A merge at 13, which is the largest one in Survivor history. To be honest, I kinda wondered if there might be more potential craziness than what we saw, given that the battlelines seemed to be drawn pretty quickly.
I was a fan of Kass the first time around (though it seemed she got a good edit because everyone on the island flat-out detested her) but her exit this time felt incredibly deserved. In her post-TC vote she seemed to realize it, too - she had done a good job of staying under the radar and playing the loyal soldier, only to suddenly decide to blow up everything up and revel in being ‘Chaos Kass’ (man, there’s a nickname I’d like to never hear again after hearing it 1000x this episode). Her gameplay suddenly became completely incomprehensible and she basically served herself up to be voted out at the worst possible time.
Probst actually commented that the game (at least this season) might be moving past long-term alliances and instead reaching voting blocs each tribal… I love it.
Ugh. I hate this cast of Survivors. I disagree with Probst that the game is changing. The only reason this season is different is because almost nobody has a spine or an ounce of forethought. If there was a Parvati or a Boston Rob or a Sandy or Yul or Ozzie on this cast the game would already be over.
Kass thought she was the smartest person in the field and was going to cruise to the en…“What?, I’m out? What do you mean I’m out? I am the smartest person in the world! I can’t be out!”
At some point everyone finds themselves on the chopping block, and when you do, you have to rally your troops and fight back. Kass had no troops to rally. Others in the same boat are Jeremy (strong and competent, but seems lacking in close relationships.) Same with Ciera and Kelly Wentworth. Spencer is a nerd and lacks social skills, but is self-aware enough to recognize that and is doing a decent job of faking them.
Fishbach has the perfect name. He is like a fish on it’s back in the sand. It can’t get back to the water so it flops around uselessly on the beach, waiting to die.
Kelly Wigglesworth is a complete non-entity. I wouldn’t be surprised if she finishes second again. She is no threat at anything.
I see potential winners as Joe, possibly Spencer, and Tasha (although she doesn’t seem to have a support group either.)
I still love the game, but get this season done with and forgotten ASAP.
Yeah, while I’m glad that Probst mentioned it, I agree that I don’t see it as a meta shift in the overall game of Survivor. It’s just a shift for this season alone, being the product of having a veteran cast of returnees. While Ciera’s “play to win” speech wasn’t quite as on point as I think she hoped, I think it does sum up the difference between this group and the majority of Survivor players. In most seasons, there’s a couple of ringleaders who are playing to win while everyone else follows.
Woo is a perfect example - yeah, he got second place, but there was never a chance he was going to beat Tony in the final TC. Woo (and everyone else that season) was basically fighting over second place, because none of them had the guts to make the moves necessary to knock Tony off. They all got scared of his Idol and that he would come after them if they moved against him… but by doing so, they also basically handed him the win.
This season, I don’t think there’s any real “followers” left except Wigglesworth and Keith. It seems like Kimmi, Abi and Joe aren’t really great thinkers either, but at least they’ve been involved in making decisions on who to vote for. But everyone else - Spencer, Tasha, Ciera, Jeremy, Wentworth, Savage, and Fishbach - are all obviously planners/schemers. So it makes things really interesting going forward. Savage would be dominating on a normal season of Survivor, but here he’s on the bottom rungs.
Joe was the Immunity winner and he was the only that stood sideways on the narrow beam. It seems to be the best strategy might have been to face the beam “uphill” instead of downhill. Not sure if that was allowed as production were not set up for that.
I found the votes from the Kass alliance interesting:
Kass voted Tasha
Abi voted Tasha
Ciera voted Savage (?)
Kelley voted Kass (!)
Spencer voted with the other alliance (he was supposed to vote Ciera, which he did)
I guess this means Ciera knew Kelley had flipped and was 100% positive Kass was going home, letting her spend her vote on a Fuck You to Savage. Seems risky to me. If I were Ciera in that position I would have voted Kass without hesitation.
My rooting interests continue to be for Joe and Spencer, with Ciera third. (That would be such an awesome final 3…) I was loving the fact that Joe and Spencer were the swing votes this episode, which had them gravitating closer to an alliance of two. I hate when my rooting interests are against each other. I really wish Joe hadn’t won immunity, though, or that it came down to him or Spencer as the last two standing. This would have been a great time for both of them to try to start flying under the radar.
Was sad to see Ciera blow up her game this episode.
I’m glad Kass had the inner good sense to recognize that she torpedoed her own game. But Kass has always been one to view it as just a game, so I’m not surprised she didn’t take it personally.
I like Spencer but the edit so far makes me think he’s the favorite to win. Which makes me want to cheer for someone else… I’m still a Jeremy fan, I think, at the end. I’d like Wentworth to win, too.
Really don’t know what to make of Fishbach’s edit. I think he’s the real dark horse… I mean, if Cochran can win, why not Fishbach?
Stupid is as Stupid does. I liked Ciera before, but now she’s just a little bitch. I hope she’s next, but frankly right now I can’t think of much else other than YEAH! CASS IS GONE!!
Spencer needs to just STFU at tribal council. Never say anything there that gives a hint at what your strategy is. Keep it to: “I don’t know, Jeff, everything seems pretty crazy right now”. Don’t let Jeff trick you into revealing anything.
I thought Keith was going to be strong in that challenge. He’d be a good person to bring to the final, since he has zero social game and wouldn’t have a chance of winning.
I had the pleasure of watching Wednesdays episode with Ciera and her mom Laura. Yes, we are friends. So much goes on that is edited out. This last tribal council was a shit storm and it went on for hours. Most of it was Tasha ranting and raving and playing the “racism” card and she went after Kass big time. Ciera said that while it looks like Savage is just a great guy he is actually just the opposite. There are obviously a lot of things that she can’t talk about yet, but it’s fun to get a behind the scenes play by play.
I thought it was great. It’s exactly the type of thing to make him go on a witch hunt and make himself a big target. It’s not like Ciera wasn’t already on his radar.
Kass said on RHAP that Tasha was a great goat to take to the end and that she did not intend for her to be the target of her alliance. An outburst like this would definitely fit Kass’s narrative.
The cast never seem to have any difficulty in determining who cast each vote. The problem is she’s clearly defined herself as next. Far better to throw your lot with the majority and hope you can weasel you way back in, in my view anyway.
She said that he is very arrogant and controlling towards the women. He is not well liked. You will see in upcoming episodes where his true colors start to show through.