After just one more episode, some of my first impressions were completely wrong. A couple of my favorites to go deep do not do so well and one of them gets eliminated. The contestants also have to deal with torrential downpour as it appears a monsoon hit the Philippines at the time. After the first episode, I also thought the Brain tribe had no chance to win a challenge. However, they escape another tribal council as the Beauty tribe blows their huge lead when they get stuck with the puzzle in the immunity challenge. This season has a great cast and they continue to be fascinating to watch.

Tribes

Brawn & Cops-R-Us

The beat goes on for the Brawn tribe. They look unstoppable in the challenges and finished in first again. They have the physical advantage and are great at solving puzzles. It is a perfect combination for success in the immunity challenges. The story of the episode for the Brawn tribe is Tony. He is playing the game harder than anyone else in his tribe. He already has the hidden immunity idol. Nevertheless, he is the only one looking at the comfort items they won in the challenge for a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Even though he already has the idol, it is a great move to make sure no one else had the clue. In addition, he admits to Sarah that she was correct that he is a cop. I am surprised that Sarah eats it up immediately. I thought she would be upset that he lied to her. However, she jumps at the chance to ally with another police officer as she believes there is honor between cops. Unfortunately, Tony does not feel the same way. It is just a game for him and he is able to separate emotions from the game. He takes advantage of Sarah by lying to her that Cliff and Lindsey are out to get her. Sarah is sharp so it may be foolish to lie to her. While she is currently blinded by love for the badge, hell hath no fury if she figures out Tony is a liar.

Brains

This tribe was a complete disaster in the first episode. Tasha is in charge now but I think she is a captain of a sinking ship. Spencer is clearly next on the chopping block. On the other hand, Tasha and Spencer are good players on a poor tribe. If they can survive the coming eliminations and integrate into the other tribes, they can still be major factors in the game. As expected, the tribe is terrible at the challenge. J’Tia continues to be a total liability in the challenges. Fortunately for them, the Beauty tribe completely chokes and blows a big lead on the puzzle and allows the Brains to catch up and get the second immunity. Nevertheless, I do not expect this tribe to do well in future challenges. For the sake of the players in the tribe, they better hope there is a tribe swap or merger into the other two tribes soon.

Beauty

The Beauty tribe looks great in the first leg of the challenge. They are the best at throwing a bucket of water and the water itself to fill another bucket with enough weight to release a metal ball. They have a big head start going into the second part of the challenge. Unfortunately, LJ and Jeremiah just cannot figure out the two person puzzle. It involves the two men using a rope to rotate a wheel in order to navigate the metal ball through a maze. LJ was brilliant at the puzzles in the two immunity challenges in the first episode so I will blame the failure on Jeremiah. My first impressions after the first episode were that Brice, Morgan, and Jeremiah would be the dominating alliance. It looked like Jeremiah was under the spell of Morgan and would follow her lead. I was completely wrong. I underestimated how well LJ bonded with Jeremiah. Accordingly, I am surprised that Jeremiah is wavering on going with Brice and Morgan or LJ and the other two girls, Alexis and Jefra.

For Brice and Morgan, I like their play to try to vote out Alexis. Wisely, they realize that LJ is crucial for the challenges. It is too early in the game to eliminate a great player like LJ when you need to avoid tribal council and go into a merge with numbers. Without LJ, they would fall apart in the challenges as he is their puzzle solver and their most physical, athletic player. On the other hand, Jefra is very close to Alexis. She is more comfortable voting out LJ than Alexis. As a result, they may need to be more flexible in changing the target from Alexis to LJ in order to guarantee Jefra’s participation in the plan. On the other hand, LJ plays it pretty well. First, he went out and found the idol while the rest of his tribe was trying to hide from the monsoon earlier in the episode. He realized where Morgan was walking from when the tribe first arrived. Accordingly, he deduced that she probably had a clue to point her in the direction of the idol. With the idol, he has a significant advantage going into tribal council because he knows Brice and Morgan do not have it. Moreover, he shows his intuitiveness by identifying Brice as a bigger threat than Morgan going forward. I agree with the assessment since I picked Brice as a player that could go far and win it all after the first episode.

In the end, Jeremiah is the key to the vote. He is the swing vote. Moreover, Alexis comes up with the idea to split the vote in case Morgan or Brice has the idol. In the situation where one of them plays the idol, the other player will be voted out on the revote. Accordingly, Jeremiah is truly the deciding vote. Instead of voting with Brice and Morgan to force a 3 to 3 tie, he has the ability to vote Alexis out on the first vote with the split of votes. Splitting votes has been used too much in recent memory because a couple of savvy have used idols in previous seasons to change the game. However, splitting votes puts you at risk of one person in your alliance flipping and also changing the game. Jeremiah has that ability in the vote. It is a mistake on LJ’s part. He has the idol so there was no need for him to go along with the plan. He does not want to disclose that he has the idol but he can convince his alliance to go for a straight vote anyway. Accordingly, he gives Jeremiah more power in the vote than he should ever have.

During the vote in tribal council, Jeremiah decides to go along with the split vote that leads to Brice being voted out in the revote. It is a shame because Brice looked like a good player and provided great sound bites. He is sharp and entertaining to watch. With Jeremiah siding with LJ, Alexis, and Jefra, Morgan is on the chopping block. Of course, her best bet is for her tribe to continue to avoid being last in the immunity challenges and avoid tribal council. Her next best option is to try to work on Alexis and Jefra to form an all girl alliance. However, I doubt it happens as Alexis and Jefra are better off with LJ as their shield going forward. For my viewing pleasure, I hope Morgan finds a way to stay alive. If she can survive till a tribe swap or merge of some sort, she has a chance to align with the other players in the other tribes.

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