Episode 7 - “The Merger”

“On the eve of the merge, 10 are left, who will be the first voted out of the newly formed tribe?” - Probst

Day 19 - THE MERGER

How do you merge two tribes?  Each has their own world and way of tackling daily life, but which is better and who gets the power to make the decision?  I like the idea of an ambassador from each tribe scouting out the opposite tribe’s camp to see which camp is better to house the newly merged tribe.  

For Sean (Tagi) and Jenna (Pagong), the decision of which camp is better is a no brainer.  The show’s montage of comparing the camps makes it easy to see the advantage goes to Tagi.  

The other wrinkle of the ambassador’s visit is strategy based.  How much can we learn about the other tribe? How much can we learn about this ambassador who will be part of the new tribe?  From the viewer stand point, you guessed it, Richard was leading the charge in learning about Pagong, evaluating Jenna, and making sure she ate some delicious food under their parachute canopy living room to solidify a top shelf first impression.  Richard wants to impress Jenna enough so he can keep his alliance comfortable and playing a home game at Tagi beach.

The next step is the ambassadors coming together at the sandbar challenge site.  There, Probst greets them with a delicious lobster dinner, red wine, two beds under the stars, and a list of chores to complete for the new tribe.  They need to decide the new name of the tribe, which camp they will live at, three items to bring from the camp being left behind, and to paint the new tribal flag. 

Jenna and Sean were set up for a romantic evening but what they really got was a meal fit for royalty and enough wine to officially take a break from the game to enjoy it.  It may not be $1Million but this once in a lifetime night within a once in a lifetime experience is a pretty good consolation prize for now.

LEAVING PAGONG

5 minutes to pack, grab your luxury items, and three items from camp to take with them.  The last thing they must do is bid farewell to their home for the past 20 days.  For Gretchen it was a moment of reflection “I think it taught me something too you can be very comfortable and I don’t feel like I need to bust butt all the time.”  For Greg it is a rebirth “there was a lot of baggage that we left on that Pagong beach”.  For Jenna it was a heartfelt moment “it was where I had formed a bond with 7 other people”.  Leaving behind the old Pagong and welcoming the new Rattana tribe is an exciting new beginning for the survivors and for the viewers.  At home, we too leave the game as we’ve known it behind and enter into a new chapter with the merger.  It’s now an individual game with every person for themselves.  

RATTANA

The times they are a changing.  

Immediately Rudy reveals his feelings.  “All of a sudden we doubled our population, the house got smaller, the pots got smaller, and, uh, personally it’s a pain in the ass.”

Everyone is acting polite but sizing each other up.  For the first time we get to hear some strategy from Greg. 

“Rich is clever, and, uh, I mean we’ll start being honest now, I think Rich thinks he’s very clever.  He is relatively sharp.  He has a lot of things going on in his mind that he, uhh, selectively decides what he will share and with who.  Rich is playing a big game, which is very fun, so he is awfully entertaining.” - Greg

Greg proves his awareness here.  He sees what the viewers have seen from Rich since episode 1.  Greg even takes quick initiative and goes spear fishing.  He is challenging Rich to prove to him that he too is a leader.  As the best leader from Pagong, Greg needs to listen to himself and know that Rich is smart, Rich will be evaluating Greg, and Rich will figure out that Greg knows about Rich’s bigger game.  Greg is young, 24.  Rich has the age/wisdom advantage and if Greg’s not careful, he won’t be at Rattana very long.

DAY 21 - IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Holding Your Breath

The immunity idol is replaced with an immunity necklace.  To win the first individual immunity challenge and avoid being voted off at tribal council is all about how long you can hold your breath.  Sean, Gervase and Greg move on to the final round traveling along a ladder at the bottom of the sea releasing buoys.  WINNER - Greg by a nose.

Debatable how fair a challenge like this is.  Are men able to hold their breath longer or store more oxygen than women?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that now that it is an individual game the challenges have to be gender neutral.  The challenges have to be something that anyone can win rather than something like who can lift the heaviest object.  I like this.  I like the idea of a group of people creating the game sitting around thinking about the types of challenges they can do given all of the constraints including keeping them as fair and open a competition as possible.  Not easy!

TRIBAL COUNCIL

“But even though we aren’t any longer two different teams, I still have a team.  It’s gonna be interesting because we’re not solid.  We’re solid with one another, but we’re not solidly unbeatable yet just by circumstance because there are only 4 of us and there are 10 people still left on the island.” - Rich

“An alliance is easier said than done” - Kelly

“If people are fear and self-preservation motivated they’ll band together, they’ll form alliances, they’ll start feeding people out to try and get rid of the strong ones and get rid of this and get rid of that.  And, uhh, ya know if that happens I hope they vote me off real soon…that to me is really boring.” - Greg

“I want to vote based on people’s merits.  I don’t want to vote based on lets get rid of each of them first and then come back to our tribe.” - Jenna

What stands out is what we’ve known from the moment the voting alliance at Tagi formed.  Rich, Sue, Rudy, and maybe Kelly are playing a game to win.  They will play an alliance game, a numbers game.  That was the personality of Tagi.  They are straight forward and they do what needs to get done.  Pagong was not that way and it reflects in their lack of tribe unity going into the first Rattana tribal council.  Jenna wants to vote based on merit and Greg thinks alliances are boring.  I guess they don’t want to have the best chance at $1 million.

Probst’s Questions

“Richard, with the rules changing, how has that changed the group dynamic?” - Probst

“Gretchen, is it too soon to think that strategies might shift?”

