Survivor 45 | Ep. 7
DAKUWAQA - NIGHT 13 (What the hell does that mean?)
Let’s see what they have to say in the wake of Kaleb’s successful Hail Mary. It’s truly a one of a kind situation. 12 votes were cast against Kaleb and his Shot in the Dark worked more beautifully then anyone ever has and everyone ever will again. The season is better with Kaleb than without him.
Bruce and Katurah are at it again and I’m ready for this to end. I’ve had it with these two. Bruce must really want Katurah out because calling her wishy washy in front of the masses about her desire to vote for Kaleb, seems like it could have waited.
I think the real question is, especially since everyone voted for Kaleb, do they just go into the next Tribal and vote for him again or do they let him back in?
Kaleb doesn’t need much of a crack to sneak into and stay in the game. Bruce is that crack. Kendra and Kellie are at their wits end with him and Emily is working to keep Kaleb around.
Another sub plot in the wake of Kaleb’s big move is that, technically, everyone didn’t vote Kaleb out. Austin didn’t vote. Instead, he gave up his vote to make his idol have full power until the final 5 vote. Huge advantage. Plus, he has the amulet with Kellie, which is now a Steal a Vote advantage because Jay was voted out. He even downplays Emily’s early idea of voting Kellie and making the amulet a full idol. That would put Austin into super duper powerful mode with two idols. For now, I think the magnitude of Kaleb’s move and the way it played out is working for Austin almost as well as it did for Kaleb.
Bruce and Kaleb aren’t seeing eye to eye and through 6+ episodes now, it’s easy to see why. First off, he is not going to win. No chance. Second, he can’t help himself but to be the old “dad” and everything but the “fun uncle”. Kellie is hand over her face frustrated with him and I think herself because he is one of her closest allies.
It’s interesting that the old BELO vs. old REBA collision is being teased to happen. Jake is trying to build numbers and keep people like Bruce in line with voting and he wants to bring Kaleb in. All that said, the thought that stands out most from this phase of the episode is that NOBODY SAID “HEY, LET’S VOTE OUT KALEB AGAIN”.
FIRST INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
TWIST
two groups of 6
two people win immunity - one from each group
two Tribal Councils
two people going home - one from each group
REWARD
earns their group of 6 a trip to sanctuary 🌮
earns right to second Tribal Council
The stakes couldn’t be higher and then Jeff drops the biggest bomb of the season when he says that the player who gets voted out of the first Tribal Council, WILL NOT MAKE THE JURY!!! When they say you have to earn everything in this new era, they mean it!
This new wrinkle ups the stakes even more. Now, everyone thought for a moment that they earned the merge and a spot on the jury. People thought they would be part of the rest of the game, at every Tribal going forward, and have a say - at least - in who wins the million dollars and title of Sole Survivor. Instead, one player will have earned the merge and a day later be voted out with only Ponderosa to hang out at, with the quitters.
CUTTHROAT.
RED Group - Jake, Dee, Austin, Julie, Kaleb, Katurah
BLUE Group - Bruce, Sifu, Kendra, Emily, Drew, Kellie
This is a classic Survivor challenge and it is BRUTAL. Emily (Blue) and Julie (Red) are out immediately. Your skin is going to get burned, you are going to be uncomfortable, and the challenge is designed to be awkward. Plus, it’s day 14.
Blue is quickly down to Kellie and Drew and Red is down to Kaleb, Katurah and Dee.
Drew is struggling with his 6’7” ish frame and he’s out. Kellie wins immunity and now is competing for reward. She’s up against Dee, Katurah, and Kaleb until he drops out. Katurah quickly follows behind him and Dee has won immunity.
It’s down to Dee and Kellie. Two players who didn’t enjoy the merge feast.
Before I can even type that out, Kellie has squirmed and wiggled down and OUT. Dee wins the reward for the RED group.
They both win immunity and both are in tears. The individual game brings out the fight for yourself and yourself alone. It’s a clear contrast to the first 6 episode’s challenges. Closing thought, it makes sense that Survivor 45 would have a throwback challenge like this one, especially after the hold your breath under the cage challenge they had in 43/44. Personally, I don’t like this challenge because I would suck at it, I would have burns on my inner thighs and biceps, and would probably be out in seconds. This challenge favors lighter people, thinner people, and the fit and flexible. Aka, NOT ME!!! Objectively, I like the nostalgia but don’t like this challenge very much. It kind of sucks.
CHALLENGE RESULTS
RED Group | Winner - Kellie, 1st Tribal
BLUE Group | Winner - Dee, 2nd Tribal, Sanctuary
Blue will go back to the old LULU beach with nothing but Tribal Council looming. Kendra, Emily, Drew, Bruce, and Sifu are on the chopping block, and Kellie is safe. Two REBA (Drew and Sifu), one LULU (Emily) and three BELO (Kendra, Bruce, Kellie). My first thought is that Bruce will not get voted out because his number one, Kellie, and fellow BELO Kendra have the numbers. I don’t think they will chance it and instead will bring in Emily and try to weaken REBA. That leaves Drew and Sifu on the chopping block.
Red will enjoy the sanctuary and some taco time. Plus, Kaleb, the guy who needed a Shot in the Dark to be even in this challenge, now finds himself on a reward, still alive, and on the jury.
SANCTUARY - DAY 14
The joy of the meal doesn’t last long and finally Julie points out the elephant in the room TO VOTE OUT KALEB. However, Jake has some other plans. He loves Kaleb. He sees Kaleb as his guy and wants to keep him around. Plus, he is playing the longer game and the analysis he let’s us in on is that Dee is the biggest threat and Julie is going to only help maintain Dee’s strength. Jake’s done binge eating and now he wants to purge Julie.
