Survivor 41, Ep. 2: Juggling Chainsaws

BEWARE ADVANTAGE

When someone warns you with the word “beware”? How do you respond? What goes through your mind? Does it make you want to channel your inner Dennis the Menace (danger seeker) or listen to the warning and back off like Chuckie Finster (worrywart)?

If you’re Xander, and Survivor warns you to “BEWARE”, there’s only one choice, you go for it! Xander found the “Beware Advantage” that Tiffany once had right in front of her face. If he takes it, he has to do what it says, but he can put it back and not risk it. Risk vs. Reward yet again. By opening the Beware Advantage, Xander has immunity but only if he is able to call out a random phrase at an immunity challenge AND have two other people from the other two tribe camps recite the other secret phrases too.

• “I truly believe that butterflies are dead relatives saying hi”

• “I’m as confused as a goat on astroturf”

• “I didn’t realize this until now…broccoli is just a bunch of small trees

If all 3 phrases are said at the Immunity Challenge then they all gain immunity. However, it is called the BEWARE Advantage for a reason. The reason being is that until the secret phrases are ALL said at an Immunity Challenge, Xander doesn’t have a vote! On top of that, the phrases are ridiculous and despite Xander’s bet efforts to sneak it into the conversation with Jeff, the absurdity of the phrases are going to make it a dead giveaway.

CBS

Look, I’m not going to sit here and say that Xander made the wrong choice by taking the new and never before created Beware Advantage. He didn’t. He’s on Survivor and when you’re on Survivor, and the season is only 26 days, YOU TAKE THE BEWARE ADVANTAGE and keep moving forward! Now, his next move was to immediately share with Evvie and Vocè his discovery. I wonder if Xander read the Surgeon General’s Warning on the Beware Advantage which (fictitiously) says…

• Advantages cause you to think things through, share information you shouldn’t, lose power, get blindsided, cause an ally to be blindsided, distort reality, and may complicate the game further.

EVVIE’S MAKING MOVES

Xander’s lack of reading the Surgeon’s General Warning has left him with all his trust in Evvie and Vocè’s basket. And…it backfired Evvie smartly seized the day of having he power of information and in this case, someone else’s information. She used it to signal to the girls (Liana and Tiffany) that Xander had found this new advantage, had to say a ridiulous phrase about butterflies and the dead to make it have power, and that he didn’t have a vote until the 3 phrases were all said.

CBS

Evvie is living up to her Harvard PhD background and intelligence by taking advantage of Xander disclosing information to her. She played the boys like a. fiddle and cemented her trust with Liana and Tiffany going forward. The all girls alliance is in play at Yase and looking strong.

But wait there’s more…

After Luvu secured 1st place in the Immunity Challenge they chose Evvie from Yase and Deshawn volunteered to go to the Risk Your Vote/Protect Your Vote island. While there Evvie again seized the day like she was a member of the Dead Poet’s Society and built an ally in Deshawn. Evvie earned his trust through the power of sharing someone else’s information (Xander and the new idol details) and because she needed her vote she could easily sway Deshawn to choose to risk his vote and in turn gain an extra vote via his new friend and best ally pal Evvie! Evvie just hitting dingers left and right! In the end, Evvie is smart enough to realize the impending doom for the Yase tribe with a second straight trip to Tribal Council, dwindling numbers, and the possibility of a tribe swap or merge,so by extending the olive branch across tribal lines to Deshawn, turning Xander’s information into power, and rallying the Liana and Tiffany voting block to unite in their voting, ladies and gentleman Evvie is beating the monster before it beats her in episode 2. Player of the episode award easily!

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

via @survivorcbs

Another classic Survivor Immunity challenge. First, a long swim and dive to unlock a key. Then, one tribe member dives in, crosses the net, dives in, crosses the balance beam, dives in, gets to platform. After the second tribe member completes the course, the two puzzle makers on the final platform are able to go to work on the turtle puzzle.

The challenge was pretty uneventful. Luvu won comfortably and Ua finished second also winning immunity. Yase was sent once again to Tribal Council for the second straight time. With tribes starting at 6 and Yase down to 5, getting to 4 is even tougher, especially when you consider Xander doesn’t have a vote.

PRE-TRIBAL COUNCIL

At this point of the episode it was all about the Yase tribe, and it pretty much was all about them for the better part of half of the episode. Leading up to their 2nd Tribal Council in as many chances, Tiffany was apologetic for her poor performance on the balance beam in the Immunity Challenge. Xander can’t vote and everyone knows it. Vocè makes the Abraham “keep the tribe strong” pitch to Liana in an effort to vote out the weak link thus far, Tiffany. But, unfortunately for Vocè, Liana immediately alerts Tiffany of this attempt causing her to tailspin in paranoia of being voted out.