“Sean, aside from the physical, who you want to hang out with, who you like being around, how big a factor is that gonna play in who you’re gonna vote for?”

Sean acknowledges the concerns he learned of as ambassador being alliances.  It’s hard to watch through a 2020 mindset after knowing 40 seasons of this show have happened and to see people be anti-alliances, voting based on merit, and not be more cutthroat.  It speaks volumes to this season being a social experiment more than an alliance/strategy heavy television show.  This is why Rich’s alliance and strategy stands out as well as Greg’s feelings of that type of game being “boring”.  

Greg - JENNA “Either be here or be gone!” 

Gretchen - RUDY “He’s probably the person I respect most in the tribe but the person I least want to play the game with”

Colleen - RICH “Overconfident”

Jenna - GERVASE “Mooooo”

Sean - COLLEEN “I am not really employing any strategy.  I’m voting for Colleen today.  I love her, she’s cute, adorable and nice to look at, and fun to have around.  She’s the first in a long list of alphabetical order.”

Votes - Gretchen (4), Jenna (1), Rudy (1), Rich (1), Gervase (1), Sue (1), Colleen (1), 

When you want to vote based on merit, who you least want to play the game with, or thinking alliances are boring, the vote comes out like this and the numbers game wins.  The former Pagong tribe has never had any sense of unity.  As a result, they will now be picked off one by one by a “boring” numbers game alliance.  I think the alliance chose Gretchen because she is a strong minded player.  She isn’t as green as Colleen or Jenna.  My guess is her personality being more like Sue and Kelly made the alliance uncomfortable about Gretchen’s potential to unify the former Pagong in a vote.  They couldn’t vote for Greg, therefore, they went after the second in charge from Pagong, so she needed to be eliminated.

PROBST’S CLOSING THOUGHT

“Well if tonight’s vote is any indication, the stakes have definitely been raised.”

The votes reveal the story and Probst knows it.  The Tagi alliance is solid and unified.  If the rest of the members of Rattana don’t do anything about it soon, their game will be ending.  It will only be a matter of time.

GRETCHEN EXIT INTERVIEW

“I would hope that it was because they felt I was a threat unless people had a conflict with me and didn’t voice it which I do think is an injustice” - Gretchen

Gretchen leaves the game only hoping that she voted off because she was a threat which only means one thing, she was NOT a threat.  

CATEGORIES AND AWARDS

1 - Biggest Move

Rich, Sue, Kelly, and Rudy keeping their voting alliance strong.  Ultimately, when the votes were cast they were the ones with the long term strategy of the game in mind.   The rest of the newly merged Rattana tribe better step up their game or they will be next.

2 - Biggest Mistake 

Upon leaving Pagong, Gretchen voiced frustration because the tribe didn’t operate in an orderly way.  She knew that was how Tagi was and in her confessional you can read between the lines that Gretchen missed having that.  Despite her best efforts Pagong doesn’t pull it together and it costs Gretchen her life in the game.

3 - Challenge Corner

For a holding your breath challenge, don’t hold your breath.  Is it truly fair?  I don’t know.  Can any challenge be truly fair?  Maybe not.  I did like the final round underwater race.  Photo finish with Greg edging out Sean by a nose.  Felt like the right person won immunity at tribal.

4 - Trending Up

The merger!  The show is better because of the merger.  New tribe name, new flag, new tribe color, new game dynamics, new challenges, new interpersonal politics, new sleeping arrangements and same grouchy Rudy.  The show is more watchable now that we have a merged tribe.  Seems like a win all around.  Well, except for Gretchen.

5 - Trending Down

I had higher hopes for Greg.  I thought he might take his unwanted leadership skills and put them to good use at Rattana.  Not even close.  Instead he wins the first immunity challenge and tells America that alliances and self-preserving behaviors are boring.  Maybe his plan is to just try and win the immunity necklace every time.  He better or that “boring” alliance is going after him next.

6 - Strategy Award

A different take for the Strategy Award section.  I usually give it for the most valuable or the best strategy.  This time it is the opposite.  It’s the strategy award for “what are you doing?” and it has to be Sean.  Look, I like his personality and he has been entertaining from a viewer standpoint.  He was a needed contrast to his tribemates at Tagi before the merge.  Even with his lack of a role and reoccurring failures at Tagi, there was some sympathy I felt with him.  BUT.  His alphabetical order tribal council voting strategy is terrible.  TERRIBLE!  Perhaps, he really is just a nice guy who genuinely wanted to only have a fun experience on Survivor, but voting people alphabetically makes no sense.  I mean did he not want to win the $1 million?  He couldn’t have just wanted fun, right?  

7 - Best Screenshot

When you get to enjoy a break from a once in a lifetime experience for a once in a lifetime experience.

8 - Best Quote 

I was torn between Rich and Greg’s differing positions on alliances in the game.  So, let's go with Rudy.  

“All of a sudden we doubled our population, the house got smaller, the pots got smaller, and, uh, personally it’s a pain in the ass.” - Rudy after the merge.

Doesn’t Rudy just have a way with words folks?  He doesn’t use many but when he does the viewer is the beneficiary every time. He is the guy at the roulette table who is hanging around but never playing and then bets one number and hits.  LOL.

9 - Who won the episode?

I hate to keep giving them the nod but the alliance of Rich, Sue, Kelly, and Rudy.  They had a plan, they stuck to it, and it’s working.  You can be frustrated at the lack of any other viable strategy from the other members of Rattana, but at this point nobody else seems to have a clue how to play the bigger game.  

Thanks for reading.  Please remember to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest.  I appreciate the support.

The blog has spoken!