Survivor 45 | Ep. 6
BELO - NIGHT 11
I find it interesting that Emily is the one who’s been brought in on a vote and now the one smoothing it over. Can’t say it enough, Emily was the one that easily could have been voted out first without Hannah’s quit. On the opposite side of Emily’s “triumph” of this Tribal is Kendra. Kendra has been betrayed by Emily (aka she thought Emily would vote with her and Brando). Plus, Kendra is now feeling alone at BELO while Austin, Drew and Emily are sitting pretty.
Sounds like Kendra needs a merge…
LULU - DAY 12
There is a collective idol hunt at LULU with Kellie, Kaleb, Jake and Uncle Bruce searching and Katurah is left in the dark. First off, I guess the battle of who to trust between Katurah and Uncle Bruce, was won by Bruce. Katurah must have worn out her welcome or straight up not bonded with people as much as Bruce. We have been led to believe that Bruce was intolerable by Katurah, but given that Bruce is part of the 4-way idol hunt and she isn’t, it feels safe to say that Katurah is actually the worse hang.
Building on that point is the discovery of a BEWARE ADVANTAGE by….Uncle Bruce!!!! He finds a clue to the idol and loses his vote until he finds it. The idol is hidden under the shelter. Note to self, when I’m on Survivor, dig under the tribal sign, look under the shelter bamboo, and now dig under the shelter. Chances are an idol could easily be in one of those locations. Bruce and his allies are able to run interference and Bruce finds the idol moments before the Fijian boat comes to take them toward the merge.
Survivor 45 is better off with Bruce finding the idol than any other member of LULU. Frankly, the season needs it. Despite Katurah’s consistent effort and Emily’s early effort to get rid of Bruce, this season is better at this point with him in the game and even better with him being equipped with some allies and a Hidden Immunity Idol. Coming into the season, everyone within the collective Survivor community was rooting for Bruce. Now, this season’s darling has been granted his second wish from the Survivor Gods in the form of an idol. Bruce can now take it into the whole new world of the game. (Ok, enough Aladdin references).
Ok, one more. Couldn’t you see Bruce playing a version of the Genie? Ok, now I’m done.
MERGE - DAY 12
Lots to unpack.
First off, REBA is the new home beach that everyone is going to be living at. Aka, Sifu, Julie, Dee, and Jay don’t get to live somewhere else, aka their game continues to look the same as it did on Day 1.
Second, Kaleb and Emily are back together, aka the only original LULU, and they are allies. I’m happy that our best narrator this season, Kaleb, acknowledges his game getting back to Emily, but more importantly he acknowledges how poorly she began the game and her drastic improvements in the game. This will serve both of them.
Speaking of Emily, in the first moments of everyone together, Emily acknowledges that she needed to apologize to Bruce. More growth for her and Kaleb’s prospects immediately. Is Emily the favorite to win???
Next, Kendra cries and screams because she’s Kendra but because she literally hasn’t eaten anything. Plus, she is back with old BELO with information - aka Bruce.
Bruce proves my point that I just said with this great confessional and move in his game. The editing and music choices are top shelf. Too good.
Austin is back with his REBA allies (Julie and Dee) and he is packed with information and motivation. He wanted the sandwich and Jay and Kellie wanted the amulet. Jay was an outcast at original REBA, on the outside of the vote for Sean at the new REBA and now it looks like she is still on the bottom at REBA and thus a target.
Jay might be in trouble. She has the amulet, like Austin and Kellie, but Jay has nowhere near the social backing nor allies in the game. Plus, the amulet will actually work against her here too. Austin goes back to REBA, his original tribe and strong ties in the game, and Kellie does the same with original BELO and they sell Jay as the one to vote out. Austin and Kellie can pretty easily turn their amulets into a STEAL a VOTE by getting Jay out.
“I may look like the golden retriever on the outside, but they should never allow me inside their home.”
- Kaleb
Kaleb and Emily are looking like this season’s TIKA tribe. Kaleb is Yam Yam and Emily is Carolyn, well nobody is Carolyn, but she is more a version of Carolyn than Carson, despite Emily being very intelligent. Maybe she’s a hybrid? Anyway, Kaleb and Emily are best positioned in the game because they are in the middle and can potentially float between old REBA and old BELO to pick people off one by one. Lastly, even though everyone has been on this season for 12 days, Kaleb and Emily’s 12 days have been more intense, more up and down, and had to face way more adversity. I like their chances.
