Recaps

Survivor Recap: Idol Fever

Survivor Recap Keep It Real

Survivor Recap Keep It Real

Frustrated that Mike screwed up the vote by changing it to Jenn last minute, sending Kelly home, Rodney AGAIN preached going against his former tribe to change the game. He approached Will and told him that he should join with the two white collars and form a foursome and send Mike packing because he was “running the show.”

Dear Survivor gods, don’t let Rodney win this game. He’s so combative at camp over stupid things. Seriously, the skin on salami?!?! That’s the battle you decide to take on? What is wrong with you? You are aware that Survivor is at its core, a social game. You can win all the individual immunity challenges and make the biggest moves, but if the jury can’t stand you, THEY WILL NOT VOTE FOR YOU! Just ask Russell Hantz. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he should be the only two-time winner of this show, but lost because he failed at the social game and everyone hated him.

At the reward challenge, Joe continued his win streak and took Tyler, Carolyn, Will and Survivor super fan Shirin on the reward with him. But during his picks, Rodney made the pitch that Joe should choose him because he’s the most starving at camp and Joe replied that he was the one that was eating the most food. Then Rodney couldn’t believe the audacity of Joe’s response and continued his “I’m the realest person on this island” rant. This guy has absolutely no idea that he’s pissing off potential votes.

Meanwhile, at the reward Joe managed to see the clue to the hidden idol in a bottle and while he tried to covertly get it, Tyler saw him. Kudos to both Tyler and Joe on what they did next. Tyler never said anything about it and Joe didn’t want to lie about it and showed Tyler the clue. It was great gameplay, but they forgot to take into account an away Mike, who followed them.

Tyler, smartly, didn’t want to cause distrust in his alliance and told Mike and Carolyn about the clue and it turned into a mad dash into the woods looking for Joe and making sure he doesn’t find the idol first. While Joe never found the idol, Mike made the smart decision and planted doubt by saying that Joe found the idol. Joe decided to go with the lie and make people believe he has it, while Mike continued to look for it.

“We’re both super fans and we both can’t do basic math.” Truer words have never been spoken in this game. During some down time in the river, Dan talked super fan to super fan with Shirin and told her that she was on the wrong side of the line. I truly believe that Dan wasn’t trying to court her over to his alliance, he was just trying to open her eyes to what’s going on around her because they are both huge fans of the show. He told her that she’s on the bottom of her alliance and people think she’s just Joe’s pawn.

Like the social game, perception is a HUGE part of Survivor. Once you make the merge, not only to do you have to win immunity and make big moves, you have to know how the people in your tribe aka potential jury members see you. Shirin, for some reason, thinks that people see her as this amazing game player and super smart because she’s a super fan. Dan was just trying to tell her that she needed to take a step back and look at where she truly is. She’s in a four person alliance with seven people ready to pick them off one by one. Joe can win his way to final three and Jenn and Hali will never vote each out. That just leaves her. By herself. Alone. The no collar tribe is using her for her vote because they know she hates her old tribe and can’t be bothered with the blue collar tribe.

Yes, Cochrane was a super fan that won the game, but he was actually playing, making moves and forging bonds. Shirin is just sitting around the beach, containing her excitement. As a viewer, it looks like Shirin just wants to hang with the cool kids and be accepted. Shirin, this isn’t high school. This is Survivor. How do you have absolutely no idea that people (even your own alliance) find you annoying. This leads me to believe that you cannot pick up social cues and that’s something you need in life and in the game of Survivor.

Shirin’s just going to play her game, which she wouldn’t divulge to Dan, but I think she doesn’t even know what it is… unless her strategy is just to sit around camp, be horrible at challenge, not look for the idol and default into an alliance. While Shirin was patting herself on the back for her gameplay, Mike was off looking for the idol, because he knows the perception. If Joe wins again, he’s probably the next to go. And he found it. See Shirin. That’s how you play Survivor.

At the immunity challenge, it was a puzzle challenge and this was right up Shirin’s ally. But surprise, surprise Joe’s winning streak continued after Dan continually said he finished the puzzle when he didn’t. With Joe safe, who goes home?

Rodney.

Is there really any other choice? Rodney is unstable, meaning he can’t be trusted and if things don’t go his way, he’s all about blowing up his own alliance… which is what he’s planning to do. He FIRMLY believes that Joe’s domination in the game is squarely Mike’s fault. He believes that if Joaquin never went home and Joe left instead, their alliance would be sitting pretty and eating all of the beans and rice. I’m pretty sure that if Joe went home, Joaquin would’ve been the next to go.

Then there’s Shirin.

It seems like she’s only there just for the experience. I think winning the game is secondary. She said that winning an immunity challenge would life changing. Um… how about winning the game?

But it looks like it was down to Shirin, Hali and Dan. Mike made the pitch to break of the three person alliance of the no collar tribe, but Shirin’s annoyance knows no bounds and the majority alliance wanted her gone. However, Shirin told her conversation with Dan to Hali, Jenn and Sierra and the girls decided to unite and oust Dan and his misogynistic ways. But they needed one more vote and they approached Tyler. Hey girls… female alliances don’t work. Just ask every woman to ever play Survivor.

At tribal council, Dan uttered the words, flippers never win. While his statement wasn’t entirely true, it held merit in this season. Flipping at this moment in the game is a horrible idea. After the first tribal council of the newly merged Merica (worst Survivor tribe name ever), there was a CLEAR majority alliance of 8. You needed A LOT of people to flip to make it worth your while and right now, it’s not in the best interest for Tyler and Caroline to flip because the blue collar tribe will vote with each other no matter how they feel about each other.

And that feeling showed when Sierra and Tyler fell in line with the majority alliance to oust Hali 8-4 over Dan. With ten people left in the game, it looks like the blue collar tribe will forge ahead. If anything, now is the time for Will, Tyler and Carolyn to jump ship and start picking off the blue collar tribe. But who knows how their Survivor math is.

 

 

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