Previously, on Survivor, Albert and Brandon were part of an alliance of five plus one, Edna being the “plus one”.
But during that time, Albert consistently attempted to change the pecking order…including trying to oust Rick.
Albert’s antics were starting to annoy his allies.
Sophie, in confessional, was heard saying Albert hasn’t had a good plan yet.

Brandon was also infuriating the tribe.
Then, when the loved ones arrived, Brandon’s father did it too.

With her head on the chopping block, Edna pulled all the stops to change the vote to Brandon…and Albert considered it.
But, at Tribal Council Albert and the rest of the original 5 hung together.
When Jeff said that it was down to the five of them, only Sopie was shown smiling this time.

If you listen to this recap, you realize that Jeff compared playing the game to mere antics. Changing the pecking order should be the essence of the game’s strategy but Albert is presented as being foolish for attempting it.

Night 32

Coach: “Final 5 is a wonderful feeling. Walking back to camp, it felt like a cloud lifted off of us…We did what we said we were going to do. We know we can go at it with honor, loyalty and integrity…We knew that this day would come…. We know that there is no more loyalty, we know that it’ll be every cat for himself. So…the alliances within the alliance are going to be revealed. The real game begins tonight.”

Albert: “I have a pretty good idea what I want to do within this 5. I’m in a good position to pull off what I think will be one of the biggest blindsides of the game thus far. If only she knew she is next. She’s got no idea it’s coming.”

Once more Albert’s plan will fail and we will see him looking very foolish in the process so this confirms that making moves, stepping up if you remember how it was phrased at the beginning of the season, is supposed to be seen as a bad thing.

Albert: “Since early on in the game, I have been planning on going to the end with Coach and Sophie but the more I look at it, Sophie is getting increasingly dangerous. She’s a very well-spoken girl, very intelligent, she’s starting to build a little bit of a resumé, she’s got two immunity wins under her belt. I frankly don’t know if I want to sit next to her at the end. My best strategy is to adapt to the players I am playing with. Who am I playing with? I got Coach, I got Brandon and I got Rick.”Alone with Rick, Albert said he saw the two of them going to the end together. Albert’s confessional continued: “If I was voting people off based on how much I like them, Rick would be the first I get rid of but the thing about Rick is: I think he is the least dangerous person left in the game. He hasn’t done anything strategically at all, he hasn’t done anything at challenges he has no prayer at all. So, the more I think about it, I’d go to final 3 with Coach and Rick because Coach has been the cult leader, Rick has been the follower. I am a little bit like the rogue in the middle and I feel like I have been the most aggressive player, trying to garner jury votes and position myself to win one million dollars and go home the Sole Survivor..”

Finally, someone talks about Sophie. It wouldn’t have been hard to slip that confessional in earlier. It’s true that Albert has been more aggressive than the others. In most seasons, that would be a great sign. In this one however, we are about to see once more that stepping up only knocks you down. Albert is about to be shown as a really “Dumb Player” even if his confessional sounded perfectly thought out. The kind of confessional that’s usually reserved to the winner is now part of the big joke about to be played on Albert. I really don’t get this season’s editing choices.

As for Coach, it seems that Albert doesn’t give him much of a chance to win if he is ready to take him along with Rick.

The Duel

Despite all the cheering and the help received from the bleachers, Edna lost the duel.

Jeff pointed out that Ozzy was really alone out there but he’s only one win away from returning to the game. Notice that this time, we didn’t go back to Redemtion Island with him. In fact, the previews gave us no indication that he could be beaten. His story should be reaching its climax but, instead, it seems to be losing steam. Was this is high point?

Albert: “In the game of Survivor, I do not care a single thing about honor and integrity. I really don’t. Brandon believes that, no matter what happens, I am never going to write his name down and I have been playing that role strategically because I have to keep Brandon to maintain a numbers lock in this game.”

