S28E06: We Found Our Zombies.

We’re at that stage in the game that the merge is peeking around the corner and players are getting nervous. Do we choose to vote someone off that can prove to  be a threat long-term or do we choose to keep our tribe as strong as possible to have numbers once we get to the merge. These are the tribals where people can make decisions that end up being their downfall. Decisions, where players look back on in the end and know, that’s the moment they lost the game. This week was one of those episodes so let’s see how they did.

But first the tribe that escaped tribal’s dance this week: Solana. After last tribal the tables were completely turned, as Cliff was voted out and Lindsey and Woo found themselves at the bottom. Apparently Trish found it necessary to make that clear to Lindsey after they returned from tribal. By doing that Trish didn't show her best side  this week. Previous episodes made clear that Lindsey and Trish didn’t like each other and Trish clearly wanted to rub the fact that Cliff was blindsided in her face. She did try to disguise it by stating that she honorably wanted to explain her actions but she just wanted a reaction out of Lindsey and she got it. An argument between the two followed but it didn’t seem to be as ‘antagonizing’ to warrant what followed. What did follow was Lindsey, who wandered outside of camp, only to be found by Jeff. At first I thought it was LJ who found Lindsey and would try to comfort her to gain a new ally, which would have been a great move in my book. But it wasn’t LJ but Jeff who took a stroll along the beach and bumped into a weepy mess called Lindsey. Their conversation resulted in what must be one of the worst quits in survival history (Btw, doesn’t Jeff love to say: ‘This is a survivor first…’ ^^). Even though Trish did act like somewhat of a !@#&, Lindsey came of as a sore loser that couldn’t deal with that fact that she went from the top of the totem pole to the bottom. What also struck me as odd was that Jeff didn’t really try as hard to convince her to stay as he did in the past (remember Naonka and Kelly from Nicaragua? Equally as bad quitters as Lindsey is as far as I’m concerned). This makes me think  that something happened that we weren’t privileged to see (also no 'day after' vid for lindsey?). Will we ever know what truly happened there? I don’t know but what I do know is that Solana had a rough night not only losing Cliff but also Lindsey. This has two consequences. Number one is for poor little Woo, who is now completely alone. Number two is the evaporation of the Brawn alliance. What started as a seemingly unstoppable force of brawn barreling through the game, ended in an implosion that destroyed the core alliance and scattered the remnants across two tribes.

The ordeal didn’t seem to bother them much as they won the reward challenge the next day. As their reward they were granted a camp raid, where they can steal any equipment or food they want from the other tribe. Solana elected Tony and Woo to execute the raid on their behalf. When both Tony and Woo arrive at the Aparri camp, Tony shows once again that he’s a really good player that can think outside of the box. He decides to not only take their stuff but also play a trick on them. Realizing that Jeremiah is their powerhouse, Tony gives the immunity idol clue, that was included with the camp raid, to Jeremiah to make his tribemates target him and vote him off.  I thought this was a very good move, even though it kinda missed it mark because the clue was for the Beauty HII which Jeremiah recognized. The second reason this move could backfire was when he came back from the camp raid and immediately told his entire tribe what he did. And not only that, he also shared with them the fact that he is a cop. Now it didn’t seem to turn that many heads. Trish brushed it off the table like a fait divers and Jefra was gratefull Tony is on her side. But it turned one head, the most dangerous head of all: LJ. Tony’s move at the camp raid and his confession made LJ wonder what else this cop is capable off. I’m pretty sure Tony is not in LJ’s final three plans and he will get rid of him at some point in the future. So in the end all that Tony’s move did was make him even more untrustworthy. Thus Tony will have to get rid of LJ before LJ gets rid of him if Tony wants to make it the end. Luckily for Tony his tribe wins the immunity challenge and escapes tribal even though he probably lost a potential ally in Sarah after yelling final 5 in the challenge.

So what started as a promising episode for Tony with a clever move at the camp raid ended in some errors on his part that could cost him dearly towards the future. We all know less is more on survivor, the less you tell, the less you can do wrong. Tony made a mistake in telling what he did at the camp raid and the fact he is a cop, which made him the centre of LJ’s radar. Also yelling final 5 at the challenge might have lost him an ally in Sarah.  Is it the narrative towards Tony’s demise? Time will tell.

