Survivor 43, Ep. 7: Bull in a China Shop
My Big Question Coming Into Tonight…
Episode 7 is about to begin with a merged tribe and a new phase of Survivor 43. My biggest question heading into the episode is how former tribal lines will be drawn? In other words, will this be the episode where the VESI and BAKA alliance takes a stronger hold on the game, building on their Immunity Challenge alliance or is that all ancient history and the game is truly a merged tribe, in a new phase, where the game has essentially reset?
Let’s see if that question and much, much more are answered…
GAIA (Night 13)
Merged tribe has a name and they kept it 4 letters like the other three. The intro to GAIA is Jeanine lost her #1 ally, Elie, in the carnage of the previous Tribal. Jeanine had me feeling good about her going forward when Elie got voted out because Elie was dead weight to her game. But, it’s clear that Elie’s blindside truly rocked Jeanine’s world. She wasn’t ready for it, nor was her game. Moving forward Jeanine needs to not be so desperate and take Noelle’s advice of playing it like she’s all good.
I think Jeanine will bounce back. She has that look about her. Based on her sneakyness of finding the Beware Advantage with Elie and searching through Gabler’s bag, I think Jeanine’s a snake and this snake, if she’s smart, will camoflauge into the new GAIA tribe and never mention Elie again.
TREE MAIL
Two episodes in a row we get Tree Mail? How Old School Survivor!!! This old school flavor had a very new era message to deliver.
“YET TODAY YOU WILL COMPETE IN PAIRS????!!!?!?!?!?”
So the next challenge is another Survivor merge phase first (I believe). The players will be competing in pairs but we don’t know anything about the challenge. Given the giant curveball of the situation and the savviness of the players at this point, nobody is willing to make a move and draw a line in the partner pool.
I understand that. It’s still super early in the game and in the previous night the person voted out was the most aggressive player, so it makes sense that nobody wants to make a move and throw even the teeniest target on them in this situation. So, they decide to democratically decide without drawing blood by drawing rocks.
Lesson learned - if something new comes up in Survivor, desecalate the situation and use rocks whenever possible to decide. Keep that threat level LOW!
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE (Day 14)
Pairs
Owen & Gabler
Jesse & Jeanine
Ryan & James
Karla & Cassidy
Cody & Dwight
Sami & Noelle
Stage 1
crawl through twisted net and mud to mat, dig up planks in sand, 4 teams advance
1st - James & Ryan, 2nd - Karla & Cassidy, 3rd - Owen & Gabler, 4th - Cody & Dwight
The story of stage 1 is Jeanine and Noelle not being able to make it out of phase 1 . Noelle ditched her leg in the early stages of it but she’s unable to do it and it kills her. Noelle’s emotions come out and so does the support for her in that moment. My wife cried too.
Stage 2
take planks up cargo net, untie planks from bags, use planks to cross rope bridge, slide down ramp, get to mat
Cody & Dwight dominate stage 2 with their communication but 2nd place was another story. Cassidy and Karla were on the cusp of the end of the plank bridge until Karla fell opening the door for Owen & Gabler to join Cody & Dwight in the individual stage for Immunity. We have a weakness for Karla’s game - the challenges. Even though it’s a weakness, it won’t impact my feelings on her chances to win, except, if she starts to have Ricard vibes from 41 where Ricard was going to win the game if he stayed in and the only way he could stay in at final 6, 5, etc. was to win challenges.
Stage 3
25% of starting weight in a bucket suspended for each of Dwight, Cody, Gabler, and Owen.
Keep the bucket up in the air longest - WIN IMMUNITY
Immunity is on the line for only one to win. The person who can keep the spindle of weight up long enough will win the first individual immunity. Quickly, Dwight is 1st out.
This challenge is harder than it looks. How strong is your grip?, how much forearm endurance do you have?, and how much can you minimize Probst’s narration?. Gabler, Owen, and Cody all share stories of their inspiration for digging in and staying strong in this challenge.
Cody’s story is best. He references a regret from a high school wrestling loss that he regrets ever since. Then…Gabler completely trumps the fun of Cody’s story. Gabler is fighting for his former patients who served in the military and lost loved ones along the way.
Is Gabler showing us a pre-show to a would be Final Tribal pitch to win???…Maybe not.
Then, Gabler starts to dedicate minutes to not so important things - his dog, his roommate, and Alaska. 🤣Hey listen, I’m a huge fan of the 49th state but don’t think it would be my inspiration. But, in the end, the last frontier was enough and Gabler, yes Gabler, to win immunity and safety at the first individual Tribal!
Gabler.👏Keeps. 👏 Succeding.👏
As I’m watching Gabler dedicate his minutes, my eyes are rolling like anyone else and thinking what insanely unimportant things I would dedicate minutes of holding my bucket to - Taco Bell chicken quesadillas, entertaining Sunday Night Football games, the guy who sweeps the hair after my haircut, and the person who mentions the status of rain as if everyone else hasn’t just experienced it themselves. All joking aside, we do see a deeper level of Gabler from his immunity win and I like it
🔥🚨 HOT TAKE ALERT🔥🚨 —> 43 is better with Gabler than without him.
