Revenge
or
The Year of the Snitch
Previously on Survivor, there were four Davids and four Goliaths left in the game.
Facing Tribal Council, Nick and Gabby realized Christian was too big of a threat but Davie warned Christian.
At Tribal Council, Christian played his idol which sent his closest ally to the jury leaving the Davids in total disarray and the game up for grabs.
Did anyone notice how much credit Jeff gave Nick in targeting Christian? In actuality, Nick more or less stumbled on Gabby’s plan but listening to Jeff’s spin, he was just as much a motivating factor as the technical writer. In the mean time, Mike and Angelina, who voted for Gabby at Nick’s suggestion, didn’t get any credit for that move. Also noteworthy, if the Davids were in complete disarray after losing Gabby, what can we say now that they lost Christian. Pushing their underdog status only reinforces their chances of winning...as if we ever doubted the winner would come from the original David tribe.
Night 32
In interview, Christian reminded us that he received 5 votes. He was getting close to the record number of votes received in one season.
Nick’s gave his own post TC interview: “I’m kind of bummed because best case scenario was if Christian went home with an idol in his pocket but he played it. The good thing is that means another idol is usually put back into the game and I want to be the person who finds it. So, to do that, I made sort of a fake idol and hopefully someone could find that idol and then the search is off and I’ll be the only one left looking. It has the parchment of my real idol and I made it of the stuff I’ve been collecting over the weeks and then I figure to put it under the raft. So, later on, I’m at the raft with Angelina, Mike and Christian and, with all of us there, and I’m thinking, you know what, I’ll just find it here in front of everybody. So I start kicking around with a stick in the dirt and I pull my hand out and I’m like “What the hell” Oh! my god! I can’t believe they fell for that! Everybody erupts with excitement and I’m just letting everybody congratulate me while all the time this idol is just fake. It’s not real. It just worked beautifully; it was so easy. It’s like calling off the dogs; he search is over. Nobody is going to be searching for this idol except me. That means I can find it and then I can have two idols.”
We can say that Nick’s plan was very ingenious but when Mike snitched to Davie and Kara, the lie was quickly spotted by Social Media manager.
Davie’s interview: “Nick found a hidden immunity idol under the raft but I’m like I don’t know man! I was born at night but I wasn’t born last night and I’m thinking to myself; he’s already got one idol. What if he simply pulled out the idol that he has and pulled it up in front of them so they wouldn’t be looking for idols? He’s smart enough to do something like that Davie so maybe you should still be looking for idols.”
Davie started snooping around the woods that night. His search carried into the early hours of the day. He was starting to think that there wasn’t an idol out there. He added: “If Nick has two idols, he could beat us all. He’s a threat so I need help to get out my best frienemy in the game; my boy Nick.”
Nick told Christian that Nick had two idols. That caught Christian by surprise but the thought of another threat in the game made him happy.
The Reward Challenge
While Nick came close, Davie won the reward. Despite Angelina’s pleas, he chose Nick and Kara to share the reward.
It was probably not the first time that a guy chose someone like Kara instead of Angelina!
Angelina had the exit interview: “I didn’t want use me winning rice for the tribe as any sort of currency but Davie chooses Kara over me and I can’t help but think that Davie is playing the field, Davie is keeping all his options open right now so it could be a million dollar mistake.”
Angelina’s rant continued when the four left behind returned to camp: “...I am genuinely pissed. I can’t believe Davie would choose Kara over me. I am fuming so I make the biggest pot of rice that we can manage. I guess it was revenge rice.”
The Reward
Jeff said it was the place par excellence in Fiji. Did you see anything that would let us appreciate the resort? Besides a quick aerial shot from afar, I certainly didn’t.
Davie explained his choices: “By choosing Kara and by choosing Nick; this is the exact epitome of: “Keep my frienemies close, Nick, and my friends closer, Kara.”
I’m not sure that's how the saying goes but we’ll pardon Davie for being a bit off.
Davie’s confessional continued: “I definitely know that there will be an opportunity at the reward for just me and Kara to talk and that’s when I’ll have my chance to put my plan into action which is getting Nick out of this game. This reward is like “Good Fellas”: If you’re going to take them out, you’re going to treat them really well and then slit their throats in the end.”