Let’s continue with the Aparri tribe. Last week I discussed the different scenario’s this interesting new tribe could wind up in and suggested a best course of action. I’m glad to see that prediction practically completely ensued this week. For the Aparrri tribe the episode started at the reward challenge where everyone but especially Alexis was overjoyed that not only Cliff but also Lindsey was out of the  game. This was Alexis second mistake after telling the brains last week that Jefra was her main alliance. Anyways the challenge continues and the Aparri tribe lose and have to indulge a camp raid. In that camp raid as vigorously talked about above, Tony tries to target Jeremiah by giving him a clue to the HII. Now of course Jeremiah recognized the clue as the one from the Beauty tribe and realizes he’s being targeted because of it. Subsequently he tries to convince the others of this but pretty much fails at it, making his position in the game precarious. Alexis grabs this opportunity to further incriminate Jeremiah but in this she makes her second mistake of the episode. She plays to hard, so hard it makes her more suspicious and more of a threat then Jeremiah.

In a following immunity challenge they lose and are sent to tribal to sent the first member of the new Aparri tribe home. Back at camp, Alexis yet again overplays her hand and plays to hard to the point that the choice is between her and Jeremiah. So it seems like the brains are in full control and have Morgan at their side because she has no connection to the brawn and detests her former Beauty tribe. Also Sarah will be very happy with these dynamics. At first she seemed a possible target but after the flip at Solana and the apparent final 5 that has formed there, she escapes being targeted. Essentially, like Morgan , she’s a free agent now and should go with the brains and Morgan if she’s smart. The preview for next week does show that Sarah might not be done severing the cord with her former allies as you might think. This leaves only two options, with option A being Jeremiah. Because of Tony’s action at the camp raid, as far as the other know, Jeremiah has a clue to a HII. Add tot hat his connection to LJ and Jefra and you have two well reasoned arguments to vote him. On the flipside he showed eagerness to turn on his former tribe, he’s strong in challenges and he isn’t the biggest strategy player, which doesn’t make him an immediate threat. In comparison, there's option B, in which Alexis clearly has a stronger tie with her former alliance then Jereimah has. She’s also a bigger strategy player with a smart mind under that pretty package. To top it off, in comparison with Jeremiah she’s not an asset in challenges. At tribal the brains realize all of this and unanimously send Alexis home in tears. 

Even the most coldest of hearts will have felt for Alexis when she literally went home in tears. She’s obviously a superfan of the show and is heartbroken she didn’t make the merge. To her credit she wasn’t passive in the game. She didn’t make big moves but at times she showed she has a knack for the game. In the end she did go down but not without a fight, so she deserves a pat on the back for that. 

Next week it seems an early merge is coming which will pitch both tribes against each other. Smack in the middle appears to be Sarah who’s not sure where her future lies in this game. Sounds like a great episode in a season which, except for episode 2 and 3, is  very entertaining. No 'day after' vid for Alexis, even though I know there is one... Anyways if I find i'll add it next time, see you then!

S28E05: Odd One Out.

It’s tribe swap time! The best seasons in the past have been the seasons that were unpredictable and where the game gets flipped upside down on multiple occasions. One way to do that is to  use three tribes to prevent players to lock in 5-person alliances or more. A second way is to constantly keep the game changing and not let the players get to comfortable in their alliance and test their adaptability. Here’s where ‘twists’ come in and more precisely where the 'tribe swap' comes in. The moment we heard that we were getting three tribes this season, we could expect a switch around 4 episodes in the season. Knowing that, I predicted fireworks this week and boy did we get fireworks! We got two new tribes which both immediately produced some new interesting dynamics. So let’s get to the meat of it!

After the two tribes arrive at the reward challenge, Jeff almost immediately says those magic words that curls your toes because you know sparks will fly: ‘Drop your buffs, we’re switching tribes!’. The resulting switch makes for a different but very interesting Apari tribe. Sarah, as the only person, stays on Apari. Joining her are the three brainy smurfs and three beauty’s: Morgan, Jeremiah and Alexis. Now at first glance the situation is interesting but pretty clear. Three brains against three beauty’s and a brawn that will function as the swing vote to determine who comes on top in a Brain-Beauty clash.  But maybe we shouldn’t judge that to quickly when we look at the tree beauty’s. We already know that Morgan is on the outs with her former tribe, so the brains have their first crack right there. But next to that, previous episodes have shown us that Alexis and Jeremiah also don’t trust each other 100%. So the Beauty block might not be as solid as you think.

