at them by telling Elizabeth. Gabby was very smart to have Elizabeth blow it up at Tribal Council. She knew she was still going to take Elizabeth out, but now she gets to stick with that plan, AND Elizabeth opened the fracture publicly between the Goliaths. It's obvious now that Dan and Angelina aren't getting along. It's obvious that Alison has reservations about playing with Angelina. That bodes well for the Davids, particularly Christian, Gabby, and Nick if they can hang on with their three Goliaths. I also think it bodes well for the "bottom" Goliaths, Alison, Mike, and Alec. Because if they got to 7 Goliaths you know it was likely that Angelina, Kara, Dan, and John would stick together. So a good night for the Davids + the three mentioned Goliaths. A bad night for Angelina, Dan, John, and Kara.

This cast is so good. The editing is so good. Something about tonight's edit was just so unique, and it was fascinating. I felt like I was actually there and could feel the vibe of the moment. I feel as if the producers and editors have allowed us to get to know each and every player. They are all interesting, and I feel like ANY of them could pull something off that could change the game. Each and every one of them has potential, and I LOVE that. A far cry from last season where only 3 or 4 of the merged 13 had potential to change the game. The only players I'm bored with are Carl and Davie, possibly because we saw none of Davie and only Carl before the challenge, but I still feel like they have potential to make a move.

Here are my power rankings. Remember, this is who I think will go next week... not who is the best player.

1. Kara
2. Carl
3. Alison
4. Nick
5. Mike
6. John
7. Alec
8. Gabby
9. Christian
10. Dan
11. Davie (I just have a weird feeling about this one.)
12. Angelina

Last week on RHAP Recap, Randy Bailey made Alison his winner pick. I was surprised by that, but he saw something in her confessional he really liked.

Great season. I liked last season, but it was pretty obvious Dom or Wendell were going to win. This season, there’s at least six people who have a chance to win.

 

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Last week on RHAP Recap, Randy Bailey made Alison his winner pick. I was surprised by that, but he saw something in her confessional he really liked.

Great season. I liked last season, but it was pretty obvious Dom or Wendell were going to win. This season, there’s at least six people who have a chance to win.

I think most have at least some shot of winning. It's probably a shorter list for those that have no shot. I think Angelina joined that list tonight. Burnt too many bridges already with her aggressive and manipulative style. She has no charm, but she thinks she does.

 

[SAV]

Elizabeth Interview:
https://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/201...-was-to-win-and-jeff-probst-got-into-my-head/

 

[SAV]

Initially, it was an easy vote to do, but then after all the fireworks it got murky. I'm kind of surprised Angelina didn't go. I don't think anyone trusts her now. I know I would have launched her just for the way she handled things and was ordering everyone to vote her way.

 

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Whoa! That was left out of the edit! A lot of times I'm totally upset when they do things like that, but every now and then I love it. This time I love it. It reminds me of when they left Amanda's idol find out of Micronesia, and she did a fantastic acting job at Tribal and then whipped it out and booted Alexis.

First, I hate that immunity challenge, but LOVED that reward challenge. Honestly, make that individual, and it's a great immunity challenge, too.

Now onto the strategy...

I really did not like what Mike did here. He is playing a nervous and old-school game. I really liked him up until this episode because he had the right ideas, but he's settling for being comfortable, even though he has very few in-roads with the Goliaths. He's much more likely to make something happen with the Strike Force than the Goliaths. He's setting up to be the guy at the end who gets no votes because he made no moves and played it safe the whole way, much like Laurel. Talks a big game, but doesn't pull the trigger. And now that it's out that he wanted Christian gone, it will be hard to get back in the Davids' good graces.

Christian was right that while he's played an incredible game, he never hid the fact that he was a target. He almost embraced the perception of a big threat. And you could clearly see that he was helpless here on his own.

I wonder how much conversation there was between Nick, Davie, and Christian. They seemed surprised when they pulled out an idol, but they all voted for John for some reason, and they must have decided not to use the vote steal as a team, or at least Nick and Davie did. Something doesn't add up as to why Nick and Christian didn't know about the idol. They almost had to know if they voted for John. Any other thoughts on this?

I really did not want Dan to use his idol on Angelina. I get why he did, especially because he now has one that only Kara knows about... everyone else thinks he just used his only one. But I hate Angelina! She is also someone I could see going all the way but getting destroyed in the final Tribal Council.

