We’re drawing ever nearer to the conclusion of this season. Usually this is the moment in the season where the majority alliance has become pretty solid and the minority alliance is somewhat admitting defeat already. Also the final three becomes clearer and even the winner is not that unpredictable resulting in a rather boring finish. But not this season. This season has been keeping us on our toes for nine episodes straight including this latest episode which was really exiting even though the eventual result of the tribal was somewhat of a bust.
We’re down to seven people left and everyone is playing the game whether they’re playing it well or poorly. This season is promising us a thrilling finish with no idea who’ll be the winner or do we?
Sitting in my Spy Shack had pretty much everything you want from a survivor episode. First of all it had some of the funniest quotes I’ve ever heard in this game. ‘I’m so sorry for headbutting you.’ and ‘Those papayas are as big as Morgan’s boobs.’ I also haven’t laughed that much at Morgan’s ‘Who’s Jeremy?’ then the time that Shambo remarked ‘Who’s Eric?’ to Russel in Survivor Samoa.
Next to some chuckles, this episode also had an abundance of strategizing. Nearly everyone (except maybe Woo…) was playing the game this week, whether doing a good or bad job at it. One of the people who had a big episode was Trish. Now Trish has been a quiet force throughout the season but she could upset this season. After everyone returned from the tribal where LJ was voted out and people were still trying to wrap their head on what just happened, Trish showed that she’s level-headed and isn’t influenced by emotions when it comes down to strategy. Unlike the former Aparri alliance whom were upset with Kass for her betrayal right after the merge, Trish didn’t have an emotional reaction on Tony’s betrayal. Trish looked past what Tony did and realized that one, she isn’t any better off with Jeremiah, Tash and Spencer. And two, she realized that you need Tony at your good side. The moment Tony’s at your bad side, you could be in trouble really fast.
Further in the episode Trish also showed tremendous social skills by reeling Jefra back into the flock. The way she handled Jefra and Tony to bring Jefra back to the alliance was really impressive and should be an alarm bell for Tony. Why you ask? Well, as far as I’m concerned Trish is the only person that can keep Tony from winning this game. In one way, Tony might not be such a goat as Trish and the rest think. But in another way Trish is a far greater jury threat then Tony realizes. And there’s where Trish’s challenge lies. She has to prevent Tony viewing her as the jury threat she is. The moment he does, she’s in real trouble.
Now from someone who didn’t have an emotional reaction to someone we can safely say did: Jefra. Now to her credit, she did try to play the game this episode, although she did it poorly. After LJ was voted out, Jefra was clearly upset. LJ was her rock and now she’s in open water with nothing to hold on to. This made her the perfect target to reel in for Spencer, Tash and Jeremiah like I mentioned last week.
It even seemed like the Survivor gods themselves wanted her to flip because she won the reward challenge with Spencer, Jeremiah and Tash. Still grinding on Tony for voting out LJ, the three former Aparri members didn’t have to make a hard sell to convince her to come with them. Sadly for them, her flip wasn’t permanent, not even for an entire day. Noticing that Jefra her trust in the alliance was broken, Trish showed some real skill to mend the fences between Jefra and Tony. Reunited with Tony’s alliance, Jefra breaks the news to Jeremiah in a way like she was dumping a boyfriend. This results in a status quo for Jefra with just as much chance to win this game as the start of the episode: nothing.
Next up is Tony. It would be an understatement to say that Tony had a good episode this week. He started this weeks episode with the construction of a second spy shack. And what’s even more surprising then two spy shacks in one season is the fact that it actually works.
But of course Tony has bigger issues then building a spy shack, like dealing with Jefra. After voting of LJ, the trust between Tony and Jefra was broken. Scared that Jefra would flip to the other side, Tony sought protection in the superpowered immunity idol that was still left to be found. Eventually a very hyper Tony (It kinda got weird when he found the idol…) did find it, which kinda feels to me as a conviction for this season. I won’t go over on why I dislike the superpowered TylerPerry idol again, like I did in a previous review (S28E07). But by finding it, I do feel it pushes Tony as the big favorite to win the season. He has a majority alliance and has an idol that makes him indestructible until final four. Can anyone stop Tony? Other then Tony himself, I don’t see that happening to be honest.