After hearing Davie’s plan to go after Nick, Kara had a confessional: “Everybody at camp knows that Nick now has the idol that was found under the raft but I am shocked when Davie says Nick has yet another idol. Nick is a huge threat to everyone’s game. Davie wants to vote out Nick and I’m like drooling at this idea. This sounds like a feasible plan that is absolutely going to take my game to the next level.”
Davie said they would vote with Alison and Christian to get Nick. He asked that she not tell Angelina and Mike.
Return to Camp
Kara’s interview resumed: “So coming to camp, my number one conversation has to be with Alison because, in order for this plan to work we also need to get Alison on board.”
Kara warned Alison about keeping this secret to Mike and Angelina because they’d warn Nick.
Alison’s interview: “Kara reveals to me that Davie now is gunning for Nick. I just kind of smiled because in the past, I have been on the bottom and I was going to be the next out. All of a sudden I’m no longer prepped up against the wall but instead, perhaps making a move.”
So, what is Alison first move? She immediately went snitching the plan to Mike.
In confessional she explained: “I wanted to demonstrate with Mike that I’m genuine when I say I want to work as a pair and I think that providing this information to him I am proving that.”
Mike’s interview: “Hearing that Davie wants Nick out of the game really breaks the game wide open. I actually think that Nick is a big threat to win but right now I am really torn because Nick and I have been bonded since we joined Jabeni. We’ve been through a lot and I want to think really hard about what I want to do about this next vote. I’m excited to see what I do. I want to surprise myself.”
Day 34
Davie was in search mode: “When I woke up this morning I thought that there’s still hope that there’s an idol out there and I told myself: “Davie, you better go out there and search.” So, as soon as the sun rises, I start searching. I searched everywhere...Then, out of the blue, I see a piece of blue cloth out of a stick...I grab it...I open it...and there are those words I love to see in Fiji: ‘Congratulations! I know exactly where I need to be and I’m ready to get there. I wait until it’s raining where everyone in camp is distracted by the storm that’s coming so I decided to make my break and find what this advantage is. I have an immunity idol but it’s good only for the next Tribal Council however, that can change if I’m willing to play the game that’s in front of me.”
We heard Davie’s thoughts on the many permutations for the next vote and how he could use the idol but, in the end, believing God gave him a signal to turn away from the urns, Davie declined the wager.
Davie explained his decision: “I have a plan that I want to put into action to take out Nick and me losing my vote could mess up that plan. So, I’m safe, I’m in the driver’s seat and I’m ready to buckle up and take off.”
Day 35
The Immunity Challenge
Even if Jeff served up ball jokes on a platter, I’ll simply note that Jeff said: “’Christian could sense it was over before it happened.”
While the whole edit of the episode was meant to prevent us from getting the sense it was over for Christian, this line was great foreshadowing.
In the end, Mike won immunity.
Mike’s post-challenge interview: “Being able to win an immunity challenge today was thrilling and right now, I feel like a little less nervous about swinging from the hip because I have this immunity necklace. I feel like I can do what serves my game the best.”
Just before the tribe arrived back to camp, we saw a school of fish and then a white bird circling above them and plunging into attack mode to get its prey.
The symbolism was clear: Mike White was the white bird and he’d get his prey.
Nick had the first interview: “Going into the last Tribal Council, I wanted to get rid of Christian but Alison was super close to winning this challenge. She’s a huge physical threat and I’m worried and nervous that there are more Goliaths than Davids. It feels that the time is right for Alison.”
After learning that Alison was the target, Kara gave us her thoughts: “To me, it’s hilarious that so many people are passionate about getting Alison out. They don’t know that there is a plan in place to take out Nick. That’s how you execute a good blindside; you can’t let everyone in on it. I’m excited to be a part of a blindside that would change the rest of the game completely.”
Mike’s interview: “I find out that there are two different scenarios being run. There’s this big push to have Alison out and, at the same time, Davie is gunning for Nick but having the immunity necklace I feel a little bit more bold. I feel excited like this is why you come to Survivor for; it’s to have an impact on the game and I’m thinking Christian is still the biggest threat to win the game so I have to get the votes to get Christian home tonight.”