The most important part of the pre-Tribal Council portion of the show is Evvie being in the driver seat of the direction of the vote. She was “in” with Vocè and Xander enough that Xander spilled the beans of his new advantage. She was “in” with Liana and Tiffany in voting out one of the men on tribe and controlling it via her knowledge of the advantage and everything else Xander was stupid enough to give up so easily. Lastly, she was “in” with Deshawn as discussed earlier to ensure that she would protect her crucial vote at Tribal Council knowing that only Vocè, Liana, Tiffany, and herself had votes. In the end, Evvie flexed her muscle over the tribe, albeit a tribe plummeting out of the air like the wounded duck it is.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

Tribe Strength vs. Alliance Loyalty. This is what Jeff believed the vote would come down to and he was right. If Yase was to choose tribe strength, which they already have decided against once, then the obvious person to vote out would be Long Island’s own Tiffany. If Yase was to choose alliance loyalty then the alliance would be the one that Evvie decided to anchor herself to. Despite Xander admitting to being humbled by the game just a mere 5 days in and Vocè pleading with the tribe like he needs medication for an emergency situation in his hospital, Evvie made the choice to go with alliance loyalty.

VOTES

• Vocè - 3 votes

• Tiffany - 1 vote

• Xander - cannot cast a vote until the new immunity idol with secret phrases is fulfilled

VOCÈ EXIT INTERVIEW

““I think I came in with a mistrust of people and instantly put trust in a couple people and didn’t make sure my relationship building was solid with the entire tribe.””

— David Vocè

I thought the girls of Yase would have 86ed Xander over Vocè at first thought. Xander has the Beware Advantage, he has an extra vote, he can’t vote until the new Immunity Idol phrase saying requirement is met, and through all of that he is clearly playing hard! However, because of Xander sharing his secrets/Evvie exposing his information for her own gain, he has no power.

Therefore, Vocè gets his torch snuffed too soon in my opinion. I felt that he had a lot more game in him. From the introductions to all the players I felt Vocè was competitive and had that “edge” necessary to be an impact player in Survivor, but because of his social mistakes and Evvie’s strong strategy moves and relationship building combined with Tiffany’s reliance on the girls coming together, it left Vocè vulnerable and unfortunately voted out 3rd. This surgeon never quite had the tools to operate.

EPISODE 2 AWARDS

1. Biggest Move

   • Evvie using Xander’s information to her own benefit. She was in control at Yase and for her own game going forward.

2. Biggest Mistake

   • Xander sharing the Beware Advantage. I know he is on Survivor and you have to go for it and take the chance on the advantage, but that doesn’t mean you have to open your mouth and give that power away. Big mistake.

3. Trending Up

   • Evvie for sure after her MVP of the episode performance. Aside from that I’ll say the Luvu tribe because they were on screen to explain that Naseer is valuable at camp and to win the challenge comfortably. Lot of potential there.

4. Trending Down

   • Brad. Oh Brad. My dude from the Cowboy State got a little too ahead of himself. He decided to spy on Ricard and JD by sprinting down the beach to beat them to the water well, but he also decided to share with Shan. C’mon cowboy. You got to be smarter than that. Plus, what did you really learn from spying? Was that more valuable than taking that solo time to search for an idol? I don’t think so. Opening his Big Wyoming mouth hasn’t served him well so far.

5. Strategy Award

   • Evvie seeing the game from a short term, keep my vote to secure control of who gets voted out from Yase, and long term, make connections with Deshawn by sharing other people’s information and doing right by him through protecting her vote and telling him to risk it to earn the extra vote. This is the best strategy so far this season. Not too surprising, she is a Harvard PhD.

6. Best Quote

   • Xander feeling delusional out there to the point that “I truly believe that butterflies are dead relatives saying hi.” He did his best Jimmy Fallon type word sneak, and even got a laugh out of Jeff. He played it off as well as you could, but did he make a mistake saying it so soon? I think so. The thought of him saying the phrase AGAIN at the next Immunity Challenge is so awkward, my skin is crawling and the episode isn’t for a week!

7. Who won the episode?

   • Beating a dead horse here but Evvie won the episode. In a Yase heavy episode, with a lot transpiring in only an hour of watching time, the craziest day of Evvie’s life turned out to be a good one for her. We’ll see if the hot streak continues or if another twist in the game upsets the control and power she possesses at the moment. For now, give her the championship belt.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest all season long. Look for my next blog about the second Game Within the Game to drop later this week or early next. If you missed the first GWtG blog check it out.

The blog has spoken!