Nevermind
Well, Hai may have been screwed anyways, but it’s pretty clear that I was spot on that encouraging Mike to backstab Rocksroy was a mistake.
Once you give your alliance the green light to go for its own members you can never be completely sure the next one won’t be you. If Hai had just stuck with his alliance to vote Romeo I think this week is an easy Jonathan vote (or perhaps Tori if the other half blindsided Drea last week) and Hai is sitting pretty instead of blindsided at Ponderosa.
And how great was Omar this episode? That was just the perfect seed to plant in Mike, and done so nonchalantly and non-agressively that the anger was genuinely Mike’s. How many times did Mike repeat the “puppet” accusation to the camera? At least three, right? Just brilliant from Omar.
That’s pretty much exactly what she said. Further, when Jeff asked her if she thought the votes were racially motivated, she responded in the affirmative.
I suggest maybe you need a second viewing. 
Here’s the specific quote:
Drea: “We have four black contestants in Survivor and then it always happens where the black contestants get voted out, boom boom boom, and that’s what this is right now. So I’m pissed.”
Jeff: “So you think it’s race related.”
Drea: “I think it’s subconsciously, a little bit of that, unfortunately.”
To take that as “the two jury members (at that point) were voted out because they were black and that’s not fair” is clearly not what’s she saying. She then has to repeat over and over again “I’m not accusing Jonathan or anyone else of being racist.”
But lets rewind back 15 minutes. Heading into tribal, Drea’s thought was “Romeo is probably going home, and I’m voting for Maryanne (or possibly it might be me).” To see Rocksroy there was a shock. From someone not on that other group, Rocksroy is kinda a bizarre vote off. He’s a solid number, he’s not a threat in any way, and Romeo has pissed of Hai, who would be expected to be leading that group. So to walk into tribal and realize “the first three members of the jury are going to be black” would be pretty shocking. And she’s sitting there, in shock for several minutes while Jeff and everyone else are just talking about the game.
Edit: and that’s also why she and Maryanne played their idols. Because they specifically didn’t want it to come off as “You can’t vote us out because that would make you racist.”
Oddly, when Hai was talking to the camera, it seems like Omar’s big lie was pretty much true after all.
The very best lies have a little bit of truth to them, right?
Omar, at least based on what we have seen, is extremely good at understanding what others are thinking and feeling, and then using that to his advantage without getting the blowback that others get when they try to influence the vote more directly.
In The Amazing Race, when a team doesn’t read the clue completely, bad things usually happen to them.
In Survivor the same rule applies when it comes to the Knowledge is Power advantage. It says right at the top that knowledge is power, and it lives up to it’s name. When other people have the knowledge about your advantage, they use it for their power.
Knowledge is power, but silence is golden.
Damn! That was an EXCELLENT episode. Truly shows that you should just keep your damn mouth shut when you have any advantage or Idol. She’d still be in the game if she hadn’t.
Yes, a good episode. And even if Mike doesn’t get his idol back (and it seems like he knows that he probably won’t), I think he played it correctly to save himself. If Drea took his idol and played it, which would have been the smart thing to do, Mike had a good chance of being voted out.
This was the twisterroo that Xander did last game.
Yeah, because now he can tell people Omar took it and won’t give it back, and also Omar has an idol, of course.
This is one of the best seasons of all newcomers in a long time. I’m loving it and all these players.
I see 3-4 potential returnees for future seasons. One of the best seasons.
Drea was basically giving an audition to come back at the end there.
Omar is emerging as a really great player. He might have overplayed his hand a bit, now he definitely has a target on his back, but he has an idol and the brains to use it.
He agreed to give it back to Mike, though. Even Mike himself said that that’s not binding, but it goes to character when campaigning for jury votes.
Is anybody else annoyed that Survivor is now 2-0 making the improper choice in the Monty Hall problem? Both people stayed instead of switching, and they both won. (33% chance to win staying, 67% chance switching.)
Other than that, I thought it was a fantastic tribal council.
Yeah, but people know he has it and that puts a target on his back. He’s a really good player and my pick to win it all.
I really like the gameplay this season, but I hate how many advantages and twists they’ve introduced.
I like that both have featured someone going “It’s Monty Hall! You have to switch!”
I had just told my wife I had “no opinion on her either way” just before that, though. She’s been mainly a snoozefest for me. I want to see:
Jonathan, Mike, Omar, Lindsey, and possibly one or two others come back.
It’s crazy he’s gone this far without anyone pointing him out as a target. He’s basically dictated every vote-out (except Tori in the split tribal) since the merge. He definitely should win if he gets to the end, but I’m not sure what his path is. Here’s who’s left, in order of least likely to win in my opinion:
Romeo - Pure goat
Maryanne - Mostly goat, maybe a social threat, has an idol
Johnathan - Challenge Threat, fire builder
Mike - Social threat, maybe has an idol?
Lindsey - Challenge threat, and now has an idol
The hardest part is getting past Mike and Lindsey, especially if he gives Mike his idol back. I’m also not sure his path to get to the final three from final four.
He’s been sneaky good and has gone from adorably hapless to cold blooded assassin. I hadn’t paid much attention to him at first. If he can get a challenge that he can win, he might have a shot; I can’t remember if he was good at puzzles, or if he’s made fire.
Another player I like a lot is Johnathan. He’s not just good at challenges he’s had a pretty good social game.
I think Maryanne was the primary puzzler on the tribal challenges. I do remember when he had to do the one puzzle of unbraiding the rope he really struggled and almost lost the challenge for them.