Ep. 8: Game Within the Game
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It’s time once again for a Survivor 41, “Game Within the Game” post. For the 8th episode we have the most creatively displayed in the episode Rebus Puzzle placing it under water connected to one of the puzzle pieces to be released. Pretty cool. Plus, another strategy test to ponder. Remember, here at Tribal Council Blog I’m trying to have some fun with all things Survivor and Amazing Race, so the GWtG is no exception. Have fun with it!
EPISODE 8 - REBUS PUZZLE
CLUE 1 - 🥜 = PEANUT
CLUE 2 - 🦋- 🪰= BUTTER
CLUE 3 - CHALK
CLUE 4 - 🕳 = HOLE
CLUE 5 - 8 = EIGHT
PEANUT + BUTTER & CHALK + HOLE + EIGHT =
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The 8th Rebus puzzle was pretty straight forward. My favorite clue was the chalk. Props to the person/artist who is in charge of doing the drawings or putting the pieces of the puzzles together for the audience to see on the show and on the website. My pictionary skills are legit but I don’t think I would have thought to draw a small chalkboard with an arrow pointing to the chalk at the bottom. Mine probably would’ve had the word CAT written on the board and it would have thrown people off.
This Rebus Puzzle jars a throwback to the Amazon and an iconic moment for Survivor fans and probably non Survivor fans. Feel like this moment transcended the show as a major pop culture moment. Check it out in the video before and jump to :54 seconds for you impatient video watchers to get straight to the action.
EPISODE 8 - WORD PUZZLE
Moving on from the Rebus puzzle. Next up in the GWtG is the WORD SCRAMBLE.
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Solving this episode’s word scramble is no problem, HERE, but the riddle continues to be a tough one. Anyway, let’s think out loud about this with the now 8 pieces of the riddle.
The addition of HERE makes me wonder if the remaining words for episode 9, 10, and 11 are going to be words like THE or AND to help make these words into a sentence. I definitely need more words to get this even though I so badly want to solve it 3 weeks early. I still think that my early predictions about some audience participation toward voting in the end in some capacity.
Final thought on the Word Scramble and future riddle. I hope it isn’t going to fool junior Survivor wannabes like Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” when he finally decodes the radio message to only learn that it was only “A Crummy Commercial”.
Now to the good stuff…
EPISODE 8 - STRATEGY TEST
“…which is in the event of a twist post-merge…but we get put back into groups and divided…what’s your approach as an alliance?” - Jeff Probst
The approach is to first, no matter what, make your alliance feel you are doing everything with the alliance’s interests first while simultaneously doing whatever you need to do for yourself. New alliances, side deals, politicking, whatever. Self preservation is numero uno.
As Probst said in this strategy test, it’s situational.
If the alliance wants to target a specific player for elimination, the twist splits the alliance, and the alliance members with the targeted person need to throw a challenge to ensure that target doesn’t win immunity, then you break from the alliance and compete in order to not put yourself at risk of a vote. Too easy to have it backfire.
If the alliance finds itself in a situation to nominate another player to go on a reward/journey/exile, you have to send another alliance member to it. As an alliance you cannot risk another Erika decision situation where the whole game does a literal 180.
Again it’s very situational.
“Do you know that everybody in the alliance will do whatever they can to protect their alliance? or do you all agree, listen, it’s an individual game.” - Jeff Probst
When it comes to this decision, like I said before, inevitably self preservation rises to the top of my priority list. I would reassure my alliance as best I could that I will do whatever to protect the alliance, but only to a certain point. If the twist screws one member of the alliance over and that person is me, then I am going rogue and pulling out all stops in order to stay alive in the game. I don’t think the alliance would ever say that a twist makes the game an individual game, but should I be the one who keeps the alliance first and another member of the alliance breaks away to do something in their own interest, then that will be used against them in Tribal Council, hard.
This strategy test isn’t as black and white as other strategy tests have been and that’s a good thing. Not every strategy situation is as clear as others. In the end, I assure the alliance that I’m all in but keep my fingers crossed behind my back out of sight of anyone else. If an opportunity arises that would help my interest in the game enough without the consequences being fatal, then I do what is necessary for myself to move forward in the game. If someone else from the alliance goes against the alliance in their own interest then I do what everyone in 41 does and immediately out that person and use this knowledge as power to place a larger target on someone else.
Anyone but me.
Thanks again for reading. Hope you are enjoying the Game Within the Game as much as I am. Be sure to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest all season long. See you next week.
The blog has spoken!