After a close loss in an entertaining reward challenge the newly formed Apari tribe heads back to camp where some surprising events unfold. You would think Morgan might be one of the beauty’s that considers flipping to the brains. But almost immediately it’s Alexis that throws Jeremiah and Morgan under the bus and proposes a 4-person alliance with the brains. Shortly after that, to my surprise, also Morgan, but especially Jeremiah throws the other two under the bus and wants to align with the brains. Like Spencer says, it’s funny but also very telling that the beauty’s are turning on each other so fast. LJ was clearly the glue keeping those beauty’s together. Take that away and they fall apart like dry sand. Now of course this results into a very interesting situation at the Apari tribe that sadly doesn’t get tested as they win the immunity challenge.

If we look at the Apari tribe right now there’s only one block and that’s the three brains. Next to the three brains we have now four individuals courting the three brains. And that’s why I love Survivor so much, it doesn’t matter how bleak your situation looks. From one day to another this game can flip upside down. The brains were on the brink of defeat but right now their in a massive power position and I see them getting to the merge intact for sure. But what move should the brains make now? Well they have four options and should think very hard and long on their next move. My first thought is to bring in Morgan in their alliance. Morgan is a free agent in the game and has no idol. So it doesn’t matter what happens in the other tribe, Morgan looks like a good ally right now. You also still need strength in the challenges, so they should keep Jeremiah. He’s not the biggest strategy player which doesn’t make him a threat. Now for the rest, it depends on what happens on the other tribe. If the brawns at Solana stay strong, they should contemplate on voting out Sarah as you don’t want to end up in a merge against six brawns. If the brawns fall apart (which they did) then that changes things. Alexis clearly stated that her main ally was Jefra and de facto also LJ. That should raise red flags with the three brains. If LJ and Jefra make it to the merge in one piece, Alexis will surely rejoin LJ and Jefra and even Jeremiah might rejoin them and you could be presented with a reunited Beauty front (plus Trish and maybe Tony) at the merge. Now taking what happened at Solona into account, it looks like their first target according to me should be Alexis. I’m very curious at what will actually happen when this tribe eventually has to go to tribal.

Next to a new Apari tribe we also got a new Solana tribe. Now, in comparison the Solana tribe didn’t look as exciting as the Apari tribe because the division looked pretty obvious. We had LJ and Jefra who stayed on Solana but sadly for them they drew the short end of the straw as they were joined with 5 brawns which made their situation very precarious. But the episode would prove that also the Solana tribe looks very interesting. When the newly formed tribe got back tot heir camp, they got to know each other and apparently LJ and Trish made a connection (well, Trish mostly did). Lj was desperate for a crack in that alliance and almost immediately one jumped in his lap. Now ofcourse the savvy player LJ is, he worked his magic and pretty easily converted Trish as fullbled ally. LJ only needed one more ally an Trish looked for that ally, on LJ’s behalf, towards Tony and pitched the idea to vote off Cliff. At first hand Tony had the right reaction. Now is not the time to vote off Cliff. Tony did a lot of work to gain control over the Brawn tribe and his strategy should be to keep the brawns together until it’s only the six of them left. Afterall, he has a 4-way alliance within the brawns to take him to the end, so every move against that would be counterproductive. Anyways the situation before tribal was clear. It’s either LJ or Cliff that goes but the choice falls upon what Tony decides. After a somewhat not so interesting tribal, we get to the point where I expected LJ to use his idol but… he doesn’t. Now, I have to give him props here. You have to have balls of freaking steel not to play your idol when you’re in the situation LJ was because I expected Tony to make the sensible decision to stick with the brawns. This could be because something happened before the tribal offscreen that reassured LJ but that really surprised me. In a resulting shocking vote, Tony decided to go against the brawns and blindside Cliff in a 4-3 vote.

