In this week when a wave of hatred, racism and misogyny shook the world, I don't want to fight but I wanted to point out that I simply said that Sunday was better looking than Hannah, not that I was gawking at her. There weren't many beautiful women to start with this season and the women have been decimated. Beauty left with Figgy, Michaela and Michelle.Also, Michelle was probably responsible for the most tribal challenge wins after Michaela and Zeke said she was a very dangerous player so she wasn't being delusional.
So, my list:
The Rael Players:
1- Zeke: Not only does he have a solid alliance with David which should connect him with Ken and jessica but he has a his nerd voting bloc. If we remember day 1, Michelle told us she’d use her missionary work as a cover to gain people’s trust and use it to her advantage but now we hear that Zeke hadn’t fallen for her ruse at all. According to his words, Zeke didn’t have to wait for the Mari vote to see through Michelle. He is a very smart player and knows that hanging on to Adam could ruin his game.
2- Hannah I’m sure many will be shocked at her placement but the plain looking Hannah really emerged as a player in this episode. She completely fooled Jay when she said she would have voted with him against Michaela and that enabled her to hear all his plans. Then we saw that she was close enough to David to talk about her doubts regarding Adam. She could be Zeke’s right hand woman and that would carry her far in the game.
3- David: He was the one that turned the target away from Taylor and focused it on Michelle. I wonder if David had an ulterior motive for saving Taylor. Those two had the most memorable scene during the Summit so it seems bound to bear fruits. What is particularly interesting is that their respective situations are now reversed. Taylor was flying high as a member of his tribe’s majority alliance while David was eager to ditch his tribe for new allies. It would be quite a move for David to sneak Taylor to the end but it wouldn’t be appreciated by his present allies. The calmer version of David is much easier to take but no one changes this drastically over 22 days. Was it all theatrics or will his paranoia return? I really think the dumbass was playing for the cameras but now that he has a chance to go far he's decided to drop the act and play the game.
4- Chris: He had some good moments during the merger and he isn’t even considered as a threat so he could go far enough where he could dominate the end game. There really is no place for him in Zeke’s nerd voting bloc however so maybe he’ll put too much trust in his fellow Oklahoman and get blindsided. Or maybe he falls victim to one of the many idols in play. He does remind me of savage a bit.
5- Ken: That makes two lackluster episodes in a row for Ken and this one coming during the merger was particularly troubling. His earlier experience with the Gen X tribe members was good interview material considering he had to be hesitant about rejoining Chris and Bret but we simply saw him siding with them. He was the last one heard gunning for Taylor so maybe his game will suffer from being so single minded.
6- Bret: After being a figurant for most of the season, Bret suddenly gained substance in this episode. We heard about his options and even heard why he decided not to go further with Jay’s side who simply took him for granted. That means he still has to deal with Hannah who knows his secret. Will she use it at the right time? I also noted that it was ready to see his eagerness to tell Jeff about Taylor's theft but by then he wasn't snitching since everyone (including Jeff) already knew. What was really strange is that we didn't even hear him telling Chris about his narrow escape out of Ikabula.
Sitting on the bench
7- Sunday: At least we heard her tell everyone that she was older than all of them. There’s not much else to say about her story.
8- Jessica: Even if she starred in the immunity challenge, we have to note her absence during all the important strategy discussions. We didn’t hear anything from her even when the tribe was vacillating between Adam and Taylor, the two Millennials she knew best. Her point of view could have guided the discussion and she probably expressed her opinion but she didn’t matter.
9- Grazing in the field like a good goat
Taylor: Like his girlfriend Figgy, Taylor could be voted out at any Tribal Council but I thought she could be the end game goat but what if it's him?! After all, Figgy wanted to go look for a goat and she actually found Taylor! We also had funny parallels during this episode: First between Taylor and Na’Onka, another food stealer, and then with Dreamz when Taylor was too distracted to listen to Adam’s plan just like when Mookie tried to reason with Dreamz.
The tribe seemed to agree that Taylor wasn’t a smart player so that can easily lead someone to want to sit next to him at the end. The problem is that he will have three good friends on that jury and there is bound to be some people unhappy to have been betrayed. Everything that Zeke said about Jay’s charm also applies to Taylor and that is always dangerous when it comes to the jury.
Standing on the wrong side of the line
10- Jay: The selfishness he showed when he went after Michaela came back to hurt him immediately. Michelle told us that Jay’s plan was stupid and he seemed to think that Bret and Sunday would automatically side with him. His idol could be used against a big player and Chris looks a lot like Savage, a famous idol victim but where would he go after that? He is out of big moves.
11- Will: Winning the IC is enough to get 4th place in Aruba's list and now we will hear that Will wa sa victim of ADS but actually Will was dumb to go along with Jay's plan and he deserves a low ranking. Will is seen as Jay’s right hand man so he’d be the automatic choice in a split vote situation.
12- Adam: After the Mari blindside, Adam recovered nicely and I thought he'd be a smart player but the last three episodes have shown us that he isn’t a good player at all. Here we even saw that Taylor and Hannah understood the subtleties of the game far better than him. Hannah called him the worst team mate ever and Zeke said that working with him was very frustrating. With Jay’s dwindling army forced into full retreat, the tribe could decide that it’s the perfect time to get rid of him.
Booted - Michelle: Quite coincidentally, Michelle was also voted out at the merger episode in the on-line game I just finished with her. Like in the real game, we found it odd that she didn't scramble.