Survivor 44, Ep. 8: Don't Get Cocky, Kid
🔥 BURNING QUESTIONS HEADED INTO EPISODE 8 🔥
Will Frannie bounce back or fall apart?
Frannie has her highest high winning individual immunity and it’s followed by her lowest low of Matt getting his torch snuffed. She will either adapt and rise up or not adapt and crumble. She has the ability to win this game but she needs to bounce back and she needs to bounce back in this episode.
Based on the episode preview for tonight, will Carson get pulled from the game?
We’ve had enough medical issues for 5 seasons. We don’t need any more of them.
QUOTES From VA VA - Night 14
“It’ makes more fun to keep me worried.” - Yam Yam
Even after being on the chopping block and having votes cast against him at Tribal, Yam Yam stays Yam Yam. We said it on this blog last week that the game and season is better off with Yam Yam than Matt, and post-Tribal quotes like this reaffirm this hot take a week later.
“Now that he’s gone I feel like I’ve been marooned all over again.” - Frannie
Frannie is devastated. I won’t say it would be the equivalent of what Boston Rob being voted out of All-Stars would have been for Amber, and the history of the Survivor franchise, but Frannie and Matt were clearly a strong connection and relationship beyond just an in game alliance. Again, I’m ready for Frannie to channel her inner phoenix and rise from the ashes.
“We voted Matt out because him and Frannie are close and we wanted to break them apart.” - Brandon
Essentially, RATU voted Matt out of the game at the previous Tribal to weaken SOKA and keep the strength in numbers in favor of RATU. Brandon, Jaime, and a hand from Yam Yam were enough to oust Matt despite Heidi’s “Control a Vote” advantage. Advantage RATU? or are they setting themselves up?
“I’m going to need to pair up with you, Carolyn, Carson.” - Heidi
Heidi revealed a bit of strategy deciding to control Lauren’s vote because she knew she had 2 votes and if she really wanted to vote for someone other than Yam Yam, she would have. It does reveal the strength of the RATU alliance at this point. Heidi’s quote here also reveals the lens in which SOKA and RATU see the remaining TIKA members through. Yam Yam, Carolyn and Carson feel like they are right where they want to be.
“My slogan coming out here was “don’t get cocky, kid”…If it’s not a Ratu member who wins this game, we messed that up.” - Kane
Everyone keeps telling the viewer how smart Kane is, but this is one of the classic dumb things a player can say. There is a disease of success like this in Survivor. Perhaps they will be able to Pagong the rest of SOKA by using TIKA and then duke it out as RATU in the final four.
VOMIT AND TREE-MAIL - Day 15
🤮 Carson begins the curse of his reward from the peanut butter and jellies. Footnote: I hate peanut butter! (pause for reaction) That’s right, it’s terrible and I actually refer to PB & Js as “sadwiches”. Thank you Carson for adding another tally to this hot take.
What’s revealing through this is Carolyn’s nurturing him through the crisis and joining him in the challenge that requires pairs. Plus, this is us seeing her as a therapist in her real life. There is a quiet confidence with TIKA underneath the underdog, the underestimated, and the vomit.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
STAGE 1 - Crawl through twisted muddy net, dig up planks, and plant flag at mat. Last pair is out.
STAGE 2 - up cargo net, use planks to cross a rope bridge, get both players and all planks across. Last two pairs out.
STAGE 3 - final four compete to win individual immunity by balancing between two walls on teeny tiny foot posts.
STAGE 1
It looks absolutely terrible to maneuver through the muddy net. Carolyn sounds like she’s being chased in a Halloween movie by Michael Myers. Entertaining?, of course, and so Carolyn. Danny gets through first, Kane and Yam Yam next. Jaime struggles and Carolyn is frozen. Kane and Brandon, Danny and Lauren, Yam Yam and Frannie are through easily. Heidi and Jaime limp to stage 2. Even in defeat, Carolyn steals the show. (Is it too obvious that I’m rooting for her?)
STAGE 2
The “plank management” and strategies will decide this stage. As likely as it is for someone to mention this quote of Probst referring to the obvious and saying something corny like “plank management”, I’m all in. In stage 2, Kane and Brandon run away with it and Danny and Lauren aren’t far behind. Both pairs shimmied across the rope bridge relatively easily.
STAGE 3 - Final Stage, Individual
The key to this stage is how it requires a total slow down from the adrenaline rush of stage 1 and 2, plus pain tolerance. Great challenge design in the sense that the first two legs are done with speed, filth (mud), and balance. Now, in the final stage, you have to shut all that down and be challenged mentally. Brilliant.
Based on body type, this challenge is going to be won by Danny or Lauren. Brandon is too big and muscular. Kane is too big and sloppy. Lauren weighs the least. Danny is fit and smaller than Kane and Brandon. Women have a greater pain tolerance than men. Each transition down decreases the size of the foot perch and increases the pain.
