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!