Gabler is playing Survivor for veteran’s and the PTSD trauma victims. As a surgeon who has handled patients who were veterans and seen first hand the struggle that they’ve faced, that is truly admirable. A heck of a lot more than the seemingly silly minute dedications.
Gabler has emerged these past two episodes in several ways. First, he avoided being eliminated in the 3 tribe phase of the game by winning the temporary idol at the journey. Next, the Ali-Gabler rose from the swamp to orchestrate the Elie vote by throwing her under the bus at the merge feast. Now, he competes his tail off in the Immunity Challenge with his partner Owen and finally in the individual endurance aspect he closes out the Immunity Challenge win by outlasting Cody through inspiration from former patients, loved ones, and the military. The narrative on Gabler has been completely flipped and he is certainly earning my respect, and I think the respect of the GAIA tribe.
Going forward, will Gabler’s threat level remain low despite the game moves and success in challenges, or will he make a mistake or elevate his threat level to a winning level that he will be targeted sooner rather than later?
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE
Dwight, James, Sami and Owen are at the water well and an advantage was floating in the water. The bottle had a clue to an advantage hidden under the shelter. James is the one who saw it, scooped it out, and read it.
So what do you do if you’re James or anyone that saw it?
James earns a Knowledge is Power Advantage. He can take someone’s power or advantage in the game before the votes are read. Now, as we know, and have discussed on this blog MANY MANY TIMES BEFORE, will you keep your mouth shu…
Before I can even finish typing this, literally James decides to tell Karla, Cody, and Ryan that he has the Knowledge is Power advantage. Thus, GIVING UP THE POWER HE HAS!!! For the love of all things good in Survivor, I will never understand this strategy. Is it so terrible to keep your mouth shut and just go into Tribal and ask the question to get someone else’s advantage to successfully save yourself and move on to the next Tribal? I understand that we don’t know everything that is happening on the island, but if James felt ANY HEAT at all, wouldn’t it make the most sense to use the knowledge as power?
Instead, James spills the beans and a domino of advantage displacing goes on. Jeanine gives her idol to Dwight, Cody’s to Jesse, and Noelle’s steal a vote to Owen. Dwight is the student of the game and cites the advantage that James has is likely Knowledge is Power based on 41 & 42.
It’s hard to see who the alliances are and who the voting blocks are actually voting for. Add to it the number of idols and advantages and it’s even harder to know who the edit is pushing as the target.
Prediction: James uses the Knowledge is Power Advantage and it hits for the first time. Then, all hell breaks loose and the scramble at Tribal happens. Jeanine or Ryan gets voted out.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
This Tribal is going to be a momentum shift or the moment when things get real. Jeff mentions idols and advantages and asks everyone about their confidence in how the vote will go. A lot of 8/10s come out and that cues it up to be a moment for a move to be had.
NOTHING PLAYED.
VOTES
Dwight 7
Ryan 3
James 2
💥BOOM!!!💥
The Jesse and Cody duo made the move to detonate VESI and make their votes heard by taking out Dwight. Now that Dwight is out, it also means that James and his Knowledge is Power advantage are still in and Jeanine’s idol she gave to Dwight is dead. VESI was Cody, Jesse, Noelle, and Dwight, but it is no more! Jesse and Cody decided to cut off one of their own and flip the game upside down.
They decided to go surfing!
My Big Question Coming In Gets Answered…
Before the episode began I was thinking about
…will this be the episode where the VESI and BAKA alliance takes a stronger hold on the game, building on their Immunity Challenge alliance or is that all ancient history and the game is truly a merged tribe, in a new phase, where the game has essentially reset?
I sort of got an answer. Ultimately, VESI and BAKA didn’t merge to take out COCO and build off their previous alliance from that one Immunity Challenge. That’s ancient history. The larger answer that we got was the tribe is merged and old tribal lines are gone. VESI (Cody, Jesse, Noelle, and Dwight) did not stay “VESI strong” and vote those 4 together, but instead they decided to take out Dwight and put the whole damn game on blast. To me, the game is WIDE OPEN and I like it. Hard to know where the next vote will go, but one thing I know for sure is advantages and idols are coming out soon to spice this party up even more.
WINNER RANKINGS WATCHLIST
I know that is’ still suuuuper early to make winner predictions but let’s highlight some people on my watchlist for a potential deep run in this game.
Karla - Best strategist from the 3 tribe stage of the game, has an Immunity Idol, built strong alliances with James and Cassidy at COCO, and controlled the votes at COCO.
Jesse - Continues to impress with his influence over the vote and he was instrumental in the Dwight vote. Not afraid to cut one of his own.
James - Had at #2 last week but his threat level is WAY UP. Plus, he has the Knowledge is Power advantage and everyone knows it. Amazing how last week he’s seen as Karla’s consigliare to this week getting multiple votes thrown at him. (Maybe shouldn’t be on the watchlist)
Gabler - The Ali-Gabler is stealthily succeeding in the game right now. I hope he continues to lurk in the swamp.
Thanks for reading this week. Appreciate the support. Be sure to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest all season long. I will be writing about each episode all the way through to the announcement of the winner of Survivor 43. See you next week.
The blog has spoken!!!
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