Was Russell's move the best conceived and executed since they've been playing this game?

He managed to keep himself in the game, keep his closest ally, Parvati, in the game and move out one of his opponent's allies, reducing the odds against him.

He also gave Parvati motivation for staying allied with him as she now owes him for her continued presence; showed everyone on his tribe (who hadn't seen him play before) that he is a serious player there to win and worth having on their side; made it more unlikely that Rob's alliance will try to get Parvati (or perhaps even Danielle) to switch sides, and demonstrated to everyone that he is in charge of his alliance. (Remember last season, Russell's tribe was seriously outnumbered at merge, but it was the other tribe that fractured.)

Russell even used the opportunity to try to sway Coach from his place in Rob's alliance by playing up his "loyalty."

He's still outnumbered, but even if he goes home next week, Russell proved how strong a player he really is. Much more than just talk. (I was way off in my comments on him last week.)

• RE: Best survivor move?,michel, 08:38 PM, 03-25-10
  • RE: Best survivor move?,garcor, 06:26 AM, 03-26-10
• RE: Best survivor move?,KuwabaraTheMan, 03:58 PM, 03-26-10
  • RE: Best survivor move?,michel, 04:24 PM, 03-26-10
    • RE: Best survivor move?,iltarion, 11:21 PM, 03-29-10
• RE: Best survivor move?,Spanky68, 10:50 AM, 03-29-10

We'll have to wait and see how it works out. Some may see that it's better to be aligned with Russell than with Rob but if they don't, Russell goes next. Anyway, it's impossible to compare early moves like this to those done post-merge or in post-swap tribes.

The best move ever done pre-merge on an original tribe is still Tina's move to change the vote from Keith to Mitchell. She went from #5 in the pecking order to #1, she solidified her tribe and dropped Jerri from top dog to #4. All this and she still kept Mitchell's allies loyal to the tribe.

LAST EDITED ON 03-26-10 AT 06:21 PM (EST)

I think I'd still go with Russell's due to his having to keep track of split votes and the risk involved. If Parvati, who's had multiple alliances before, has a separate deal going with Courtney/Sandra, she could have voted Russell and had him sent home, making Russell Eric 2.0. Tyson's interview indicates the conversations were going on, even if Tyson might have misread the seriousness of some of them.

Best move ever? I don't think so. It was a great move, but I'm not convinced that it was really one of the best ever. Yeah, he essentially talked Tyson into voting himself out, but didn't Natalie do the same thing (twice, in fact) in Micronesia?

It was definitely a strong move, but I don't think it's the best move ever.

"didn't Natalie do the same thing (twice, in fact) in Micronesia?"

Natalie acted under the guiding hand of Cirie both times. Anyway, they wouldn't have had to trick Jason if Natalie hadn't been stupid enough to send him to Exile Island to find the HII. As for Erik, Natalie wouldn't have even considered asking him for his necklace, let alone drawing up a believable story. That was all Cirie.

Cirie's idea. The plan never works if it wasn't for Amanda. Erik trusted her more than anyone else.

>

I wouldn't rate it as the best, but it certainly was a good move. Like him or hate him, you have to acknowledge that Russell is a very strategic player.

Agman made this fancy sig for me