Talking to both Alison and Kara, Mike was told it should be Nick so Mike turned to Nick himself, telling him Alison could be beaten in the end but not Christian.
Mike’s confessional resumed: “Right now, I have as much leverage as I’m ever going to have in the game. I have an immunity necklace and I have a lot of people that listen to me but no one is budging so it’s going to be difficult for me to marshal the troops that I need to get Christian out of the game. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”
In the shelter, Nick came clean with Davie about having only one idol.
Davie’s confessional: “While I was talking with Nick, he decides to come clean that he was lying about his extra idol. Now that he’s told me the truth, I don’t want him out of the game anymore. I thought I was being lied to; turns out I wasn’t, things have changed full circle so Nick is no longer the vote tonight and Alison is.”
Davie went on to tell Nick he wasn’t going to flip on him.
Davie made a big mistake when he didn’t come clean himself: He absolutely should have told Nick that the lie about the fake idol had put a big target on his back and that Davie himself had instigated it but that he was putting an end to it right now.
We went back to Davie’s interview: “I have a hidden immunity idol that’s good only for tonight. That means I am going to have to play it tonight and I hope to see that everyone except for Alison votes for Alison.”
Mike had another interview: “I still want to work with Nick and take out Christian but Nick keeps talking to Christian so I feel I need to lay out all the cards because that’s the only way I’m going to be able to get Christian out of the game.” The card Mike meant was snitching Davie’s original plan to Nick. Nick couldn’t believe how dirty Davie played it during the reward. Mike went on: “I’m telling Nick that Davie and Kara are voting for him and Nick is now gunning for Davie and the other people want Alison gone. For me, I feel Christian is the most likely person left in the game to win but the problem is that it’s very hard to keep a group together when they have their own agenda. You’d think that with only seven people left there wouldn’t be that many possibilities but it seems there are more possibilities tonight than there’s ever been before.”
It’s important to note that through all this time Mike, like the bird at the start of the scene stayed focused on a singular target, a huge difference than during the merger episode where he got cold feet and turned back on his original plan.
Tribal Council
Talk of voting blocs and the game being a free-for-all made everyone nervous: Alison had to keep checking her heart rate, putting two fingers to her carotid artery while Davie chose to play the idol for himself. That really made Nick nervous and he walked over to Jeff to give him his fake idol. Nick explained that to Jeff and took the time to look for facial expressions. Despite Angelina’s reassurances that he was OK, Nick played his real idol to protect himself.
In the end, the votes cast by Mike and Alison for Davie didn’t count.
Davie and Christian voted for Alison.
Nick, Kara and Angelina voted for Christian sending him to a date with Jeff’s snuffer.
In an unusual tip of the cap to a great player, the camera lingered on Christian’s extinguished torch.
Since we don’t have “Fallen Comrades” anymore, it was the nicest farewell they could deliver.
The StoryThis group of players has developed some very unusual patterns. The first we noticed was that rivals often went out of the game one after the other. Natalia wanted to vote out Natalie. She failed but Natalie left right after her. Lyrsa worked hard to get Natalie voted out but that gave her only 3 more days in the game. At the merger, Dan got his way when Elizabeth was voted out but Dan was voted out soon after. When Alec turned on the Goliaths, it was to get Dan out of the game. Dan left but then Alec went out right after him. Carl’s hard work to get Dan out of the game only earned him a ticket to Loser Lodge. It was Gabby who made the move to get Carl out of the game but she followed him immediately. Now, Christian, who had been both Gabby’s closest ally and her latest target, left as soon as she was voted out. That makes for very compact story arcs: a player makes a move and that move makes them a threat to the others so they turn on the player who engineered the scheme.
The second pattern isn’t as appetizing; plans are foiled mostly because someone decided to snitch. Davie had snitched on the alliance of Nick, Mike and Angelina, telling Christian he was their victim. In turn, Alison snitched on Davie, telling Mike that Nick was the new target. Many other previous schemes failed because someone decided to snitch.
