Survivor 44, Ep. 3: Sneaky Little Snake
🔥BURNING QUESTIONS HEADED INTO EPISODE 3🔥
Can Carolyn and Danny continue to keep their Birdcage Immunity Idols a Secret?
When I first saw the Birdcage containing the advantages out in the open, it seemed impossible, or at the very least completely improbable, that someone would be able to open the cage alone and take the advantage without anyone on the tribe knowing.
BUT IT HAPPENED TWICE!!!!
Maybe Danny or Carolyn are the best players in 44 and this is the introduction to that, but they can’t completely get away with it scott free, can they?
If SOKA doesn’t go to Tribal Council soon, does it hurt those players long term in the game?
No, because Erika’s tribe in 41 made it to the merge completely in tact. The fact that Shan and Ricard survived the gauntlet of pre-merge gameplay, and it didn’t equate to a win, could be an easy answer to this burning question.
No, because Survivor’s new era is unpredictable as all hell and it doesn’t matter anyway.
Yes, because the game doesn’t start until you go to Tribal, vote someone out, and survive a Tribal.
Yes, because the adversity and potential elimination at Tribal elevate your strategy and gameplay. This serves you in the game.
There are many possibilities here. Feet to the Tribal fire here, I have to think not losing an Immunity Challenge is a curse in disguise. Is it great to survive, win challenges, and avoid Tribal? Of course it is. However, there is a value to going to Tribal to have lines drawn in the sand and see where people stand. Working those muscles within the game are valuable and could push your own strategy and gameplay to a much higher and needed level to make it further.
Now, onto the episode.
TIKA Night 5
Be honest, did the Helen vote feel like a blindside to you?
Carson is giddy after “blindsiding” Helen.
Me neither.
Carson was very giddy with himself about pulling off this “blindside” of Helen. Carolyn and Yam Yam were thrilled to have been on the right side of the votes and control, and Sarah didn’t have a vote. We get an inkling that Sarah, like Carolyn, is trusting Carson, yet knows that he is likeable and playing the best game at TIKA. To his credit, Carson is aware of the damage control that would benefit him by immediately going to Sarah and talking to her.
Interestingly too, Carson tells Sarah that he deceived her and even though Sarah tells us that his words “carry less weight” in that moment, she still trusts him more than Carolyn or Yam Yam. Perhaps earning 100% trust is the fallacy here. Instead, Carson’s actions to simply earn more trust with each tribe member than other members earn is the better mindset and approach.
RATU & SOKA Day 6
Dungeon Master and “O’ Canada” extraordinaire Kane, Jack of All Trades Brandon, and the Two Dorky Magnets Frannie and Matt kick off Day 6 with some back story, fishing success, and a budding showmance.
However, not everything at these camps are all hunky dory. In the midst of this Disneyland ride, the tumble saulting mastermind Danny, is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. Last episode he opened the cage and found the idol and fake idol. In this episode we learn the next steps to Danny’s evil plan.
👏 👏 👏 BRILLIANT!!! 👏 👏 👏
He pockets the real idol like anyone would. He takes the fake idol and wraps it in the real idol note. He puts the fake idol back in the birdcage and re-hides the key to the cage. But, to eat the fake idol note was awesome! I really think that you couldn’t have handled and played this birdcage twist any better. Danny has the Hidden Immunity Idol, nobody knows, and he put everything back the way he found it.
Stone Cold Killer.
SOKA Day 6
Group search parties and Danny is drooling trying to not blow his cover. Then, the search party ends when Matt, the sneaky little snake, finds Danny’s trap. He’s such a dork and I like him for it and I feel bad when literally two seconds later, here comes the knock at his door by the “what did you put in your pocket police” Danny.
Danny pulled Matt’s gameplay pants down in front of Josh. Now, Matt doesn’t want Josh to know but gives in and tells Josh. Then he tells Danny. Then he tells Frannie. Then Danny tells Heidi.
Would this have happened to anyone or was Matt uniquely susceptible? I thought about this from every angle, but I don’t think it would have mattered. Matt, Frannie, Josh, Claire, or Heidi all would have thought they found an Immunity Idol. Any of them would have been tracked by Danny because he was purposefully looking in the area of the trap he set for the search party. There was no way he wouldn’t know who found where he hid the key.
Tip of the cap to Danny. From our perspective, Danny couldn’t have played it better and literally anyone would have believed that they genuinely found the key and then the idol.
Now, Danny has to make sure he doesn’t blow his cover or let his gameplay ego be a Hindenburg.
RATU Day 6
Jaime, Lauren, and Kane are conducting her own Survivor Eating Challenge that has Gervais shaking his body around and around like it’s Borneo. However, earthworms wasn’t the only thing that Jaime was looking for when she finds an Immunity Idol.
