Last week’s boot was one waiting to happen. I highly suspected Libby would go because of her current position in the game. Overall, she didn’t have a solid alliance, and she was seen as a threat to a lot of people. Apparently she was close with Michael, but as viewers, we never really saw that, production didn’t include their relationship and alliance in the game, so we didn’t get to see that she was close to anyone at all.
When you compare all 18-year-olds who have played this game (three), Michael is hand’s down the best to play so far. I think if Michael was in a better position with more Malolo’s in the merge, he could easily walk to the end of this game. Do I think he is going to win? No. He has become one of those players that is hanging on by a thread, and he doesn’t have something like another swap to save him. He can find another idol, but that won’t keep him safe for another seven tribals, assuming there’s a Final 3 and the Final 4 tribal is sticking with the fire making challenge twist.
Is it just me or is this season kind of getting boring now that almost all of our fan favorites went pre-merge? Pagonging was fine back in the early days, but when you have a Pagonging on a tribe filled with amazing people and get left with some duds, it makes for a dull season.
“I’m trying to figure out the truth”
Welcome to Survivor, Kellyn. I have absolutely nothing against Kellyn, but I love to see people who have been on top the whole season (by doing nothing but having original tribe numbers) finally struggle and have to play the game more aggressively. From what we see in the previews, it looks like Kellyn’s right-hand woman, Des, is starting to make moves for her own benefit to progress in the game. Des probably realizes that she won’t make it to the end with Kellyn and Chelsea, playing against people who have larger alliances like Dom and Wendell. I initially assumed that Des was considering jumping ship to Wendell and Dom’s alliance to save herself, and that is why Kellyn is upset, but it doesn’t look like that is the case.
It looks like Des is taking the initiative to rally against Dom and Wendell and pleading her case to the remaining members of Malolo to get votes against them, but I think Kellyn isn’t all for that idea. Kellyn has always been about getting rid of the remaining Malolo members, so that could be why she looks upset. Des is later seen with Dom and Laurel saying “One of the Malolo is going home,” which is the complete opposite of what she wanted. So I’m guessing she couldn’t get the votes from Malolo to vote out Dom/Wendell, or she got caught rallying against them and is covering her ass.
I’m going to go with option two because we see Laurel telling Dom that Des is specifically trying to target them by getting Malolo together. Do I think Dom or Wendell is going home? Absolutely not, they both have idols, and I don’t expect either of them to use theirs.
Let’s make some predictions…
Who is on the chopping block?
If Des tries to work it out with Michael, Laurel, Donathan, and Jenna to get their votes against Dom/Wendell and Dom finds out, this would paint Des as a target. But the preview would be way too obvious this week if Des ended up going home, so I don’t think it will be her. This preview could be covering the fact Michael is still a threat to go home and they don’t want to make it obvious that he gets voted out.
Another prediction is if Dom and Wendell decide to go after Des for turning on them, they could take out one of her closest allies instead, someone like Kellyn – since she has been to Ghost Island before (suspecting advantage/idol) and she’s already won Immunity. And then there’s the irrelevance of Chelsea still lingering around. So my Top 3 to go home this week will be Michael, Kellyn, and Chelsea.
Who will win the reward challenge?
Based on the press photos and previews, the two teams will consist of:
Orange: Michael, Sebastian, Chelsea, Jenna, Kellyn
Purple: Wendall, Laurel, Angela, Dom
Des and Donathan aren’t seen in the preview or photos, so this means that one of them wasn’t chosen for the reward and one of them is.
I think the purple team will win because… Wendell.
Who is going to Ghost Island?
They will end up sticking to the decision of picking rocks, and if purple wins, that means someone on the orange team will go, and I’m hoping it’s Michael.
Who wins Immunity?
First of all, Chelsea looks like she is struggling in these press photos. We don’t get to see everyone, but I think the Top 3 people who have the best chances to win this challenge will be Sebastian, Wendell, and Angela. Laurel will be my honorable mention. There’s so many physically fit people left that it can be anyone, but I will stick it out with those three.
Will and idol or advantage get played?
I don’t expect Wendell or Dom to use their idols, but if Kellyn feels scared, I can easily see her playing her advantage to get an extra vote.
Winner Predictions After Episode 9
I’m going to be honest here, I think the editing this season is going downhill, and there are only two strong potential edits left in terms of winner candidates and those two edits are Dom and Wendell. I could be wrong, but this is just what I’m seeing. So I’m sticking with Wendell until the end based on his glorified edit.
Thanks again for checking out Next Time this week and like always, if you have different ideas or predictions, make sure to drop them in the comment section below.
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“Is it just me or is this season kind of getting boring now that almost all of our fan favorites went pre-merge?”
Couldn’t agree more. Can’t tell you how annoyed I was by Angela’s dumb move last week: sure it made for good TV but her “strategic” decision to align with Dom and Wendell – who had tried to eliminate her earlier in the game – was beyond stupid. The writing is on the wall with this season: the players are going to sleep on Dom and Wendell until it is too late and we are going to end up with at least one of them getting to the end and winning. Lots of people seem fine with this bc they like these two aforementioned players but I find this kind of predictability deadly dull. The level of game play is, for me, slightly better than last season but not by much. There is far too much complacency; which I guess it what happens when there is a pagonging earlier in the season and then the remaining members of the minority tribe think they are in good with the powers that be.