Uh-oh, Uncle Bruce is at it again. He’s the girl at the dance that nobody is talking to, dancing with, and not taking selfies with. Bruce sees this pre-merge as a chance to reconnect old BELO and he’s doubling down on his original tribe to call out Kaleb for the game he is trying to play which involves everyone. I admire Bruce seeing through Kaleb’s game, but it feels short sighted and Kaleb is too smart. Kaleb also recognizes Bruce’s game, which is very “old school” Survivor and keeping the original tribe strong. Bruce clearly likes to operate a certain way and the pre-merge twist is stretching Bruce’s game to a potential breaking point. Players like Kaleb can thrive this way, but players like Bruce, eh..not so much. He looks like the sultan in Aladdin still trying to make sure that princess Jasmine marries a prince and only a prince. Come on Sultan Bruce, evolve.
Ok, now really no more Aladdin references.
MERGE CHALLENGE
Tribal Immunity is no more but individual immunity isn’t here yet either.
Crawl under muddy net, push a cart and collect sand bags.
Use sandbags to climb a tower, grab keys, and slide down.
Finally, work together to get atop a boulder and platform to unlock and solve the first puzzle, and then a second puzzle for other members of the team (SAFELY MOVING FORWARD TONIGHT).
The winning team earns immunity at Tribal, merge buff and the merge meal. The odd one left out will put there fate on one of the two teams.
The stakes are HUGE, the challenge is INCREDIBLE, and Katurah has a tough decision.
TEAMS
RED - Kaleb, Jake, Dee, Jay, Emily, Kellie
BLUE - Sifu, Bruce, Drew, Austin, Kendra, Julie
MUD NET - Blue in the lead and the fat lady may be warming up for Jay. She is sucking it up and putting red far behind.
TOWER and SLIDE - Blue is WAY ahead because of their physical advantage. Red team is behind and Jake is walking funny following the slide. Did he mess his knee up?
BOULDER - Best part is how the competitors naturally go to the role they need to play. E.g. Sifu immediately puts his back against the boulder, bends his knees, cups his hands, and people start climbing him.
PUZZLE 1 - Straight out of the “Game Within the Game”, remember that from 41?
PUZZLE 2 - Word puzzle also straight from the “Game Within the Game”
BLUE team - Sifu, Bruce, Drew, Austin, Kendra, Julie and Katurah - win the merge, the feast, and immunity leaving the RED team - Kaleb, Jake, Dee, Jay, Emily, and Kellie on the chopping block and hungry. To get this result, we had pretty underwhelming puzzles and they were certainly not an equalizer. Disappointing in that sense but the mud and physicality made up for it. Honestly, sometimes it’s nice to have a challenge have a physical component to it that creates an advantage for one team and a disadvantage for another.
Prediction: Jay already was at a disadvantage with her social game and getting swap screwed. She was kept at REBA and that wasn’t to her advantage. Plus, now she is on the chopping block by not earning the merge and oh by the way, she has the amulet that Kellie and Austin can use as a reason to get rid of her and make their amulets stronger. Jay is the easy vote and even though there’s typically no easy vote, I think tonight’s Tribal will have one. The fat lady is warming up and ready to meet Jay at Ponderosa for their duet.
MERGE FEAST
Great how they are still filthy from the challenge when they are eating and drinking at the sanctuary. Sifu starts the party by taking a page out of Gabler’s 43 merge feast strategy book by immediately throwing Jay’s name out there. Sifu thinks that Jay wrote his name down but she didn’t. Julie and Dee are ok with that secret. Kendra and Bruce throw out Kaleb’s name and what do you know, Katurah isn’t happy about it.
VULNERABLE BEACH
Jay looks to target Kaleb and LULU. It’s the right move, but Dee is having other ideas. The shockwave is REBA targeting their own and it tells us the viewer that the old tribal lines are really strong, or at least perceived to be strong. I don’t get how Kellie is “surprised” by Dee wanting to vote out Jay? Doesn’t Kellie want to vote out Jay and make her amulet stronger?