Transitioning from foot perch two to three were enough to eliminate Kane and Brandon and bring something out of Danny we haven’t seen before.
Now, the transition from perch three to four. Final stage and the perch can’t be more than a half inch.
“My kids are going to be so proud. My kids at home, my kids at school…It’s a bucket list item.” - Lauren
Lauren wins immunity! Hooray for another teacher W!
She’s safe from elimination leaving the rest on the chopping block. Our runner up Danny let’s us in on the not so secret, secret going into the pre-tribal scramble, RATU needs to lose a member.
I agree with the concept. They made a move at the previous Tribal, they have the most people remaining in the game, and Lauren has 2 votes. Their power needs to be cut off for SOKA and TIKA to level the playing field.
Will Danny’s plan come true or will it be another fart in the wind?
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE
Brandon and RATU are sooooo confident. Too confident. They decide easily on Frannie and get Carolyn and Yam Yam in on that action. Then, Brandon and RATU share the plan with Danny and Heidi. Seems stupid.
Immediately, the cockiness of RATU is used against them with Heidi and Danny concocting the plan to use Danny’s idol to blindside RATU and take down Brandon. Even the playing field. TIKA and SOKA combined is 6 and RATU is 4 but with Lauren’s extra vote, makes 5. Heidi pills the beans on her and Danny’s plan and his idol, and he shares it with Frannie.
Yam Yam knows the plan and yet again, knowledge is power. This scramble has brought the info of Danny’s idol and his intent to play it for Frannie and foil RATU’s plan to someone like Yam Yam’s benefit. Now, he can use this information to either boost Danny’s big move and eliminate Brandon or tell Brandon and RATU of Danny’s plan and switch the vote to Danny to tally a big move on Yam Yam’s resume.
I don’t think Danny needed to blow up his secret at this point. Did he think it was a major crossroads in the game? Did he think Brandon or RATU was such a huge threat and he wanted to be at the center of the dagger to take them down? Hard to know exactly, but the votes will let the truth have it’s day.
Prediction: Danny keeps his idol, Frannie goes home.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
The questions Jeff is asking are eliciting the anxiety and complete unknowns in Survivor. Nothing is ever certain and the key to Survivor is knowing what’s happening behind the scenes. Nothing is certain and is there anything definitive behind the scenes?
Right side of the vote, wrong side of the vote, and the intention of the vote. It feels like each vote is it’s own entity and indicative of the present and only possibly the future. The new era of Survivor is accelerated gameplay and thus more unpredictable.
ADVANTAGES/IDOLS
Danny - plays his Hidden Immunity Idol for Frannie.
VOTES
Frannie 6
Brandon 4
Breath in with Danny!
The plan worked, they pulled it off! Danny played his idol for Frannie and it cancelled out the six votes cast against Frannie by Brandon, Jaime, Lauren, Kane, Yam Yam, and Carson. Which means that SOKA’s 3 of Danny, Heidi, and Frannie were joined by Carolyn in voting out Brandon.
Let’s start with Danny and SOKA. Despite letting the cat out of the bag about him having the idol and despite the bigger cat let out of the bag that he was going to play his for Frannie, the vote still went the way he planned. Also, both cats let out of the bags were known by Carson and Yam Yam who still voted Frannie out.
Weird?
Is there a bigger strategy being deployed by Yam Yam and Carson? or did they think Danny wasn’t going to play his idol and didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the numbers?
My spidey sense tells me it’s the latter. Plus, more was revealed here. TIKA didn’t vote together. Carolyn voted Brandon unlike Carson and Yam Yam. Now, Carolyn was on the right side of the vote, and the other TIKA members voted with RATU. Lot of directions to go from here, but for now let’s settle on Carolyn being aligned with SOKA and on the right side of the numbers in the most blockbuster vote so far and Carson and Yam Yam were not.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Let’s close out the blog with these images of Kane in the beginning of the episode on his cocky high horse and in the preview for next week with his awakened full stomach of humble pie. Doesn’t always taste good, but perhaps it was just what he and the rest of RATU needed to start playing Survivor.
WINNER RANKINGS WATCHLIST
It’s still early to make confident winner predictions, but it’s time to start thinking seriously about it. Since we are now down to 9 players remaining, it’s time to start thinking ahead to Final Tribal Council and who’s got a chance to win the whole damn thing.
Danny - Made a BIG move saving Frannie, eliminating Brandon, but target is on him now.
Carolyn - Underdog, underestimated, and capable of making game changing/winning moves. Has birdcage idol.
Frannie - Has the “I lost Matt’ angle and 100% has Matt’s vote to win. She can win.
Yam Yam - As charismatic as anyone out there and keeps surviving votes despite his name being thrown out there consistently.
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!!!
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