Jeff said the vote was about who wanted to stay together but I think it was more about the future connections. We’ve heard numerous players in this game saying that it’s about whom they can trust but, for me, it is much more important to be with people that trusts me. You should trust no one so being with someone like Angelina isn’t that dangerous if you can fool her into thinking she can trust you. Lyrsa is someone that would have gone with the flow even if that flow turned against Nick. Also, she would have gone off everyone’s radar after the merger. Angelina will put herself on that radar because of her desire to control of the game. If she trusts you, she will give you the information you need to topple her. The Davids have always been in danger and the latest vote puts them in the minority at the merger. That continues the season’s theme. With Mike saying that voting out Angelina could lead to annihilation of the Goliaths, we can infer that Lyrsa’s elimination should lead to the fall of David. However, it seems that the underdogs are much more likely to stick together and to even pull in a Goliath or two. I still think the winner comes from the original tribe of Underdogs.
Centaur? I think not. Angelina is quite lovely here: 
But I'm even more shocked by your placement of Gabby which indicates you do not see the beauty of her game up to now.
Yes, I know about the Squonk, do you know the song that Genesis made about it?
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=genesis+squonk&&view=detail&mid=88A09BF7F849210B5B3988A09BF7F849210B5B39&&FORM=VDRVRV
Still doing a countdown from worst to best.
13- Elizabeth: In order to have a chance of winning, Elizabeth needed a strong social game. While she started off well, her social interactions have gone downhill very quickly. We can understand her pain but throwing a tantrum, calling your allies stupid and nearly pushing one in the fire while dragging lumber around isn’t going to earn her points. I’m thinking that as soon as the majority alliance takes over and her vote isn’t needed, they’ll vote her out with someone saying: “You wanted a comfy bed, you’ll have one.”
12- Alec: Mike expressed all the hurdles facing someone who flipped on his original tribe while Alec seems totally unaware of them. It certainly didn’t help his case when he blew the reward for his tribe. It seems his only chance would be to continue flipping and that will soon turn him into the new Kass.
How can anyone place Alec fifth in an episode where he did nothing good and, in fact, lost the reward? Strange but then he is a strong guy so he gets a pass from Aruba. And by the way, the 8-5 merger advantage for the guys once more denotes the advantage they have pre-merge so it's only fair that the very attribute, their strength, that makes them valuable before the merger hurts tham after.
11- Carl: He has more targets than allies and that is never good in this game.
10- Dan: Here is another person counting on people he can trust instead of working on being trusted by everyone else. Tiva’s winning streak put him in a state of confidence; nothing could go wrong. Now he’ll probably figure that with this five and Kara, he’ll easily make the Final 6 but the others aren’t there to see him succeed. When Gabby and Alison talk to Christian about eliminating Dan, one brochacho will quickly show the other the exit.
9- Davie: Winning challenges can often accomplish two things, one positive, and one negative: It can build team unity but it can also satiate the combatant. If you win challenges you avoid Tribal Council so you never really put your alliance to the test. A member of a winning tribe should work to strengthen team unity, make sure the five feel so good together that they will stick together through thick or thin. No one did that better than Tom in Palau and Kim in One World. Davie was in a position to do that with this group but instead he relaxed and didn’t really worry that Vuku wasn’t an alliance, let alone a team.
8- Allison: Being extraordinarily empathetic is terrific when practicing medicine but in Survivor it can cost you the million. Way back when Survivor traveled to Thailand, we saw that fake empathy works much better when the cold-hearted Brian won it all. Now, winners don’t need to be as fake as the used-car salesman and very few could actually pull it off for 39 days if it wasn’t naturally inborn by your profession and empathy certainly helps creating the solid bonds a player needs to win the game but, like a surgeon wielding a knife, a good player needs to cut the cord at the right time. I feel that Alison will not be able to see it coming when Gabby and her allies turn on her.
7- Angelina: We saw her sleeping at the very moment we heard Mike, in voice-over, saying she was here to win. That is the editors way of showing us that despite her desire and her fuel to win, she will be caught napping and miss the boat at a crucial vote. This could happen as early as the next cycle if she tries to take control of the game, dictating the vote for her allies.
6- Kara: From next one out like she was after the Natalia vote, Kara is now kicking back enjoying the show with virtual popcorn. That’s what a good social game can do. After charming the two guys from the David tribe, she tried to get Elizabeth on her side but it seems that actions worked better than words. Before the end of this episode, Elizabeth was even confiding in her personal masseuse.
5- John: His easy-going good nature continues to surprise me and could carry him to the very end of this game. Much like it did for Nick in Kaoh Rong, tribal success has not given John the chance to really play Survivor up to now and someone who is obviously a physical threat needs to know that he can count on enough votes. He’s not one that can slip by like Michelle did in the same season that saw Nick voted out at the merger. His best chance is to connect with Mike but will he be able to forgive the author’s vote against Natalie?
4- Mike: He could have gone with Lyrsa because she could be trusted for a vote or two but keeping Angelina was absolutely the right move for Mike. Not that he should count on Angelina for the long run but because she will let him reconnect with the other Goliaths. That’s crucial for Mike even if his best path to the end merges with that of many on the original David tribe.
3- Gabby: Hope isn’t a strategy she said and she took the game in her own hands by creating that bond with Alison. Tiva will never go to Tribal Council but they will probably stick together for a couple of votes and then the time will come for Gabby to vote out Dan. Of course, she’ll need to convince Christian to break up the Brochachos but if he is really her number 1 ally then she should succeed. Maybe that move alone could pave the way for Gabby’s ultimate victory. All the airtime that her “platonic showmance” partner receives hides Gabby from our sight but in this season of underdogs, no one is more so than Gabby. Just that would make a powerful argument in the FTC. The smaller peppers pack the biggest punch she said. Will the smallest player prove to be the same?
2- Nick: Voting out Lyrsa was great for Mike’s game but what about Nick? He certainly was adamant about eliminating Angelina but relenting to his fellow “Rock Star” will keep the “band” together just in time for their next big tour; the merger. By voting with Mike and Angelina, Nick proved he could be trusted so he should profit from the same connections that the filmmaker and financial consultant have with the Goliaths. The key for Nick will be reuniting with Christian and getting the Mason-Dixon alliance back to work.
1- Christian: It seems that the only scenes we have that aren’t about finding idols or plotting someone’s demise, in other words the fun scenes, are all about Christian adapting to the new conditions. It clearly endears him to the audience but does it actually put him on course to become the Sole Survivor? The last episode portrayed him more as a “Journey Player” than a winner and the previews tell us that his huge role in the game hasn’t gone unnoticed by Ms. Angelina Keely. On paper, she has the numbers to get him out but her numbers aren’t solid at all. Christian will likely survive the merger vote and he has the connections to go all the way to the end but he’ll have been the one breaking the bonds that he so brilliantly created. If someone like Gabby is sitting next to him the jury could say that she manipulated him all the way and reward her instead.
Booted - Lyrsa: Saving her meant losing interesting characters so I’m glad that the third time was the good one. Lyrsa brought very little to the show except for her last words which made me laugh out loud. Lyrsa and Natalie are now tied together until the end of the Reunion show.
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