The CharactersThe Case for Angelina: With everyone gunning for threats, no one will ever vote against her now. She practically has a guaranteed seat in the Final Three. Once there, she’ll prove to be a strong negotiator so she’ll certainly try to sell herself to the jury but her arguments won’t connect with the jury any more than they did with Davie when she tried to get a ticket to the reward.
The Case for Alison: Editing wise, it’s a good thing that Alison keeps being a target; it creates an underdog story for the physician. The bad thing is that she keeps being targeting for being such a big challenge threat. No one else is considered a challenge threat and there are many more challenges left so there should be an occasion to vote her out. Should she make it through the next two votes she’d be favored to win the fire-making challenge and we know she connects positively with some members of the jury as we saw when she exited Tribal Council. Could she get the necessary number of votes? Despite a couple of attempts, she hasn’t put her seal on any successful plan.
The Case for Davie: Like Alison, Davie’s biggest challenge isn’t convincing the jury to vote for him but to find a ticket for one of the three VIP seats in that finale. When he decided to forgive Nick, Davie should have come clean about his prior plan. That way even if Mike snitched to Nick, Davie would have been one step ahead. Now, he stands alone with no idols or advantages to act as protection. If only he can make it to the end, his charm and his actions in the game would make for a very strong case.
The Case for Kara: It could be that, like Heidi during the Finale of Survivor Amazon, Kara will take credit for half the moves made during the season and she wouldn’t be completely wrong because, like Heidi, she was integral to many of them. The last TC was a perfect example: Christian wouldn’t have been voted out if Kara hadn’t voted for him. She’s a smart woman so she’ll certainly be able to make her own case and her obvious charms should help her get votes from the male members of her former Goliath tribe. Kara’s problem is that she doesn’t really have a number one ally. Maybe that could be Alison but Alison’s grip on the game isn’t strong enough to be of real value. Kara would need to be Mike or Nick’s closest ally for them to protect her but she never got that close to either of them. In other words, Angelina has taken Kara’s F3 spot.
The Case for Mike: His best chance, editing wise is that he could be seen as the Goliath’s David; the underdog that was pushed aside from the start. His ast few episodes have been very strong and his overall edit reminds me of Natalie Anderson in San Juan del Sur: Both had presence early on but it was still a relatively quiet beginning. Then, like Natalie with Jeremy, Mike was seen more as Nick’s sidekick up to the merger. When she was separated from Jeremy, Natalie really stepped up her game but it didn’t work the same for Mike. First of all, unlike Jeremy, Nick is still in the game so the separation was mostly due to Mike’s cautious game play. Lately however, Mike’s game has really gotten into gear. Like Angelina, Mike isn’t seen as a threat so he should make it to the end but unlike her, he is respected. He’ll certainly prove to be an eloquent debater but would he beat Nick in the end? Natalie wouldn’t have had it so easy if Jeremy had been sitting next to her. I feel Mike could beat everyone except for his fellow Rock Star.
The Case for Nick: He’s this season connecting thread: Nick was the original target of the season, the narrative making us think that he would have been voted out if not for Pat Cusack’s medical evacuation. From that tenuous position, Nick used the Mason-Dixon alliance to find a strong footing in the original David Tribe. Then sent to the weak Jabeni tribe and finding himself in the minority, he owed his survival to the connection he made with Mike known as the Rock Stars. That alliance led him to the merger and a nice position in the short-lived “Strike Force”. Despite the demise of that alliance, Mike never lost contact with the movers and shakers in the game, getting information and help in turn from Alec, Davie and Mike. Christian’s betrayal could have been fatal but Nick seized on the weakness of the alliance that eliminated Carl to rearrange the voting bloc. His challenge win with Angelina gave birth to an “Ideal Final Three” that rare connection where everyone feels comfortable going to the end with each other. Everyone, including Gabby, saw that going to the end with Christian was suicidal but no one seems to think that Nick is just as dangerous.
Booted - Christian: Going with Gabby’s plan to vote out Carl and leaving Nick out of it proved to be fatal combination for Christian. It’s funny that she turned out to be his kryptonite even if it didn’t happen as we expected.
I'll end by thanking Aruba myself. You're like the immovable object so I need an unstoppable force to rival you.
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