OR…
ANOTHER SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED FAKE IMMUNITY IDOL!!!
Fasten your seat belts folks, 44 is off and running! Matthew pulls his own Danny at SOKA when the tricky editors of Survivor take us through Matthew’s masterfully executed plan with the newly hidden idol at RATU. The real takeaway here is how Matthew (and Danny) acted alone in finding the advantages in the game, keeping them secrets, and then doing the work to put a fake idol and misleading info and advantage back into the game. In other words, they are making giant moves and doing it without telling anyone. Plus, the cherry on top for Matthew is he used the earthworm feast and Jaime’s “Plant Lady” persona and relationship with “Plant Daddy” against her. He literally led her to the fake idol he planted as a way of protecting himself and seeing if he can trust her.
Did Matthew’s fake idol outdo Danny’s??? (Leave a comment)
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Dive in, swim to large cube, roll cube in ocean to collect keys.
Dig under log, unlock puzzle platform, and stack colored blocks.
REWARD - Large Tool Kit and Fruit, Smaller Tool Kit and Fruit
SOKA has Claire sit out for a 3rd straight Immunity Challenge. This is unbelievable. Is she that weak? Is this her strategy? Does she not want any part of the fun part of Survivor? Luckily she has lunatics like Danny to push themselves head first and backwards under the log through the sand. There is absolutely no way I could do what he just did. I don’t know if I’m claustrophobic but the idea of doing what he did is scream inducing.
The challenge comes down to a familiar Survivor puzzle.
RATU slays the puzzle and earns the sword immunity. The shield is on the line and SOKA and TIKA are trying to copycat RATU’s puzzle and it works…
TIKA completes the puzzle, wins the small tool kit and small fruit, earns their flint back, and send SOKA to Tribal Council for it’s first Tribal Council.
PRE-TRIBAL COUNCIL SCRAMBLE
Here’s what we know heading in. Danny has a Hidden Immunity Idol. Matt has a FAKE Hidden Immunity Idol. Everyone on the tribe thinks Matt has a Hidden Immunity Idol. Danny knows the truth. Matt cannot vote at Tribal because he lost the RISK/REWARD challenge earlier in the game.
SOKA is coming to Tribal Council and now we’ll learn about where this tribe is at. Danny throws Claire out to Josh but throws Matt out to Claire. Is Danny running everything at SOKA?
Not so fast.
The vote for Claire seems like the easy vote. She doesn’t compete in challenges and has been outside of that camaraderie and bond earned. However, Frannie isn’t sold. Frannie knows that Matt is “malleable” and communicates that to Claire and needs to work with Claire to convince Heidi.
Frannie showed me something in this scramble. She’s smart and has an awareness to not just go along with the keep the tribe strong argument. Plus, I love that despite the showmance angle, she showed her savvy and strategy in the game to be reckoned with.
PREDICTION: Potential Fireworks, but I think Josh gets voted out and King Danny’s typical “keep the tribe strong” argument goes bye-bye.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
This first vote comes down to the strength of the tribe vs. individual strategy and gameplay. In other words, the easy vote would be to vote out Claire, but is that in everyone else’s best interest?
The most interesting interaction is Claire, called out by Jeff, turns to her left and asks Heidi if she’s still “where she was before” and Heidi looks straight back at her and says “I think so”. Not very convincing but I guess we’ll find out…
🚨SHOT IN THE DARK🚨 - Claire is NOT SAFE
VOTES
Claire 4
NO VOTE - Matt, Claire
Hell of a job throwing the viewers off the scent of Claire being eliminated. Heidi’s unconvincing answer to Claire’s last stitch efforts was revealing. The larger takeaway here is that the tribe chose physical strength over a longer term plan involving Claire. Lesson learned, challenges have at least some value in bringing people together and more importantly in Survivor, being a reason to boot somebody out who doesn’t participate.
Hot Take, but Claire had a worse exit than Bruce. At least Bruce had a memorable, albeit sad, exit. Claire was a ghost and then was completely outplayed for not participating. Sitting out 3/3 Immunity Challenges is a bad idea for many reasons, but imagine being Claire right now. Like, what do you say to yourself thinking back on your experience on Survivor when you literally didn’t participate for 3 challenges and were promptly voted out for it.
To say good-bye to Claire I can only think of the wise words of Simon Cowell.
“Claire, your performance on Survivor was simply forgettable.”
No ticket to golden ticket to Hollywood for Claire and no hug from Seacrest. Only a snuffed torch and a cloud of smoke from Probst.
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