The biggest victor here, clearly is LJ. Last week I told you guy’s that this episode would be a test for LJ if he can be adaptable and sway people to his cause. LJ passed this test with flying colors as he not only wrapped in Trish but he even managed to bamboozle Tony in making an unwise decision that might prove to be his downfall in the longterm. Anyways, this vote completely flipped the table in this tribe, as the remaining brawns Lindsey and Woo went from being topdogs to being knee deep in elimination troubles.

Exciting episodes lie ahead for Survivor Cagayan as these two new tribes promises alot of scrambling and surprising votes. If you’re curious what Cliff has to say the day after his vote-off, check out the video below. See you next week!

S28E04: Our Time To Shine!

Survivor Cagayan episode 4 has come and gone and cost the Brain tribe yet another member in a mainly boring and predictable episode. After four episodes, each tribe has had their internal tactical movements and are settling in in their alliances. Therefore it’s not that surprising that we had 2 less exiting episodes in comparison with the premiere. Small exception is the Brawn tribe , where Tony is kerfuffling his way into a strong position. But first let’s see what this week’s developments will mean for next week’s swap in term of allegiances.

Let’s start with the big winners this episode, who turned their luck after last week's setback: The Beauty tribe. After last week’s episode the situation looked pretty grim for Morgan. She lost her main ally, is ostracized from the group and none of her fellow tribe mates has any reason to flip to her side. But you can’t say Morgan is a quitter, as the same night they return back to camp from voting out Brice, she decides to confront Jeremiah right in the open for everyone to hear. Asking Jeremiah to his reason for going with LJ and the girls instead of her and Brice, Jeremiah kinda stumbles and doesn’t give the most convincing  response that takes away all doubt with his fellow allies. It even raises some doubt with Alexis, putting Jeremiah’s position with the beauty’s on the fence. With this move Morgan confirms that she’s not at all the passive pretty girl who does nothing and tries to ride coattails. When I’m wrong, I’m not afraid to admit it. I had Morgan down as waste of space on this season’s castlist. But she proved she’s by far the stronger girl in her tribe and next to LJ the strongest strategy player left with the Beauty tribe. She might not be the greatest player out there but she’s not going down without a fight and is putting herself out there. Now her situation might seem grim but with a tribe swap on the horizon, she needs to look into some ways to make something happen with another tribe and turn her luck.

For the rest of the episode, not a lot happens for the Beauty tribe.besides winning both challenges this week. After winning the first challenge the tribe collectively finds the idol clue. LJ, very coy, plays dumb because he already found the idol clue last week. Of course you also had the big ‘how do chickens reproduce?’ deal. I kinda found that LJ was a little high-handed towards the girls. If you’re not at home in the farmer's world, it’s not that surprising you don’t know how a chicken reproduces. Anyways I’m curious to see how LJ’s alliance might deal with a possible split up in next week’s swap. That will be LJ’s next challenge to see if he has what it takes to go far this season.

Next is the the Brawn tribe which is turning into the most interesting tribe by far. This is all thanks to Tony who’s playing a really strong game up until now. Will it get him the eventual victory? I’m not that sure because I believe that someone will catch up to him sooner or later.
Last week Tony planted the seed in Sarah’s head that Cliff and Lindsey are gunning for her. This week that seed has grown into a fixation on Cliff as a next target. Sarah pulls in Woo and Trish to solidify the new alliance of four I mentioned last week. Sarah’s targeting of Cliff even went that far to consider throwing the challenge and the question is why? Cliff is your strongest player and will always be a bigger target then you. By voting out Cliff you’re potentially putting yourself on the radar. Luckily for Cliff the immunity challenge this week was…shooting hoops (Seriously Survivor? Seriously?) which wasn’t a real problem for a former NBA star even if you’re tribe is trying to throw the challenge.
This results in a very interesting situation for the Brawn tribe. Lindsey and Cliff are 100% safe in their minds. Yet they’re are being massively blindsided for the moment by the alliance of Tony, Sarah, Woo and Trish. In this alliance Sarah thinks she’s in control and has her fate in her own hands. The actual truth is that her fate is in the hands of Tony who  went from the bottom of the Brawn tribe to being in complete control. Next week the tribe's will most likely be reduced to two tribes and it’ll be interesting to see how the Brawns deal with that. I’m pretty sure Tony will muster threw but as for the rest of the brawns go, I’m not that sure.

