Will Aruba or anyone else drop in this week? It's pretty lonely in these parts but we'll carry on.

The story of the season, so far, has been about working as a unit, a team, instead of venturing into individual efforts. Survivor is an individual game but players need allies to make it to the end and no one exemplifies this more than Christian who has now been saved twice by the united Davids. It seems that the season will come down to the way the Davids break down. With the Goliaths being so fractured and undecided then we can foresee a point where this will become “David versus David”. If that is the case then we have to give a huge advantage to the united trio of Christian, Gabby and Nick over Davie and Carl.

10- Carl: The man has some very smart interventions at Tribal Council and now he has a big move on his résumé. Alison and Kara desperately wanted Dan’s head on their trophy case but it now belongs to Carl. The problem is that Carl is a perpetually a “man in exile” doing his work alone when this is definitely a social game. If Carl makes it to the end it will be to witness someone else’s triumph because he would have a hard time collecting votes.

9- Allison: Has there ever been anyone as wishy-washy as Alison? Well, there was Stephenie in Palau and Guatemala but Stephenie’s problem was her extremely limited strategic capabilities. Alison has the intellect that Stephenie clearly lacked but all that gives her are ideas that she doesn’t dare carry to fruition. Alison has come up with many good plans but she keeps getting cold feet. We’ve rarely witnessed such hollow reasoning as when Alison told us she needed to take a step back and stand Goliath strong. Despite what Alison tried to sell about the right move, the fact is that she suddenly realized that Kara was going to be the one getting all the credit for voting out Dan and that left nothing for Alison’s résumé. This case of cold feet is nothing more than hurt pride. She is a selfish player who backed away from the plan because it wasn't hers anymore. Thankfully, the others haven’t realized her selfishness because Kara and Alec still came to her help when they realized the Davids could be targeting her. Stealing her vote wasn’t a sign the Davids were voting against Alison after all but she’s given Gabby so much information that it would be easy for the Davids to put the target on her in the near future.

8- Mike: Having blown his big opportunity, Mike retreated into the shadows cast by his fellow Goliaths this week. He isn’t a physical threat and now that his potential schemes have been neutralized he is an elimination in waiting. It’s too bad because the Rock Star alliance could have been highly entertaining but Mike had to break up the band before its first big gig. That usually happens when the band member has stage fright which is funny coming from an actor-filmmaker.

7- Alec: The guy made one big move and now he gets gun shy. Now that’s weird. His focus on Christian is equally perturbing considering that everyone shares his evaluation that the nerd is the biggest threat out there. With Kara and Alison, he had a strong commando to team up with Nick, Davie and Carl and strike against Christian and Gabby when the right time came. Like we heard, you do not want to be the first to flip but if you can flip with two other players then you are in business. Alec’s business is close to bankruptcy.

6- Angelina: Tribal Councils have been rough for Angelina but this was the first one where Goliaths have voted against her directly. How will she react? The previews seem to indicate she will be furious. That could be highly entertaining to see because Angelina has kept her temper in check for most of the season but I suspect she can be highly explosive. An eruption from the Angelina Volcano should be spectacular. With a 5-5 division in camp, she is in a tenuous position. The others could agree she is the one that doesn’t deserve to stay but she could also sell her vote to the Davids since she has no loyalties left to the Goliaths. She may even give the Davids her vote freely.

5- Davie: He was so proud of owning John’s jacket that he rode the wave throughout this cycle. True, he set out to look for the new idol but he gave up much too early. Davie is a sociable person but he has a very limited social game. By that, I mean that he has friends but he doesn’t know how to use those friends. Instead he just lets them decide for him and that doesn’t earn many jury points.

4- Kara: Separating herself from the SWAT Officer was the right thing even if it does end up breaking Dan’s heart but she had to stay with it. When she realized that Alison and Alec were getting cold feet she could have told them that she was going ahead with the plan because it was sound. One vote was all the Davids needed so she could have forced Alison and Alec into aligning with them. Kara would have stood a chance with the Davids coming in as a new ally but she won’t now that she is coming in as a beggar.

3- Nick: Stealing Alison’s vote was a nice diversionary tactic and it had the bonus effect of getting Alison to plead for Kara and Alec’s help. Their votes against Angelina should terminate the Goliaths as a tribe. If he was vigilant then Mike will have realized that Alison didn’t turn to him; she didn’t count on him. If he didn’t realize it, then Nick is smart enough to spell it out for him. Even though the Davids are only tied with the Goliaths they are like a fast runner and say: “If I’m even, I’m leavin’”. And all that is in large part due to Nick’s surprisingly strong social game. The Public Defender could make a strong case for himself at the Final Tribal Council but he’ll need to pick up the pace because Gabby has caught up to him in the last few episodes when it comes to getting information from the other side.

2- Gabby: Once more, her strong social game opened the door to a new opportunity but, as it did before, it fell through. Nick was the original conduit for cross-tribal alliances but now Gabby is the one hearing the offers and since the true Goliath strategist are their three women it should continue that way. Would Gabby listen to Angelina if the opportunity presented itself? I’m thinking it will happen and Gabby will either roll with Angelina’s plan or use it to get the Goliath woman voted out. If Gabby is a good reader of character she’ll realize that Angelina, contrary to Alison and Alec, isn’t the type of person that gets cold feet. After all, she wanted Natalie’s jacket, not her socks!!

1- Christian: Isn’t it strange that he went directly to the tree that was the focus of the cameras and that he looked up only after the camera pointed to the location of the laced up coconut? Production wanted that new and probably last idol in the hands of the David to symbolise the Bible’s slingshot and they got what they wanted when it found its way into Christian’s hands. Twice his life has been saved by his allies and we heard him telling them about his idol just a few minutes after we heard Alec giving us a Survivor 101 lesson about keeping an idol secret especially from the charming girl. Of course, Christian had to tell his allies about his idol because they were about to use their two advantages to insure his personal safety. Keeping it secret would have hurt the feelings of his generous friends probably to the point where they would have held it against him in a final vote. But, as a viewer, it would be great foreshadowing if Gabby, a charming girl in a much different way than Kara, would use the knowledge of that idol against Christian.

Booted - Dan: Ditched by his showmance, betrayed by his idol, outwitted by his rivals; this was a tough episode for the proud SWAT Officer. There wasn’t much he could have done at this point but his mistake was to leave his little Brochacho as soon as the merger happened. The game of Survivor will naturally create divisions so it’s dumb to create some on your own. A smart player will use all his bonds even those with people whom he doesn’t want, or can afford, to keep to the end.