I know a lot of my Survivor fan friends have been waiting a while for this. Normally I recap the entire episode and talk about little things that could become big things. Well, with this past Tribal Council, I think I will just talk mainly about the outcome and what I thought about the big move.
First of all, we knew a big move was coming. Jeff Probst and Survivor were marketing this as one of the craziest Tribal Councils they had ever seen. Cochran tweeted something about how crazy it was going to be. I like crazy Tribal Councils, but I don't like it when they tell us when crazy stuff is coming. Then we are more suspecting of something happening, and it isn't as surprising, and the surprise adds to the excitement. Once Stealth R Us started saying "we're gonna split the vote between Reynold and Malcolm, and Reynold will likely be going home tonight", I suspected that Reynold was going to win Immunity. That's something that happens too often on the show. Often when they say "unless this happens", it's going to happen. Things became even more revealing after Reynold won Immunity and at the commercial break they showed the vote for the Sprint Player of the Week. The three options were Reynold, Eddie and Malcolm. No one from Stealth R Us was nominated? You had a feeling something bad was coming for them.
That's something that has also always annoyed me. Why can't they give us the options for the Player of the Week after the vote happens? Or at least let us vote for anyone? Giving the three options before we see the last second strategizing before Tribal Council simply isn't logical. But that wasn't the only thing that annoyed me in this episode.
Something happened in this episode that I don't think production has ever done before. In Survivor: Guatemala, they introduced the Hidden Immunity Idol. Over the years the rules have changed for the idol. Eventually it became a certainty that there was won idol hidden at each tribe's beach and then after the merge if both idols are played, they will hide another one. Reynold used his idol at the last Tribal Council and it was a mystery to everyone in the game if anyone had another one, which we all know as viewers that Malcolm is in possession of. Everyone decides to start looking for it again and Malcolm finds it. I was upset because this is something we haven't seen on the show, production has basically made this a rule but they broke it in order for better entertainment. Another problem I've had is how easy it now is to find an idol. Anyway, Malcolm now has two idols and Reynold has Immunity. The two of them have now combined for a total of finding all four idols that have been hidden on this season.
The question entering Tribal Council is whether or not Malcolm uses both his idols this night to protect him and Eddie, or does he just use one to be able to keep him safe in the next episode. As you all know by now, he played both and told everyone before the vote. Whether or not this was a good move will be based upon results. However, I think they could have done more with this.
While they didn't have a lot of time before Tribal Council to plan things out, I think they could have used these idols to make a bigger move. Once they showed that they both had Immunity, I think they made a mistake by telling everyone they were voting for Phillip. It appears that the goal of playing both idols was to protect themselves and make Stealth R Us turn on one another. If they had said, "we will be putting our three votes on one of you", everyone would have been more paranoid. For example Andrea might have then been scrambling because she was targeted at the last Tribal. I think this creates more havoc and in that case they might be able to keep one of the idols, if not both of them.
Another thing they could have said is "our votes are up for grabs, we'll vote how you want us to vote." This could have created more drama too. While the move was fun and great for television, I'm not sure if it was the right move for Malcolm. He's a good challenge competitor and if he had saved an idol to use later he could have hung around long enough to the time where someone needs a vote and he could have snuck his way into the Final Four.
Was Phillip the right target? I'm not sure. Again, only time will tell. Phillip put together this entire alliance and I think people underestimate him as a player. Phillip gets way too much hate. I think one of the strong suits of his game is getting in people's heads and causing them to make dumber moves, like Corinne. I think he did a good job of keeping the group together, however I'm not sure if he is the biggest threat. I think that Cochran and Andrea were and are the people at the top right now. I think the two of them have been playing the best games, and if you're sitting next to either of them at the end, you won't win. Dawn has also done a good job of keeping the alliance together.
Something I do fear for Stealth R Us is that Erik might have already flipped to other team. He voted against Phillip, and Phillip said in an exit interview that he saw Erik talking to them on the beach and he was worried about him. I could also see Sherri jumping ship because Phillip was the one who was closest with her in the alliance and with Phillip gone, she could be swayed over to the other alliance.
Logically, I don't think it would be the right move for anyone to jump over to the other alliance. Those three guys are very strong and will dominate challenges. If you go to the final five with them, you most likely aren't winning Immunity. The three of them are also very tight with each other and I just can't see any of the bros letting someone else into their final three. I think it would be a better idea to wait things out with Stealth R Us and see what happens. If Erik or Sherri feel that they are on the bottom, why don't they wait until they get until there are seven left and then make their move? They can pick up whichever bro is left and find someone else who is on the bottom. Then they would be in control of the alliance. If these guys can turn it around and get to the end, they could be threats in the end game because I think people respect underdogs when they're voting at final Tribal, and they would have turned on their alliance early, losing them votes. If Erik goes to the final six with his fellow Favorites and Sherri, he could go on an Immunity run and keep himself safe, something that would be a lot harder for him to do if he's at the end of the game with the other three guys. I just don't think it would be smart for anyone to flip now.
As for the Favorites in this episode, I think they made the right decision by sticking to the plan. You can't allow them to keep any of their idols, and there was always a shot one of them wouldn't play it and then the plan could work. But they were really in a no-win situation. The only person you could say made a bad call was Phillip, because he knew he was getting votes. But Phillip chose to sacrifice himself for the betterment of his alliance, which is honorable. And what else could Phillip have then done, voted Sherri? Let's say he tells everyone to vote Sherri. Then Malcolm can give her the idol and bring her over to their side. They were just put in a no-win situation, thanks to production for replanting another idol when they shouldn't have. Hopefully this isn't the last we see of The Specialist on Survivor.
There is a possibility that this was a spite move. Malcolm could know that he doesn't have much of a shot of winning the game and he would like to send a "screw you" to Stealth R Us and take someone down with him, which could be why he was saying that Phillip was ruining the game for everyone.
All that's left to be said is that anything can happen. This has been a crazy season and I feel there is more drama on the way. However, CBS needs to stop telling us that and let us be surprised. Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and let me hear your thoughts on Twitter @vellvita7, Facebook, or in the comments below. Thank you guys and hope you are having a Monday!
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