This leaves us with the Brain tribe last which the Brains have been for most of their challenges. This Brain tribe is no longer a tribe of brainiacs but more of a tribe consisting of four (now three) Brainy smurfs. They’re drowning in the mess they created themselves, leaving them desperate for a game twist to save their hides.
Just like last week they decided to practice the reward challenge and at first it seemed to do them well. But thanks to J’tia and let’s also not forget Tash, they lose a big lead and once again end up third and last. The loss alone is bad enough but it’s the way they lose that’s especially depressing for the Brain tribe. The most frustrated is of course Spencer because of the situation he’s in. Despite the fact the he’s carrying or more accurate dragging this tribe, an alliance of girls is pushing him towards the exit. In the immunity challenge once again the Brain tribe is putting up an embarrassing performance with only Spencer keeping them somewhat alive in the challenge. But having to face off against a former NBA star in a game of shooting hoops, is no picnic and once again they loose and have to go to tribal.

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The choice is simple: J’tia or Spencer? Do you prefer absolute loyalty but doom yourself to lose even more challenges? Or do you go for the only person that can keep your tribe from not getting decimated? For me the choice is obvious. Choosing J’tia to stay is dooming your fate in this game. It doesn’t matter if she’s 100% loyal, if you’re going into a merge without numbers you’ll end up being a plaything for the other two tribes. Spencer is the only choice that makes sense. By keeping Spencer you’re giving yourself a chance in the challenges. The question of course is, will he stay loyal? As far as I’m concerned there’s not a lot of risk of him flipping because Spencer has no other options. Say he decides to flip to either the Brawn or the Beauty tribe, he only ends up being on the bottom of another alliance.

The decision is in the hands of Tash and Kass but yet again they show indecisiveness. Even at tribal the two of them can’t make a decision and are talking it over while Spencer and J’tia are making their case to Jeff. Luckily in the end common sense prevails and J’tia is voted out in a 3 to 1 vote.

The Brains will probably be over the moon with the tribe swap even though most likely the swap will result for one of them to fend for their own. The tribe switch will also bring forth a new fase in this game where alliances will be split up and tested. I’m very curious to next week which should be an an episode full of fireworks. Check out the ‘day after’ vid for J’tia down below and I’ll see you next time.

S28E03: Cops-R-Us.

Time for another survivor review! We’re at episode 3 but no fancy rollercoaster episode with 2 surprise exits. This time we just get a clean, cut and dry episode with an exit that wasn’t that surprising to me. Brawn is barreling on the same way they did last week. Brain against all odds and with all the luck in the world managed to survive this week. While Beauty drew the short straw this week and Morgan and Brice their alliance was put to the test. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the torrential downfall which showed us again how hardcore this game can be.

Let’s get this review rolling with the Brawn tribe. The Brawn tribe seems to be on a train speeding towards the merge intact. The only thing that can break this tribe apart is a probably unavoidable tribe switch. In the beginning of the episode, the Brawns had to deal with the elements like we haven’t seen in a very long time on survivor. Cliff’s hands and especially Lindsey’s feet looked ravaged. It seemed like Lindsay was about ready to quit, although I never believed she would. They only showed that to further push the idea that Lindsey is becoming a target. This brings us to Tony who really upped his game this week. He already had Trish and a immunity idol in his pocket but he used his spy- and copskills to manipulate Sarah which went surprisingly easy. This brings me to Sarah who kinda disappointed me. Like you all know, she’s my favorite in this tribe but I was amazed how easily she put her fate in Tony's hands after learning he was a cop, just like her. She can’t be that naive right? Sadly we don’t see these new alliances being tested because at the immunity challenge, there was no stopping the Brawn tribe and yet again they win the challenge and their tribe stay’s intact for another three days.
Although this tribe seems to be untouchable in the challenges, internally things seem to be shifting. After Tony’s confession as a cop towards Sarah and his convincing story that Cliff and Lindsey are plotting against her, it seems that a new alliance of Tony, Sarah, Trish and Woo is forming. This would leave Cliff and Lindsey on the outs with Cliff being probably the first target.