As for the rest of Tony’s alliance, Woo was busy not playing the game as usual. Falling from tree on your ass is of course more important… I also loved the words Spencer accompanied his vote for Woo. ‘Dude, where’s my car’ pretty much sums up Woo’s gamestyle and I don’t see that changing either.
It’s almost unimaginable but Kass had an even slower episode then Woo. Woo at least fell on his ass but Kass had nothing. Not much is left from the ChoasKass that voted off Sarah. Here’s me hoping that she wreaks some chaos if or when Spencer and Tash are voted out.
This brings us to Spencer and by extension Tash and Jeremiah. I felt like Spencer had a good start at the beginning of the episode. He quickly came to the same conclusion like myself last week that voting out Tony should be the next move. To do this Jefra was the most likely person to approach since she felt betrayed by Tony. Not a lot of convincing was necessary to flip Jefra and they seemed to be in a good spot. It even went better when Tash won immunity limiting the voting options for the other alliance. But that’s when it went south for Spencer and his compatriots. As easily as Jefra flipped, just as easily she flipped back, putting Spencer, Tash and Jeremiah with their backs against the wall. Just like Jeremiah revealed his job as a model (like anyone cared…), Spencer revealed his possession of the idol. The idol being their only way out of their dire predicament, all three decide to switch their vote to Woo although their motivation for doing that remains unclear.
Laughs, excitement, reveals, discoveries. It was all there but the only thing this episode lacked was an epic conclusion. Spencer showed some real tribal council skills by calling Tony out on all his lies and backing him up in a corner. Equally surprising was the lack of realizing how much they’re being played by Tony on the part of Trish, Woo, Kass and Jefra. Although I do believe those four do realize what’s Tony’s all about but they’re hoping to drag him along as a goat in a final three. Although I don’t see that going so well as they think if you ask me. After the votes are cast Spencer decides it’s time to play his idol. Sadly, he doesn’t take the leap and play it for Jeremiah (or Jeremy) but he keeps it for himself. A real shame if you ask me. I know it’s a big risk to take but it seemed pretty obvious, even without the edit, the way they were going to vote. Also saving himself now is just postponing his own inevitable exit, so why not take the plunge and try to vote one of Tony’s alliance off and make the mountain he has to scale just a bit smaller. After all, life, just like survivor, is for the one’s who take risks. Sadly, Spencer doesn’t which means the end for his fashion model buddy as Jeremiah goes home in a 5-3 vote.
As a little addendum I’d like to point your attention to the moment at tribal where Spencer plays his idol and Tony is showed fidgeting with his, apparently oblivious to the rest. This struck me as really odd. Maybe it was just poorly fitted into the episode? Or maybe it’s something that’ll become clear in a future episode? A possible explanation is that Tony showed the idol to scare Spencer into playing his idol for himself as Tony did say that Spencer was about to play his idol for Jeremiah. If this is the case, it’s not shown to the viewer in a clear manner but this is just speculation on my part. I do wonder whom, if not everyone, saw Tony’s idol since he wasn’t being that subtle. This might have some ramifications for next week.
Now, Spencer and Tash have dodged a pagonging before but now their situation looks very grim. Jefra was their best chance to flip someone tot heir side. But with Jefra paddling back, that alliance of five looks tighter then ever. No one from those five have any real reason to flip. I expect Tash hand Spencer to go home next, leaving Tony, Trish, Kass, Jefra and Woo to duke it out until the end. My prediction? Final three: Tony, Woo and Kass. Winner: Tony. Stay tuned for next week. You can find Jeremiah’s Day after and Ponderosa vids below and I’ll see you next time!
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