Survivor 44, Ep. 10: Full Tilt Boogie
🔥 BURNING QUESTION HEADED INTO EPISODE 10 🔥
Can Yam Yam continue to influence the game at this pace?
Yam Yam has been behind votes of Josh, Matt, Brandon, and now Cain Kane, all who have cast a vote for Yam Yam at Tribal Council. Now, they are all out and Yam Yam, and TIKA, find themselves in the middle of a dwindling RATU (only Jaime and Lauren remain) and the challenge threats from SOKA (Frannie and Danny) and Heidi who just found the idol. My guess is that he keeps his foot on the throttle of trying to bully the votes to how he wants them to go to continue to try and stockpile bullet points on his Final Tribal resume, but I still think he’s underestimating Carolyn. She has voted differently from Carson and Yam Yam before, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they continue, like everyone else, to underestimate Carolyn’s game to a breaking point where she blindsides Yam Yam.
Can SOKA and RATU figure out they need to work together to take down TIKA’s bigger threats?
The winner watchlist has Carolyn and Yam Yam right up at the top with Danny and Frannie heading into this week and you can’t count out Carson from being in contention either, he’s too smart. That makes all 3 remaining TIKA major threats to win the game and so at what point does RATU and SOKA abandon previous strategies and shake up the game by going to each other to take out the middle men, TIKA? It feels like this would be an opportunity for someone from either side to make this major move to shift the balance and predictability of the game like an Etch-a-Sketch and create a brand new picture of the game.
Now, onto episode 10!
VA VA Night 17
UH-OH!
Carson told Danny the vote was Kane and Frannie was left out with her solo vote on Jaime. Frannie is on the outside looking in and so is Lauren. The cream is rising to the top and on night 17 following Kane’s departure (and robbing us from Jaime playing a fake idol) the cream is Carson. He’s playing the best strategic game and on top of it, he’s smarter then everyone else.
REWARD CHALLENGE
Spin inside metal frame bringing a buoy across a line, cross a series of obstacles while collecting balls, and land the balls on a narrow ledge.
REWARD.- Sanctuary night filled with tacos, empanadas and margaritas (virgin if under 21)
Rain is coming down HARD!
The spinning metal frame looks absolutely terrible. The challenge beasts - Frannie and Danny - are out in front as usual and up and over the cargo net collecting balls. Everyone catches up on the balance beam but Frannie sitll lands a ball on the ledge first and second before anyone else winning AGAIN!
WOW! Frannie is a challenge beast and has won a trip to the sanctuary and…
LOVE via letters from home.
The biggest reward of the season by far and she decides to take Carolyn with her on reward because of her son. Carolyn is in tears. Next she picks Lauren who also has a son, and with a bonus pick she opts for Heidi. Frannie picks 3 women to join her in receiving love and leaves out Danny, Carson, Yam Yam, and Jaime. Frannie citing mom’s missing their kids as reason for giving the reward to them - smart move. Nobody is going to hold that against her, or at least those moms won’t be able to. The 3 people she chose would’ve been the most devastated if not picked, and most likely to come after the now clear challenge threat Frannie.
VA VA Day 18
The best part of seeing those not on reward is the raw emotion that comes from those who have been slighted. Yam Yam missing out on the letter from his husband is devastating and the mood at camp is wanting blood from Frannie.
SANCTUARY
The mood at the sanctuary couldn’t be a greater contrast. Carolyn cried over her letter. Heidi and Frannie took a look at their letters and cried. Lauren’s dad is proud of her. She’s defying the odds as a single mom, a divorcee, and breaking the cycle of potential poverty. Carolyn breaks up the sobbing with her son writing as much as she did.
The sanctuary clearly brought a truly human moment and deep appreciation from Heidi, Lauren, and Carolyn to Frannie for giving them this reward and experience. It’s so raw, so real, and watching from home you can feel how much those letters and words of love and encouragement mean to the players. Each of them are grateful for this opportunity and even more so for the moms who miss their children.
As great as that moment and the images are, the best is how it segues back to the game. They have to talk strategy also to make the most of this opportunity in which people could be letting their guard down or acting out their Oscar winning scene. Carolyn brings up taking out Danny. Lauren’s down. Frannie says nothing and when pressed about when she will be ready to let go of Danny, Heidi says it “could” be.
PREDICTION: The sanctuary alliance isn’t a final four lock. Frannie better keep winning challenges because she will be targeted if she loses. If she wins, I think enough people will look at Danny and make Carolyn’s desires come true. Ultimately, at this point in the game, the major challenge threats have a gigantic bullseye on their back.
To close out this scene, we have Jaime coming clean with the non-reward crew about her idol going home with Kane and Danny not believing her juxtaposed with Heidi signalling to the sanctuary crew that voting Danny would need to be a blindside.
VA VA Day 19
Jaime comes clean immediately to the ladies returning from their night at the sanctuary. She proclaims loving being honest, yet NOBODY believes her. Impressive that everyone has the guard up to idol stories so much so that Jaime’s story, though true, sets off EVERYONE’S BS METER and she has NO CLUE that everyone thinks she’s full of 💩.