Next up is the Brain tribe. Last week, the Brain tribe proved that intelligence isn’t a given to do good at this game. In a chaotic first six days they voted out two of their strongest members leaving Spencer as the only guy left. Now it seems like my worst fear for this tribe is coming true. The three girls are forming an alliance to push Spencer towards the exit. This means that they are prepared to vote out their last strong man and to keep J’tia who has been ‘terribad’ at everything she tried in this game. Tash seems to be in control but is thinking short term in wanting to vote out Spencer. Kass prefers interior decorating above strategies and J’tia has the audacity to ask for rice after dumping the bag. This tribe of brainiacs has turned in a tribe of misfits ready for the slaughterhouse. The only thing that can save them is the challenge. Luckily they still have the sense to practice the challenge. Well luckily? It didn’t seem like it helped a lot at the actual challenge. I can’t remember a tribe that messed up a challenge like that. After all they just had to throw buckets… But the survivor gods had pity on them that day because there’s no other way to explain the way the Beauty tribe lost this challenge. Although Kass and Spencer do deserve their credit for working together well and fast and saving them from tribal which was clearly a big relieve to them.
Despite escaping tribal and getting a morale boost, this tribe is still struggling. I still insist that an alliance of Spencer, Kass and Tash is the way to go. J’tia is a liability and will prove to be the downfall of this tribe. Sadly I’m thinking less and less that they will vote out J’tia and thus subsequently I’m losing my faith in this tribe day by day.

Last (just like the challenge) is the Beauty tribe who took a beating this week, starting with the elements. Just like the Brawn, the Beauty tribe had a hard time dealing with the weather. I guess the editors decided not to Brain tribe struggling with the weather, figuring they were already suffering enough with typhoon J’tia amongst other things. It looked like mainly the girls struggled with the weather while the guy’s endured. Especially LJ who decided to take a look for the hidden immunity idol and eventually finds it at the bottom of the sea, tied to a rock. It becomes increasingly clear that the image we got from the Beauty tribe, with Brice and Morgan at the helm, was far from the truth. From interviews with LJ and at tribal it’s clear that Morgan’s little lie to cover up her search for the HII didn’t work. This also shows my doubts about the strength of the Morgan-Brice alliance has grounds to build on. That strength also gets put up to the test when Beauty looses the challenge after a big lead. Back at camp it becomes clear that at one side there’s LJ, Alexis and Jefra and on the other side Brice and Morgan, leaving our dimwitted country model Jeremiah smack in the middle. Brice and Morgan are confident that Jeremiah is with them (which he isn’t) and try to persuade Jefra to vote with them on her BFF Alexis (yh like that was gonna happen…). This proves to me that Brice and Morgan were never as strong or never as dominant then the first episode try to make us believe. Actually, the real power, this episode lied with Jeremiah but he apparently never realized it. His best option was to stick with LJ and the

girls (at least he got that far) but he should have thought long term and made a final three deal with Alexis and Jefra. This way he would push LJ on the outs of the 4-person alliance because you don’t want to go up against LJ in a final three. Offcourse Jeremiah might still do this and it would probably be his only way to actually win this game (not that I see that happening). Anyways, the editors tried to make us believe that Jeremiah would go with Brice and Morgan but in the end the tribal resulted in 3-way tie between Alexis, Morgan and Brice because they feared either Morgan or Brice had the idol. In the revote Brice didn’t stand a chance and went home in a 3-0 vote being considered the bigger threat over Morgan.
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The Beauty tribe showed it’s colors this week. Like I said last week it felt like LJ hadn’t started his game yet but this week he did. He found the HII, formed a 4-person alliance around him and voted out Brice. At this moment he’s really fulfilling his favorite position and looks strong to maintain that

until the merge or a tribe switch. As for Morgan, she seemingly has two options. She can either try to rally the girls and make an all girls alliance. Her other option is to flirt with the guy’s and prove she’s a better and stronger asset then the other two girls. Either way, her situation looks bleak and she’ll have to put all her assets in the game to even have a chance at surviving.

Next week we’ll see if the Beauty tribe can turn it around or if the Brain tribe looses yet another member. Or maybe the Brawn tribe has to go on their first trip to tribal council as it looks like they’re prepared to throw a challenge. Check out the exit interview with Brice down below and I’ll see you next time!

S28E01: Hot Girl With A Grudge.