Albert told Brandon that Ozzy was the only person that could screw their plan. He added that they needed to take Sophie out next.
Brandon replied, quite ironically” “The only thing that could spoil it right now is us.”

Brandon: “I made an agreement with Albert…As long as Coach, Albert and I stay the course and vote out Sophie, we will be in total control then.”

Talking to Coach, Sophie pointed out the problem with the RI twist: “Every single person that goes to Redemption Island, he gets the last say with every single jury member…He comforts them after they’ve been voted out…” She concluded that they had to send Brandon to Redemption.

Sophie: “I think Coach and I are really on the same page. We both recognize that Brandon is a psychopath but we have seen the changes in Brandon since the merge. Superficially, he is the most loyal, the most trustworthy, the most godly man out here and that’s not someone I want to go to the Final 3 with.”

Really??? The editors have shown us that he is a great person to face in the end.

Rick joined the two and agreed on eliminating Brandon next.

Next, Albert talked to Coach, telling him that Sophie was the number 1 threat.
Coach disagreed.

Coach: “As the group starts to scramble, it’s the first time we really had to turn on each other, it’s a very unsettling feeling. Albert came to me and he was adamant about voting Sophie off. He just blows whichever way the wind goes. It was disheartening because I have been in a very tight alliance with Sophie since I found the idol. I tried to reason with Albert but he wouldn’t listen. He’s got a thing about Sophie and I think it’s because Sophie is smarter than Albert. That’s why Albert is intimidated by Sophie. He is hearing her at Tribal, she is speaking up so she isn’t the quiet little mouse that he thought that she was and now, all of a sudden, he’s like “I got to get rid of Sophie.”

Coach, that sounds like Albert was giving you a good reason to get rid of Sophie. We’ve now had two players telling us that Sophie is smart in the matter of 10 minutes after nothing for 12 episodes.

Saying he was thinking clearly, Coach said he thought Brandon would win. He was about to tell us how he got to that ridiculous conclusion but Brandon appeared and the two had to pretend they were talking about jury reaction in general.
Brandon’s worried reaction reminded Coach of Russell’s paranoia.

Coach: “Brandon really pissed me off…He’s so reminiscent of Russell that I am having flashbacks.”

The scene ended with the two hugging and apologizing but Coach told us he had figured out his next move.

The Challenge

Brandon won immunity and, out of nowhere, chose Rick to share the pizza reward.

Coach: “I believe in Divine intervention: It was not Brandon’s time to go home tonight. He saved his own skin by winning immunity. I’m at peace with that. I’m pissed but I am at peace with that.”

Sophie: “Today, the worst case scenario happened: Brandon won immunity. We wanted to get Brandon out tonight so, the way to go right now is Albert. Coach and I agreed that Albert has been getting on our nerves more and more since the merge. He is sneaky, he thinks he is more strategic than everyone else. Every thing he does is the smartest decision possible. More and more, I am feeling that Albert should be going home tonight.”

Sophie went over to smell the pizzas.

Albert: “When somebody disappears, especially someone like Sophie, I know something is up.”

He told Coach that he knew Sophie was coming after him just as she was telling Brandon and Rick that she was indeed voting against Albert.
Brandon was surprised to hear that Albert had promised to take Rick to the end.

Brandon: “It’s crazy at camp. Number one because you got a bunch of people that don’t know how to tell the truth.”

Brandon confronted Albert and that led to a confrontation between everyone but Coach.

Sophie: “It’s so gratifying seeing everything about Albert being exposed because now, instead of a nice little blindside, he gets out looking more pathetic than he’s looked this whole game. It’s like he’s in a toilet bowl and Brandon and Coach and I and Rick all get a chance to flush him down. He keeps scrambling back up but I think Jeff will give him a final flush tonight.”

Albert: “I think Brandon opened up Pandora’s box for me because I just got thrown with a storm of crap. I got a heck of a lot of damage control to do if I want to have a prayer of escaping the vote tonight. If I can just draw Brandon over with me, I’m right back where I need to be.”