SEMI-MERGE TRIBE - DAY 13
The power struggle between a simple vote - Jay and the strategic vote - Kaleb. Kaleb isn’t going down easily and he’s blowing up Bruce’s spot on his idol. Kaleb’s game has immersed him with everyone in the game and people see it as a threat. However, people like Kaleb and want him around. He has somehow been able to ignite both of those points of view.
Prediction - Jay still gets voted out because people like Sifu and Dee aren’t changing their votes and I think the REBA tribe minus Jay is a strong alliance. Add Kaleb and Emily to that vote and it should be enough votes.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - NIGHT 13
Only 6 possible players can be voted out - Kaleb, Jake, Dee, Jay, Emily, Kellie. Lots of conversations or “office hours” were open today at camp. Tribal really gets going when Kaleb, who’s back is against the wall, raises his hand and says LET’S F***ING PLAY!!!
Kaleb knows that he is on the chopping block but he is armed with information and he is ready to start spraying it like a flamethrower with no regards for casualties. He raises his hand to speak and then he goes all in.
“I may be the biggest threat here, but I’m not the biggest strategic threat here.” - Kaleb
What he means is people know that he gets along with everyone and has had some opportunities to maximize in social relationships, but with that he knows the silent threat that lies in the women of REBA voting out Jay. What makes Kaleb great is the way he does this at Tribal. First, when asked who he’s referring to in the quote, he pauses, he laughs at the realization that he has to be blunt and blatantly honest. This was not part of his plan. That pause and laugh is really him saying F*** it, here we go.
Jay doesn’t like this. Obviously.
Kaleb acknowledges that people see him as a social threat and then goes after the REBA 3 women - Dee, Julie and Jay who have been together for literally the whole game. That voting block of 3 is strong going forward and can influence every vote moving forward.
BUT
If Dee and Julie vote out Jay, Kaleb thinks it will lower their threat level. What he does here is not only call out the deeper threat in the game - the REBA 3 women - but he even sells the people he just called out (Dee and Julie) on how to lower their threat that Kaleb just put on them. Genius!!!
Line of the season!!! Please don’t let Kaleb get voted out.
KALEB PLAYS HIS SHOT IN THE DARK
Well Survivor fans, it took 5 seasons and 6 90 minute episodes, but the Shot in the Dark has finally paid off!!! Kaleb was unanimously voted out until he wasn’t! Crazy. Really crazy. So much for the Jay prediction and the “no easy vote on Survivor”. Apparently Kaleb was the easy vote for 12 people to agree on. Yet, it wasn’t an easy vote. I can believe that the Shot in the Dark worked. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE VOTED FOR KALEB UNANIMOUSLY. That to me is even crazier. Players are really getting better or Kaleb was just far and away that much better at this point in the game then everyone else that it was too obvious not to vote him. Definitely a compliment to the best player of the season to get unanimously voted out and an even better compliment is him nailing the Shot in the Dark. Guess he will be buying some lottery tickets.
VOTES
KALEB - 10
JAY - 10
EMILY - 1
NO VOTE - Austin doesn’t vote to extend his game. Kaleb doesn’t vote (Shot in the Dark)
Jay is voted out in the wake of Kaleb’s successful Shot in the Dark. Obviously, Kaleb’s luck is the story coming out of this Tribal and moving forward into the official merge, but let’s spend a minute on Jay. Kaleb read the fortune of what it would look like to eliminate Jay and take apart the 3 REBA women who have been together the entire game, and IT HAPPENED!
Jay getting zero votes in the initial vote was telling. One, that Kaleb was unanimously seen as the biggest threat. Hard to believe the 11 people voting could all vote the same way. Two, Jay has a stronger bond then I thought with everyone in the game and especially at REBA. Three, Emily voted Kaleb in efforts to go along with the masses and continue to evolve her game. Lastly, who was the root of the Kaleb vote? You guessed it, UNCLE BRUCE! We are led to believe that he is pissing everyone off, yet his desired vote was in fact the vote.
Having said all that, let’s talk about Jay. Are we really losing anything as viewers? I vote no. We didn’t even get a scene in which she showed off her singing talent. Jay is another forgettable Survivor player that 45 is better off without. Kaleb’s Shot in the Dark was not just for himself, but for the season. Thankfully the scroll read SAFE. It saved Kaleb and this season.
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