And we’re off! Last Wednesday the 28th season of Survivor, the greatest and most difficult adventure game on television, premiered.  We were presented with 2 hours of Survivor and 2 tribal councils that saw 2 members of the Brain tribe voted out. This while I expected the Brain  tribe to be the most interesting and most promising. But the premiere learned us that although they’re entertaining and interesting, when it comes to the game of survivor they have a lot to learn. Let’s have a look at each of the three tribes and see how they faired the first 6 days and who the leading individuals are.

Let’s start off  with the Beauty tribe. At the beginning of the episode each tribe is given a flashy entrance and Beauty is given the red carpet treatment on a speedboat. After they end up at their mat, Jeff gives each tribe the assignment to appoint a leader of the tribe.  In my preview I pointed towards LJ as the salvation for this tribe. Luckily, the Beauty tribe recognized this as well and made LJ the leader. As a leader LJ is given the heavy burden to call one person out as the weakest of the tribe and he doesn’t hesitate long to point Morgan out as the weakest. A choice that’s kind off surprising to me as my first impression was that either Brice or one of the skinny girls would be the weakest.  LJ’s reasoning behind it is the fact that Morgan is the hottest girl on the tribe (Hard to argue with him. I’ll put up a pic for any who’s still in doubt. ^^) which makes him distrust her. As the episode progresses, we’ll see that he’s not all that wrong in his motivation.

Deemed the weakest of her tribe Morgan is send off ahead of her tribe to the camp where she’s given a choice: a hidden immunity clue or an extra bag of rice. In her choice for the clue Morgan showed some promise. I expected her to go with the safe choice: the bag of rice. By choosing the clue, she showed she’s prepared to take risks in this game. Morgan surprised me even more when it seemed she was caught looking for the HII by her tribe when they arrived at camp. Instead of stuttering and stumbling over her words, she stayed calm and collected and seemed to have fooled everyone except LJ who’s really en garde when it comes to Morgan. 

At the challenges the Beauty tribe showed that looks can be deceiving and did more then hold their own by winning the first challenge and making a spectacular comeback in the second one.  As such no tribal council for them this week and we didn’t see a lot of strategising . But what little we did see was not what I predicted for his tribe. It seems as Morgan and Brice made an alliance and pulled in Jeremiah as he’s apparently hypnotized by Morgan’s boobs. This leaves LJ somewhat on the outs and if either jefra or Alexis joins Morgan, Brice and Jeremiah, a majority alliance looks to be formed in the Beauty tribe. If I was them I would go for Jefra as she seems much more of a follower then Alexis who seems to be smart and who thinks for her own. Two side notes to where this Beauty tribe is right now. First of all, sparks still have to fly in this tribe. If this tribe has to go to tribal, it remains to be seen if Morgan and Brice can keep their alliance together. Secondly, it seems to me that LJ still has to start playing his game. I’m curious to see what Morgan and Brice can do when LJ starts to make moves and approach people.

Next up is the Brawn tribe who enter the game on a truck feeling every bump in the road. But as the brawns they can take it and confidently enter their mat to be presented with the choice to select a leader, just like the Beauty tribe. In a somewhat surprising choice they go with Sarah. You would think they would go with a big guy as the leader like Tony or Cliff. Don’t get me wrong, I support their choice. Like I said in my preview, Sarah is my favorite in this tribe and she can lead this tribe to victory. As leader Sarah has to choose the weakest person in her tribe and makes the most logical move and chooses the oldest lady in the tribe: Trish.

In my preview I dubbed Trish as the nice lady. Trish completely answers to this in her choice to go with the extra bag of rice instead of going with the clue to the hidden immunity idol. When it comes to the challenges it won’t surprise anyone that they’re a powerhouse. They performed like the A-team and not only finished

second on the first challenge but won the second one by a landslide. This means that just like the Beauty tribe, the Brawns don’t have to go to tribal and subsequently we didn’t see a lot of strategy going on. What we did see was Sarah doing what I expected her to do, being a leader but not the outspoken leader. She seems in the best position right now and has aligned with Woo and Lindsey which also concurs with my preview. The fourth member of her alliance is a bit of surprise being Cliff. Instead of being intimidating and off-putting, Cliff turns out to be somewhat of a jolly green (black?) giant. He seems to be everyone’s favorite except for Tony who looks to be on the outs. But with Trish, a hidden immunity idol and the first ever survivor ‘spyshack’ in his pocket he has the weapons to flip the table on Sarah and her alliance. 

