Survivor 43, Ep. 5: Stop With All the Niceness
COCO Post-Tribal
Cassidy got a vote at Tribal and she’s pissed. She wants to know who it was and the Ryan and Geo alliance is exposed. Worst of all, Geo gets caught with his pants down because he was the lone vote on Cassidy.
BAKA Day 10
Elie and Jeanine are scouring for the idol. Despite an ant infestation, jeanine finds the Beware Advantage and immediately runs to Elie to share the news. She opens it because of her trust in her alliance with Elie
Then…
The girls get caught!!! I love that Owen walks into the Elie and Jeanine idol picture. Owen is faced with a decision.
Ally With Elie & Jeanine - this means giving them his bead as a way to build trust and take the Top Secret information he has and NOT use it against them. Risky.
Blow Sh*t Up - this means taking this information as a means to build trust with others (Sami, Gabler) and effectively eliminate the girls one by one because Jeanine wouldn’t have a vote. Knowledge is Power!
For Owen, I like the option of going against the girls who snuck around the island and found the Beware Advantage. How can you possibly trust them? They are showing the strength of their partnership and they will be harder to build a relationship with than Sami or Gabler. I understand Owen’s concern about tying yourself to Gabler at this point but using that information for his greatest gain at this point was by blowing sh*t up. Opportunity missed
Then, Jeanine has to pull off the gathering of the beads and does it with relative ease, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Sami brings Gabler up to speed on what actually just happened.
Elie tried to sure up her alliance and lower her idol finding threat level by sharing the news of the Beware Advantage finding with Sami. Sami goes along with Elie’s plan and helps Jeanine collect the necessary beads to turn the beads into an idol. Sami and Owen are running parallel.
Then, Sami decides to opt for a 3rd option, previously not mentioned in Owen’s choices. Sami opts to
Ally With Elie & Jeanine AND Blow Sh*t Up - this means that Sami went along with Elie & Jeanine to build trust with them and make them comfortable even though he is actually plotting against them AND after the coronation ceremony is complete thanks to Jeanine pulling the wool over Gabler’s eyes, Sami decides to blow sh*t up and spill the beans to Gabler that they just gave her an idol.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Tied together maneuvering obstacles and hurdles to retrieve water, take bucket up and over a giant teeter totter, fill a large bucket with water to drop a gate, and finish by rolling balls up onto platforms
REWARD
1st - Large Tarp
2nd - Small Tarp
Last - Tribal Council
COCO and VESI had a head start on BAKA at the ball rolling but not for long. All three tribes quickly are tied with one ball. After a bunch of close calls, Dwight lands ball #3 and wins immunity for VESI. A crucial misfire by Ryan knocks all 3 balls down and Sami puts COCO out of their misery and back to Tribal Council again.
RYAN THROWS THE CHALLENGE?!?!
Ryan’s SUUUUPER comfortable in this game. He throws the challenge to fulfill his mastermind plan to vote Cassidy out. Then, he further digs his grave by telling other tribe members to say they are voting for him. (Dumbest move ever!) To really behead himself in the game he tries to make Cassidy feel better about her position by "being noble” and BSing her that he wants her to get further in the game.
Wow.
I feel like we haven’t learned that much about COCO because of their success the first 3 episodes and when that fell apart last episode we learned that Karla is in a power position holding an idol and working with the other girls and James. Everyone seems to trust James on COCO and Geo and Ryan were a pair.
A second straight loss reveals again that James is in good with everyone, but Ryan is not at the top of his ally list. Ryan shares his plan with James and then James tells Cassidy and Karla.
Long story short, Ryan just displayed exactly how to commit Survivor malpractice. 1, never throw a challenge unless you have Russell on your tribe. 2, never tell people to “put the votes on you” because it only invites people to simply put enough votes on you and send your ass home. Lastly, don’t be afraid to read the room and take the “as long as it’s not me approach”, especially on a tribe of 5. You can’t win the game at this stage with a power move to build a resume, but you sure as hell can lose it!
JOURNEY
VESI choose Geo (COCO), Jeanine (BAKA) and selects Jesse (VESI) to go on a journey.
We have a new journey setting. They get dropped off at a barge teat tells them to row to the little island of sand in the water. As they row, Geo plays the guilt card telling them that he’s on the bottom.
Jeanine and Jesse aren’t buying Geo’s story. They all RISK!
Now, there’s a 1 in 3 chance of winning the advantage and losing their vote at the next Tribal. These 3 are all here to play.
JESSE - Risk and LOST
For Jesse, it may have been the riskiest of all because his tribe is a tribe of 4 and losing his vote is absolutely devastating.
JEANINE - Risk and LOST
For Jeanine, she’s going for the jugular. Didn’t need to do it especially with her idol. STUPID!
GEO - Risk and WON!
For Geo, RISK was a no brainer. Had to do it AND IT WORKED!!! He wins the Knowledge is Power advantage and decides to tell…Karla. He trusted Karla and trusted wrong.
Now, the Knowledge is Power advantage once again isn’t taken literally. Geo doesn’t think about the title of his advantage and gives up his power because he gives Karla knowledge of his advantage. Now, Karla, the most strategic player on COCO would be smart to protect her idol and position in the game by voting out Geo before he can ask her a question she won’t want to answer.
Then, Karla shares with James and Geo
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Tribal comes down to a couple factors. First, COCO has lost all momentum in the game losing two straight challenges and having to vote out a second tribe member. Next, the vote seemed to be something Ryan felt he was in control of but actually he was setting his own guillotine in the game, BUT Geo won a Knowledge is Power advantage from the journey that he shared with Karla. This caused Karla to shift the vote discussion with James and Cassidy over toward Geo because Karla is the one with the knowledge and power. However, nothing is easy on Survivor anymore and the theme at COCO seems to be paranoia and Cassidy may have drank too much of Lindsay’s Kool-Aid and could be voted out.
VOTES
Geo 3
Cassidy 2
Welp, there ya have it folks. Once again, knowledge is proven to be power within the game of Survivor, yet it doesn’t seem to stop people from giving that knowledge and power away, only to have it turned on them and used against them IMMEDIATELY! I don’t understand it. I feel like every blog I pose the same question of “WHY CAN NOBODY KEEP THEIR MOUTH SHUT?” Like, seriously? I don’t understand.
The new era of Survivor has been littered with sharing secrets and keeping very little close to the chest for players. I thought 43’s players would have learned from watching 41 and 42 to not get caught up in the “Survivor Bucket List” moment of obtaining a serious advantage in the game and then give their secrets aka power away. The Knowledge is Power advantage has been a curse since its inception in Survivor 41 for most, but those who are able to build the trust and acquire knowledge as a result are the true gangsters of the new era. Karla wins this episode by playing the trust she built with Geo masterfully when she used knowledge as power and sent him home. She didn’t even need the advantage to do it.
The blog has spoken!!!
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