Survivor BBB: Episodes 6 & 7 Notes

Episode 6

The merge is a key milestone in every Survivor season. Both tribes usually go into the merge tied or close in numbers. Accordingly, it is pivotal that they come out on the right end of the vote in the first tribal council so they can gain the numbers advantage and systematically eliminate the other tribe. This season is no different. Aparri goes into it with 6 tribe members while Solana goes in with 5. It appears to be two alliances of 5 with the 6^th person of the Aparri tribe as the swing vote. Accordingly, swaying the swing vote is the theme of this episode. In terms of merge episodes, it is one of the more exciting ones I have watched because of the theatrics. On the other hand, there were a lot of bad decisions even though they are very entertaining.

The Swing Vote

Aparri goes into the merge with a 6 to 5 advantage. It has an alliance comprised of the all three of the Brains (Kass, Spencer, and Tasha) and two of the Beauties (Morgan and Jeremiah).  Solana has a very solid alliance including three of the Brawn (Tony, Trish, and Woo) and two Beauties (LJ and Jefra). Sarah is the 6^th person on the Aparri tribe and an original member of the Brawn tribe. She is clearly the swing vote. If Tony did not scream “Top 5” in the last episode after Solana won the immunity challenge, Sarah would have probably joined the Solana group immediately to vote out the Aparri members. However, she clearly knows that she would be the 6^th person on the Solana tribe. Consequently, Tony’s over exuberance made this episode a lot more exciting.

Kass is a Brain and clearly knows that Sarah is the swing vote. She also knows that Sarah has ties to the other tribe that has 3 members of the Brawn tribe. On the other hand, Kass has no social tact or emotional intelligence. She directly tells Sarah that she is a risk to flip. Naturally, Sarah is furious that Kass is questioning her loyalty. While it is a fair thought, it is stupid to say it to someone. Basically calling them a liar is not a good tactic to gain their trust and loyalty. However, it is Kass’s personality. She cannot stop herself but it is a huge weakness in playing the game of Survivor. The accusation causes tension and a rift between Sarah and Kass. It is exasperated by the fact that Sarah wants to target Tony or LJ while the rest of her tribe, including Kass, want to vote for Jefra. The fighting between Sarah and Kass gets really bad and it is evident to everyone at camp. Tasha wisely realizes it is a problem and tries to smooth things over with Sarah. As a result, Tasha listens to Sarah’s side of the story and reassures her. Unfortunately, Kass interprets Tasha’s actions as taking Sarah’s side. It is very shortsighted and a completely wrong assessment. Her emotion overrides her reason. Tasha is obviously just making Sarah comfortable so they can secure her vote for the upcoming tribal council. It does not mean Tasha is taking Sarah’s side or moving Sarah up the pecking order of the majority alliance. Regardless, Kass allows her emotions get to her and could not see the obvious.

On the other hand, Sarah gets a power trip. She is in a great position because she is the swing vote that both sides need to convince to vote with them. She has the opportunity to decide which alliance will prevail and will still be on the right side of the numbers regardless of what decision she makes. However, it goes downhill for Sarah from this point. While the swing vote has a lot of power in this situation, she would only have it if she keeps it to herself and does not draw attention to herself. Unfortunately, she is very verbal about it. She wants to target the vote on Tony or LJ and does not back off her demands. She is completely stubborn about it and does not want to listen to the other players’ ideas. Everyone agrees that Tony and LJ are the biggest threats on Solana. While her other tribe members believe one of them could have a hidden immunity idol so the safe vote is to target Jefra, she believes that there is no chance either of them has an idol. Of course, she is totally wrong as they both have idols. The tactic to target Jefra, who they assessed Solana would never give the idol to, is actually a brilliant idea from her tribe. Sarah vehemently pushing for her preference, which was the wrong move, and alienating her alliance backfired as she overplayed her position and put a target on her back.