To me, this is a signal of how difficult playing Survivor is because everyone playing at this point is well aware of the game, the strategies, the pitfalls, and the risk in believing someone’s story. I’m laughing at how Jaime told the truth and it actually elevated her threat level in everyone’s mind.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Feet tied together, arms tied to your sides
Slither through sand using your mouth to drag a buoy through the course.
Maneuver your buoy through the rope, unlock the puzzle pieces and complete the star shaped puzzle.
The challenge looks uncomfortable. The two sand hills make the level of difficulty through the roof for everyone, except Danny. Danny maneuvers his way through like a seal and is way out in front in freeing the buoy from the rope. At this point Danny gets out in front but his seismic lead is cut down significantly trying to free the buoy. Feels like the sand obstacle course should have meant more and given Danny a greater lead, instead, the puzzle again is what matters.
Carson annihilates the puzzle even with a slip up and wins immunity. This means Frannie doesn’t win. This means Danny is ready to strike while the iron is hot on the challenge beast. Despite the fun of that, leaving this challenge has me feeling sour. The fact that Carson is able to speed through the puzzle tells me he likely practiced this puzzle too. It cheapens the win. It takes away from the challenges. I love the challenges and apart of me wants to see the best player win, but it feels like Carson is the nerd who has all the answers to the test and therefore it’s a foregone conclusion that he will get a 100 or in this case win immunity.
I feel like Danny’s athleticism helped him jump out in front during the first part of the challenge but not nearly the advantage that Carson’s practice with puzzles affords him. The design of the challenges puts the emphasis on the puzzle to win the challenge where the physical aspects may only help you take a early lead. Even the rope management piece isn’t a make or break, unless your Carolyn who doesn’t have any type of advantage in any challenge. Ultimately, it feels like this season is going to force the game design team and challenge design team to really rethink having the puzzles be reused and always at the end of challenges. The card counters are ahead of the casinos and I don’t think that bodes well for Survivor.
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE
Frannie or Danny? Danny or Jaime? Vote out the guy with the six pack or the girl who has won multiple Immunity Challenges? Lots of choices but it seems like it’s going to be Frannie or Danny. Yam Yam and Carson see the opportunity to take out Frannie but they are cautious to upset Carolyn. Danny is dead set on voting out Frannie and even makes it clear to his ally Heidi that they can do it without her.
The chaos level goes to a 10/10 when Lauren throws out Heidi’s name and Carolyn loves it. She’s trying to protect Frannie in the wake of the love reward Frannie gave her while also abandoning her desire to vote out Danny. She enlists the help of Lauren, Jaime, and Frannie at first to vote Heidi but also on the promise of getting Carson to make it a majority of 5. She also brings it to Yam Yam causing his jaw to drop.
My jaw is dropping too. The game is now at the final 8 and the people who want to make a run at winning the whole damn thing are trying to lead the vote and are coming to play tonight, hard! Carolyn, Carson, and Danny all have their plans and only one will emerge as the plan followed.
PREDICTION: Carson makes his move and sticks with the Frannie plan. He betrays Carolyn and lives for another edition of post-Tribal damage control. Don’t forget, Frannie won many challenges, gave the best reward to 3 others, and has 1 guaranteed vote on the jury in Matt.
BETTER OUTCOME PREDICTION: Carolyn plays her idol and saves Frannie and her Heidi plan works. Nobody expects it. Nobody knows she has the idol. Everyone has underestimated Carolyn to this point, but no more.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Jeff drops the “full tilt boogie” state of mind at Tribal and I love how Danny dings it. Is Probst looking to be quoted?
The stress level and anxiety at Tribal is at maximum capacity. Danny calls out Frannie for all her winning, the new era belief that seems to be bought into is that the game changes every day and what you did last time, who you voted last, who you worked with last, is all out the window. Players believe it or at least say they do to avoid giving away their intentions.
VOTES
Frannie 5
Heidi 2
Danny 1
My prediction was correct and the smart vote was made to vote out Frannie. Eliminate the challenge threat, the person who won and gave reward, and the person with the guaranteed jury vote. They had to vote Frannie. Frannie being the challenge threat was unusual or “mismatched”. Right? When we look at Frannie, even after her multiple challenge wins, we still don’t believe it. I think that’s why it increases the level of threat that she poses and hence is voted out. Frannie had a serious chance at winning the game if she remained, and Carolyn could have saved her with her Immunity Idol, but perhaps her conviction of controlling the vote was too great and thus her idol remains a secret to her and only her. Could’ve been her big move.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The game has a constant feeling of chaos yet the votes grab hold of the ship and steer it out of the stormy waters. The votes tonight took the chaos of what editing led us to believe were several plans and uncertainty, and made it clear that Carson and Yam Yam again were the captain and first mate of the ship. Though Danny may have spearheaded the Frannie vote after losing the reward, Carson is the one who decides who goes home. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
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 44. See you next week.
The blog has spoken!!!
Follow my blog Website - www.tribalcouncilblog.com
Instagram - @tribal_council_blog - Click here and Follow the Insta
Facebook - @tribalcouncilblog - Click here and Outlike, Outcomment, and Outshare
Twitter - @TribalCouncBlog - Click here and Follow
YouTube channel - Click here and Like and Subscribe