This leads us to the tribe where it all happened in the premiere. With 2 painful losses in the challenges, 2 rough tribals and 2 surprise exits, it’s an understatement to say that the Brain tribe took a beating. But let’s start at the beginning for the brainiacs where they were given a comfy ride in a chopper which landed them at their mat. Just like the other 2 tribes they had to appoint a leader. Being the oldest man on his tribe who looks enjoyable, wise and full of life experience, David was appointed as leader. As leader, his first assignment was to choose the weakest member of his tribe. In a surprise choice David immediately pointed towards Garret. Admittedly, I would have chosen Kass like many of you would have to. But David reasoning behind his choice was sound. He immediately recognized Garret as a double threat being physical as well as intelligent. Sadly for David, Garret didn’t take it to well and this would prove to be a precursor of a clash between these two gentlemen which would ultimately lead to the demise of both of them.

Offcourse it’s no surprise that Garret, pissed of like he was after David’s choice, went with the clue instead of the bag of rice. Subsequently, after searching for awhile he found the HII and up till then things seemed to go pretty well for my favorite Garret. But things started to go south soon after that when they not only lost their first but also their second challenge after having a huge lead on both other tribes. During the run towards the first tribal for the Brains we saw a clash between David and Garret. David marked Garret as a threat and pulled in Kass to try and vote out Garret. Kass wasn’t very keen on the idea and wanted to vote of J’Tia as she proved to be a downer on the tribe and failed to perform during the challenge. In my opinion Kass's idea was the better one here. If they had come together and voted out J’Tia first, the Brains tribe would have been in a total and probably better position then they are now. Sadly Garret and David were blinded by the fear they had of each other. In tribal J’tia escaped the vote and David and Garret went head to head where David had to fold in a 4-2 vote between him and J'tia. This left Kass on the outs and Garret at the wheel. Up till then Garret lived up to the expectations of being a big favorite to win the game. Alas the second half of the episode showed something else entirely. It already started with Garret showing signs of wanting to quit the game, saying the survival part of the game isn’t for him. It went from bad to worse when they lost their second challenge miserably. Again J’tia was the obvious vote off but Garret decided on his own that that should be 

made clear in a public forum. This pissed of mainly Tash who wanted to talk the decision over but also J’tia who lashed out and dumped out the entire bag of rice on the fire because apparently it’s become a thing to dump out the rice when things aren’t going your way… Anyways, Tash approaches Kass to set up a counteroffensive against Garret together with J’Tia. Kass again isn’t sure and wants to make the sensible move and vote off J’Tia, the same thing Garret and Spencer want to do which makes her the swing vote. At this moment the Brains  tribe is at a nuclear meltdown brought about by a nuclear engineer and a controlling poker player. I felt like Tash, Kass and Spencer had to realize they were destroying their own tribe and had to come together to form a majority alliance of 3. They should have kept Garret as he is a major physical aid and without an alliance Garret is neutralized as a strategic element.  J’tia failed as a shelterbuilder, proved less then useless at the challenges, she dumped the rice and in her interviews she seemed to have lost all her crayons in her box to say it in Spencer’s words. In any other tribe J’tia would have been gone  yesterday but yet again the brains choose to go a different path. In a sizzling tribal council chaos ensues and Garret as a brilliant survivor player falls apart.  He proves to be socially inept and to controlling. What follows is Survivor proving again that at times it’s a very ironic game. Garret is on paper everything a survivor player has to be to win this game but in a 3-2 vote he’s out as the second player which is quite a surprise in my book.

I feel like the Brains tribe played way to hard, way to fast and with that they annihilated their own tribe. They lost 2 powerhouses so it’s doesn’t look good for their future challenges. After the second tribal an alliance of girls seems to be in control now leaving Spencer on the outs. If they have to go to tribal again, I hope they finally make the sensible move and vote off J’tia but If they vote of Spencer, this tribe is doomed to fail in this game.

A promising start to Survivor Cagayan and I’m curious to see what happens next week. If you're curious to see what David and Garret have to say, check out the 'day after' vids below.