Alison had some strong edits and episodes the past couple weeks to make me believe she was a player in this game with potential to win. This episode did nothing to back that up. Going forward, I think the strongest candidate to win is Nick, at least as of tonight. He has so many alliances that remain strong. People trust him and value his relationship enough to tell him critical information (Alec), and nobody sees him as a threat. His shields are all still in the game: Christian, Gabby, Dan, and Angelina. They are all bigger targets than he is. And now with Davie's idol play, he could potentially be a bigger target going forward.

Also, how long with this coexistence between Angelina and Dan last? They both clearly hate each other, but they keep working together. I guess that's how it's supposed to be done. Vote with strategy, not with heart. But it just creates such a riff in the bigger Goliath alliance.

Here are my power rankings as to who will be voted off next week:

1. Carl
2. Alison
3. Nick
4. Gabby
5. Kara
6. Alec
7. Davie
8. Mike
9. Christian
10. Dan
11. Angelina

I think these people actually have a shot at winning should they make it to the end: Nick/Christian as the main two, Gabby/Mike as the next two, and on the very slim chance I have Alison/Davie (he was off my radar last week), and honestly Mike should be here, but I will give him another week to pull through and step up.

EDIT: You know, I'll also say Alec has an outside shot at winning. He's been better than expected, and he is kind of playing both sides and pretty well, too. He just doesn't seem to be calling any shots.

 

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Mike Bloom's tweet:

"Dan, can I have your idol?

Dan?

Dan?"



Jacketgate will forever go down in Survivor lore as one of the single greatest moments we'll ever witness.

 

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Also, I know this season has a long ways to go, but this has been a FANTASTIC season! If it stays this strong, it it easily top 5 for me. My top four are

1. Heroes vs Villains
2. Micronesia
3. Cambodia
4. Cagayan

I don't have a solid #5, but this would take the cake.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

This is a season of memorable moments.

This will go down as one of the best and smartest uses of an idol ever.

I was worried the season would be dull after Natalie left but it has been consistently interesting since day one, and that hasn't changed.

 

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#BrochachoBlindside. Totally didn't see that coming. I was thinking Re-vote then Rocks. I think John has much more personality than they showed. He's a wrestler and used to talking and acting. He didn't get much camera time and confessionals were rather weak.

I'm on-board with the Angelina dislike.

 

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#BrochachoBlindside. Totally didn't see that coming. I was thinking Re-vote then Rocks. I think John has much more personality than they showed. He's a wrestler and used to talking and acting. He didn't get much camera time and confessionals were rather weak.

I'm on-board with the Angelina dislike.

I thought revote, but then I looked at the time and knew there had to be some rogue vote. With 5 minutes to go in the show they started reading the votes.

 

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Once again, great episode! Although had the roles been reversed and this would have happened to the Davids, it would have seemed awful and unfair. Just depends on who it affects.

First, I though it was hilarious how the two teams were treating that combination in the reward challenge. Totally like an elementary school phy ed class. Cheating by looking at each others, then shouting out numbers to mess each other up.

I didn't care for the immunity challenge this time. It was kind of boring.

I am trying to understand this vote and these advantages. I totally get the steal-a-vote play. The nullifier, though, I question. Did they need to use that? Or could they have just anticipated Dan played an idol for himself, then vote for someone else like Kara? The way it played out and the actual votes that were cast lead me to believe that Alec, Alison, and Kara were on board with flipping, and the Davids knew it. They knew only Dan, Angelina, and Mike would have votes for Christian, so they threw a couple votes to Angelina as insurance, they didn't want to take out Mike as he's an easy vote later on, and they want Dan out now. The edit looked like Alec, Alison, and Kara only flipped because they saw Nick steal a vote, which I don't know if that's truly accurate. And the reason they stole Alison's vote is to take the scent off of Dan, and the nullifier was just an insurance policy in case Dan played it on himself. So many moving pieces here, and I don't know if what I typed is understandable... I was trying to play out the scenario in my head.

One thing, though... the Davids are smarter and shiftier than the Goliaths. I know they have tons of advantages, but they are using each one wisely and at perfect times. And they are withholding information until it is necessary to reveal to others. If they would have revealed it sooner, I doubt these scenarios would be possible.

Going forward I have no idea what will happen. I think the David vs Goliath is gone. The Davids have worked well together for a few votes since Elizabeth, and I would love to see them work together, but I don't think that's going to happen. I see a very fluid game moving forward. Really everyone has opened bridges to everyone except Angelina and Mike. Mike burnt the bridges he had, and Angelina never built them with the Davids. Those two have no allies anymore.

My power rankings for next week:

1. Davie
2. Nick
3. Christian (because if he's in trouble, I think he's smart enough to know when to play it)
4. Gabby
5. Kara
6. Alec
7. Alison
8. Carl
9. Mike
10. Angelina