Albert did manage to draw Brandon back. Not only did Brandon forgive Albert and told him he wouldn’t vote against him, he also promised to give him his immunity necklace.

Brandon then let Coach know what he had decided.

Coach: “I want things to be easy and simple and, earlier today, it was kind of black and white because we had one man, Albert, that had just completely lied in camp so it’s justification that he goes. But then, Brandon brings in forgiveness and the immunity necklace and it makes it so hard to determine right from wrong. It makes it so hard to tell who should go, who deserves to stay, which alliance I should be in, which people I can trust.”

When Brandon told Coach that he was voting Sophie because that was what God wanted them to do, Coach replied that it was what God wanted Brandon to do. He had to ask for his own guidance.

Coach: “I bowed down..I prayed and there was a name in my head, over and over and over again...My soul has never grieved like it does in this moment.”

Tribal Council

The jury had barely sat down that Brandon told Jeff he was giving his necklace to Albert.
Jeff, Keith, Jim and Dawn looked stunned. Dawn was even heard asking what was going on.
Brandon explained he wanted to be true to his commitments and give up his place for them.
Coach pointed out that, a couple of hours ago, Brandon was going to eliminate Albert but that his prayers told him not to do so.
Whitney looked like she was having a hard time following that.
Brandon then explained his life in a gang and how his “friends” didn’t stand by their commitments. He added that he considered Coach and Albert his best friends.
Albert explained that their bond was real. That was why he strayed away from Sophie and Rick because of the spiritual bond with Coach and Brandon.
Jeff asked Albert if he would give the necklace back to Brandon.
Albert said he would but that he didn’t believe Brandon needed it.
Sophie said she didn’t know if she could believe Albert.
Rick said things were great until the bomb hit. He added that only three of them were in danger because “one” had the hidden immunity idol.
Sophie said they all knew Coach had the idol.
Brandon, with Coach’s hand on his shoulder, said that tonight could be his night but that he didn’t expect the necklace back.
Albert still didn’t think Brandon was going home.
Jeff said: “So, somehow Coach, you got involved in this.”
Coach answered: “I don’t mind the responsibility because I got down on my knees in the sand and I prayed to God to give me an answer on what I should do and everything I meant to be as it is supposed to be. So, I am at complete peace.”
Brandon wasn’t at peace.

Coach’s vote was the only one that wasn’t shown.
He didn’t play his idol.
The jury seemed surprised when Brandon was voted out.

Coach gave him a hug, saying: “It is God’s will. Go win redemption.”

The Story
…and what’s wrong with it.

It really comes down to Albert’s portrayal: In every other season, Albert could be seen as the winner but, in this one, he is seen as a “Dumb Player”. To show what I mean, consider that he pulled a move that only Cirie was capable of achieving: Getting someone to give up the immunity necklace. Yes, like Erik, Brandon was dumb but, in Micronesia, the equation was balanced by Cirie’s brilliance. We heard the arguments that she imagined to force Erik’s hand and they were sound. Here, Albert’s arguments were drowned by his comments at Tribal Council which made him look unaware of what was really happening, that Coach wasn’t going to keep Brandon and that his attachment to Brandon made him look bad in the eyes of the jurors.

If we put Albert’s interventions in this episode together, they do sound like what we heard from many successful players in the past:
Albert told us: “I have a pretty good idea what I want to do within this 5. I’m in a good position to pull off what I think will be one of the biggest blindsides of the game thus far”
“I frankly don’t know if I want to sit next to her at the end. My best strategy is to adapt to the players I am playing with…”
“If I was voting people off based on how much I like them, Rick would be the first I get rid of but the thing about Rick is: I think he is the least dangerous person left in the game.”
“I feel like I have been the most aggressive player, trying to garner jury votes and position myself to win one million dollars and go home the Sole Survivor...”
“In the game of Survivor, I do not care a single thing about honor and integrity.”
“I have to keep Brandon to maintain a numbers lock in this game.”
“Sophie is the number 1 threat.”
“When somebody disappears, especially someone like Sophie, I know something is up.”
“I got a heck of a lot of damage control to do if I want to have a prayer of escaping the vote tonight.”