On Solana, they know they need to convince someone to flip. As Sarah and Kass are clearly fighting, they are the logical options for Solana to approach. Trish believes she can target Kass and sway her. However, Tony does not think Trish can do it and goes as far to say that Trish cannot handle it since Kass is too smart for her. As such, Tony gets the first shot at swaying an Aparri member by talking to Sarah. He tries to convince Sarah to swear on her badge that she will vote with Solana. However, she does not which makes it clear to Tony that she will not turn. While she could have lied to blindside Tony, her profession is very serious to her and she takes great pride in it. Accordingly, I do not blame her for not swearing on her badge for a game. With Sarah no longer an option, Solana gives Trish an opportunity to speak to Kass. Trish does a brilliant job talking to Kass. She listens to Kass and does not try to put any ideas in her head. Trish simply asks Kass who she wants voted out and Solana will vote that way. It is a smart tactic by Trish because it makes Kass feel in complete control and have the power she wants to have in the Aparri alliance. Trish plants the right seed in Kass without being forceful. It gives Kass an option she needs to think about before Tribal Council.

Wild Tribal Council

At the immunity challenge, Woo wins the first individual immunity. The players need to stand on thin wooden planks for as long as they can. However, Woo has a bit significant advantage. While the other contestants go bare foot, he has special shoes he brought with him that clearly give him better grip. Nevertheless, the players chose items that were preapproved by the show and Woo could have never known what the challenge would be. Accordingly, it is a key advantage but not an unfair one. As such, Solana goes into tribal council with Woo protected by an immunity necklace. Unbeknown to the rest of the merged tribe, LJ and Tony have hidden immunity idols that will be factors.

There are definitely a lot of theatrics with the tribal council. When Jeff asks about hidden immunity idols, LJ starts to pretend that he has no idea whether idols are in the game because none have been played. However, Tony does not even want to be discrete and declares to the group that he knows idols exist because he has one. In a daring move, he shows it to everyone. He also notes that he could play it for him or another one of his tribe members. The part of the move I like is that it forces the other alliance to rethink who they are going to vote for because they need to select the person who Tony will not play the idol for after the vote. To the Aparri alliance’s credit, they already considered the scenario before tribal council and know the contingency plan is to vote for Jefra. Accordingly, Tony should keep quiet about the idol if he truly thinks the other alliance is going after him or LJ so he can play it on the person he thinks they will vote for and cancel all their votes. Tony’s move is very exciting to watch. Throughout the season, he understands he is on a show and needs to have theatrics to entertain the audience. He provides the entertainment value in the tribal council as he is giddy in taunting the other alliance as he believes they are confused on what to do. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of his move in terms of the game is questionable as it made the other group know where one of the idols is and to change back to their original plan. If he did not want to keep quiet, a smarter move may have been to try to get the other alliance to vote for him so he could play the idol on himself and neutralize the votes.

When the votes are cast, Tony plays the idol for LJ and is confident that he read the other alliance correctly. Next, LJ decides to return the favor, reveals he has his own idol, and plays it for Tony. Again, this move is very entertaining. Tony cannot contain his excitement and boasts how he knew LJ was the other guy with an idol. He is laughing and clapping since he believes they have outsmarted the Aparri alliance. However, The Aparri alliance targets Jefra. As the votes are being read, Jefra is in shocked and begins to tear.

Chaos Kass

As it is a 5 to 5 tie between Jefra and Sarah, I assume the final vote would be cast for Jefra. I do not anticipate Kass switching sides because she is a Brain and it is not the smart move. To my shock, Kass switches her vote to eliminate Sarah. For Kass, it is an emotional move and not a strategic one. She was in conflict with Sarah and does not like her. Kass also took exception to Tasha pampering Sarah and not her. Many Survivors have spoke about how reassuring their own alliance is just as important as trying to handle the players not in their alliance. Kass’s flip is a perfect example of this view. On the other hand, Kass is an attorney and I would have assumed she is cold, calculating, and able to check her emotions at the door. Accordingly, I cannot blame Tasha too much for neglecting Kass. For Kass, it is a complete mistake. She misinterpreted the situation as Sarah replacing her in the alliance. However, Kass was firmly entrenched as part of the three person Brains alliance. Accordingly, they would have eliminated the Solana 5 then been able to rally against and eliminate the other three in their alliance. Sarah is still number 6 and the first out once the other alliance is gone. As such, it makes no sense that Kass is trading a place in the top 3 to be number 6 in the other alliance. She would have been able to eliminate Sarah down the line anyway. She hurt her own game by being impatient and doing it now. Kass could turn back to the Aparri alliance next episode. However, they would not trust her and they would only be able to force a 5 to 5 tie now that will end up in drawing rocks.