FIRST TRIBAL GROUP - NON SANCTUARY
This pre-tribal scramble is complex. Complex because Drew is desperate and forgot his Safety Without Power advantage back at REBA beach. Kendra is coming after Bruce and gets everyone on board that she can. Bruce has an idol (totally forgot). Kellie is trying to put BELO aka Humpty Dumpty back together again.
SECOND TRIBAL GROUP
Austin doesn’t want to keep Kaleb but Dee and Julie do. Dee is loving being the one in power with the necklace around her neck. However, Jake is ready to play and he has Kaleb on his side. I love that Jake is taking a stand and not going along with Kaleb’s move. LET’S GO JAKE!!!
What I love about the plan is that it takes into account that Austin is playing a scared game and will try to press him on a revote. Kaleb continues to show his savvy and skill as he uses the knowledge of Bruce having an idol to his advantage by using that information as an olive branch to Katurah, so she will go along with the Julie vote plan and not the vote Kaleb again plan.
Then, Jake comes clean on the Bruce idol to Katurah too. His bogus “where’s my rings” story comes out and Katurah was the only BELO not in on that action. AKA, Katurah is having second thoughts.
Uh-oh
BACK AT OLD LULU BEACH
Sifu comes clean about his mortality and Kellie is convincing Kendra that Bruce is the shield of shields at this point and cannot be voted out. Bruce is THE NEW SPECIALIST! Kellie sees it and lays it on a silver platter for Kendra to swallow like a young kid taking their cough medicine. The reality is nobody likes Bruce and nobody is voting for him to win the million. Kellie is well aware and everyone is communicating how annoying he is, but it’s CLEARLY in her best interest to keep him around. He takes all the grenades for her and whoever buys into keeping him in the game. It’s a TOUGH sell to people to keep the thick headed, unfiltered father, and most irritating player, but it’s one hell of a strategy. Everyone suffers through every Bruce conversation yet he provides value to those he keeps closest. The question really becomes how long do you keep him around before it starts to come back and hurt you and your game?
Then, Kellie makes her pitch for Sifu. He’s the easy target. He doesn’t have the relationships that the rest of REBA has with one another, his jury vote is unpredictable (great point by Kellie) and the Bruce vote is not what Kellie wants to do.
Kendra tries to pitch Bruce for the first time all game and Bruce isn’t having it. He may not be everyone’s favorite but he isn’t stupid. Bruce has an idol and he is ready to play it. He smells the Kendra BS and isn’t about to get caught with his pants down in the game. Bruce’s fate seems to be ultimately in Kellie’s hands. Tonight may not be the time for her to cut his throat, but she will be the one to do it.
PREDICTION - Bruce plays his idol and Sifu gets voted out.
TRIBAL COUNCIL 1 - NIGHT 14
These tribals are randomized by drawing rocks and people don’t have any leg to stand on with the twist of splitting into two tribals. The stakes go up and the decisions get tougher. Ultimately, this new twist is an opportunity or a curse. It’s all in how each player looked at it and decided to play it out between the end of the challenge and their votes being cast. Luckily, for every player, nobody appears to have been truly swap screwed.
Bruce doesn’t play his idol. Ballsy.
VOTES
SIFU - 5
BRUCE - 1
Not much is lost with Sifu being voted out. He didn’t bring much to the season other than some uncomfortable looks from everyone else. Feels right that he gets voted out and doesn’t become part of the jury. Who did he bond with? Who were his allies? What was his Survivor moment? How did he connect with the viewers? The answer to those questions are all the same and I think that’s why he doesn’t belong on the jury.
My prediction was 1/2 right. Sifu was voted out, yet Bruce hung onto his idol.
PREDICTION 2 - Katurah doesn’t go along with the Jake/Kaleb plan. Kaleb is out. Easy, safe vote.
TRIBAL COUNCIL 2
Jake taps into something that I feel I would feel at this stage in the game. He respects everyone in the game and that he’s not a robot. It really connects with me and with Julie too. As a fan and future Survivor player, it’s easy to say “I will be cutthroat and vote out whoever I need to” but like Jake says, I’m not a robot.
Kaleb seems to be drawing dead. He can be transparent, talk to everyone, and play his heart out. However, the Shot in the Dark is only good for one miracle. It really comes down to Katurah’s vote.
VOTES
KALEB - 4
JULIE - 2
In a sharp contrast to Sifu’s vote just moments ago, Kaleb getting voted out hurts. He was the most dangerous player out there, charismatic as hell, and truly made the season better. I repeat, the season is worse without Kaleb. Additionally unlike Sifu, Kaleb deserves to be on the jury and I’m happy that he will be.
Was Kaleb too good too soon or just too good? Don’t forget that Kaleb’s journey took him to both REBA and BELO. He was the only player who got access to everyone in the game and it feels like his social game strengths combined with the opportunities he had, ultimately didn’t work together. Those two things don’t actually work together and help a player like Kaleb.
Kaleb’s opportunities early in the game were actually his downfall. Sure he’s eliminated from the game because he was a strong player, a social threat, and had the big move with the Shot in the Dark. All true. But, that’s not the whole story. Kaleb gets eliminated because he had too many opportunities too early on in the game. Those opportunities put his strengths on display for us to enjoy and root for, but also for the other players to be universally threatened by. I believe that if he didn’t have those opportunities that his imprint on the whole game would have been significantly less and he would have stayed around a little longer. It pisses me off that this happened this way for Kaleb, but I guess he can hold onto the complement that it pays him and the game he played.
I too would rather go out being an exciting player that people rooted for then some dull, hang in the background, boring and forgettable player that makes it further.
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