Yet, because he was ignored for so many episodes at the start, because we heard that he was lazy and because he was made to look foolish at Tribal Council, we see that Albert cannot win. He is right though: Winning Survivor has never been about Outfishing the others and many winners were never shown working (Yul for example, after the first two episodes in Puka Puka, let the fishing to Ozzy and the chores to the others) but here we are presented with “Princess Albert”.

So, this So Pathetic season leaves us with which possible winner?

The whole unappetizing Upolus could be flushed if Ozzy returns victorious and winds up in front of the jury. However, we had never heard comments about Ozzy being a threat. Coming this late makes it sound more like misdirection than being the conclusion to this story. Also, Sophie spelled out exactly the unfairness of the Redemption twist because, as we had been saying all along, a player gets to talk to the jury. It is an ex-parte discussion that gives him a clear advantage. Would we have heard Sophie talking about Ozzy’s Pleasure Dome if Ozzy was going to win? Probably not because it would only serve to diminish his accomplishment.

So, we are left asking if the editors want us to consider asking for God’s guidance as a good way to play Survivor or not. Either Coach’s deep beliefs will help him prevail or Sophie’s ickey feelings will strike a chord with the jury. But which is it?!

Note that both made what appeared as strategic mistakes when they talked about Brandon.

Sophie said: “that’s not someone I want to go to the Final 3 with.”

Coach told Albert: “The jury is a different animal: Brandon would win.”

If either one had said that Brandon was too much of a goat to keep around then we would have had a hint as to which one was thinking along with the audience, which one’s story we were witnessing but Coach and Sophie were on the same page.

We finally heard others talking about Sophie, making a case for her to the audience. We knew that Sophie was smart but we needed to hear others talking about it for it to become a factor in the story. However, this also came in very late in the season so it could very well be misdirection much like Amanda’s final push at the end of China. Amanda was always made to look smarter than she really was, than how the other players really saw her, but that was only to make us doubt Todd’s chances. Stories should have continuity and span the whole season so I will assume that Sophie’s late push is misdirection.

We can also consider the confessionals that each player had at the end of this episode:

Sophie: “It’s so gratifying seeing everything about Albert being exposed because now, instead of a nice little blindside, he gets out looking more pathetic than he’s looked this whole game. It’s like he’s in a toilet bowl and Brandon and Coach and I and Rick all get a chance to flush him down. He keeps scrambling back up but I think Jeff will give him a final flush tonight.”

Coach: “I want things to be easy and simple and, earlier today, it was kind of black and white because we had one man, Albert, that had just completely lied in camp so it’s justification that he goes. But then, Brandon brings in forgiveness and the immunity necklace and it makes it so hard to determine right from wrong. It makes it so hard to tell who should go, who deserves to stay, which alliance I should be in, which people I can trust. I bowed down..I prayed and there was a name in my head, over and over and over again...My soul has never grieved like it does in this moment.”

Sophie’s dislike for Albert came out of nowhere because, all season long, she had been firmly by his side. She even said that her true colors were the same as Albert’s. She was never close to Rick and Brandon. Yes, Albert was heard targeting her first but it was out of respect and she wasn’t shown being aware of that threat. Her attack on Albert was rather gratuitous. He’s sneaky but this is Survivor, isn’t it?

Therefore, I will stay in Coach’s corner (as unpleasant as that is on so many levels) because he is shown as being more diplomatic, more reasonable. Also, when Brandon confronted Albert and all hell broke loose, Coach wasn’t part of the war of words, showing that he was above the fray. Coach could win the title of Sole Survivor.
Whoop-de-doo…