Episode 7

Idol Hunt

The following episodes after the merge are usually straightforward as the tribe that wins the power struggle starts to pick off the other tribe one by one. As such, there is not a lot of drama in this episode despite the show trying to edit in a way that suggests the vote is up in the air. Nevertheless, there are a couple of entertaining moments. During the reward, Spencer finds a clue to the hidden immunity idol in his napkin. When he gets back to camp, he immediately goes into the jungle to search for it in the rain. Of course, it raises suspicion. Accordingly, Woo follows Spencer without him knowing. In a funny confessional, Woo calls it his ninja stealth mode. Spencer foolishly leaves his pants on the ground with the clue in between the legs. When Woo picks up the pants, the clue falls out and he takes it. Although Spencer realizes what just happened, it is too late as Woo returns to camp with the clue to read to his alliance. While I would normally agree with keeping a clue to yourself and finding it for yourself, it only works if only you know about it. If Woo did not share, Spencer could have opted Woo if he finds the idol. Consequently, it makes perfect sense for Woo to share the clue with his alliance so they can find it to keep it away from the other alliance. Spencer also makes a shrewd move by telling his own alliance about the clue so they can help him look for it. It causes a mad scramble by all the players to try to find the idol. Although Kass is assigned to keep an eye on Spencer in case he finds an idol, he still finds it right in front of Kass without her knowing.

After Spencer finds the idol, he also wins the immunity challenge. The one move he can make to shift the game again is to convince Kass to flip. As noted above, it would only force a tie that results in drawing rocks. However, if he convinces her to flip, he could learn who the other alliance is targeting and use the hidden immunity idol on his ally to nullify the votes. Nevertheless, it definitely does not seem likely. Spencer was very upset with Kass’s flip and showed it after tribal council. Accordingly, Kass is already upset with him for berating her. Even though he apologizes, it is a little too late close and self serving. In addition, he definitely cannot trust Kass. As a result, disclosing that he has a hidden immunity idol to her is not a good idea. On the other hand, it is his best chance to persuade her to switch sides again. In the end, I believe he made the correct decision. I would not trust Kass and he needs to keep the idol to protect him. At this point of the game, buying yourself another tribal council can put you in a position to be a part of the majority alliance when the other alliance starts to turn against itself.

Queen Morgan

As the Solana alliance did not find the idol, they suspect that Spencer or someone in the Aparri alliance has it. As a result, they make a wise decision to target Morgan who they know no one will give the idol to. During the episode, a big deal is made about the conflict between Kass and Morgan after the last tribal council. Moreover, the show highlights the perception that Morgan is lazy and does not contribute in camp. While there is probably some truth to Morgan getting special treatment in the real world because of her looks, I think the decision to vote her off is due to strategy and the Solana alliance protecting itself against the idol. Although Kass makes a comment that Morgan is a bitch, Kass does not have a lot of credibility as she has fought with multiple players. I have seen miserable people who have been on Survivor. Morgan is not close to behaving as poorly as any of them. If you watch the videos at Ponderosa when Morgan arrives, Sarah’s genuine happiness to see and talk to Morgan proves that she has a very likeable personality. Morgan has her supporters in the game. In addition, there are bigger threats in the game and Morgan is a perfect player to take to the end because she has not built an argument to win. Accordingly, I find it difficult to believe that the other alliance hated her so much that they would go against the best strategy for themselves. Do not buy into the unfavorable edit.

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