Welcome to Give Me Five! Each week, Brent Sullivan will look at the top five moments from the latest episode that could influence the rest of the season.
1. The merge. This is always an easy one. Of course, the merge is an impactful moment. Even though this one appeared to be a little more subdued compared to other seasons, there was still some things going on at the merge that may come back into play. Brad and Tai both choosing to sit out the merge feast to allow everyone else to get food is a big one. Will their goodwill help them down the road or put a target on them? Debbie acting drunk is one that I am not sure what to think. It wasn’t necessarily good or bad, but if people already believe that Debbie is crazy, this surely can’t help her. But, the biggest takeaway from the merge is where the numbers fell on each side. After the tossup between Hali and Michaela in the first hour, there was a greater shift in the second hour with Sarah landing on the side with Brad, Sierra, and Troyzan. Will people continue to shift sides or will there be a battle between these two factions that have formed post-merge? I have a feeling it will change, but we will find out soon.
2. Cirie starts playing. So, Cirie goes 21 days without attending a Tribal Council. She was most likely going to be the first one voted out the game had her tribe lost the first Immunity Challenge, but instead she makes it halfway through without anyone even getting the chance to vote for her. What little we saw of her early in the game, it appeared that she was struggling to get anyone to talk strategy with her and most weren’t believing anything that she said. Now she is back to good Ol’ Cirie. Not only are people listening to her, but she is swaying the votes already and getting people to do her dirty work. She even had a really good talk with Michaela that seemed to work and calm her down. Personally, I am really surprised by this. I guess the only question is will she continue to play this way or will they wise up before it’s too late and realize that she is starting to run the show. There is a reason that she has made it so far twice.
3. Brad and Sierra. Who’s in charge? Is it Brad or is it Sierra? For half of the season, we were led to believe that Brad was the one who was making all of the calls for the two of them. This week a different picture of Sierra was painted. All of the shots of her laying in the hammock and everyone coming to her made me wonder what the show was trying to tell us. That mixed with the fact that Brad was nowhere to be seen in the second hour. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in-between. Maybe they are both working together and making decisions together. No matter how it stacks up, they definitely seem to be a power couple, and now people seem to be on to them. If they can keep the likes of Troyzan and Debbie close, then it may be a moot point.
4. Debbie makes a big move. Debbie is such a fascinating character to watch. I have seen her play two times now and I still don’t seem to know what sort of game she has. Within a few episodes, she went from crazy Debbie to the one making the call to get Ozzy out. Okay, not that taking out Ozzy is a that big of a move, he is just a big player that Debbie decided to target. It was actually not a half bad idea to take him out now while he was not wearing the immunity necklace. But, the fact that Debbie just took control and was telling everyone how to vote was a bit of a surprise. What will we see from her next?
5. Zeke broke trust. I am still amazed that this happened so fast. After what Zeke had to go through just a few days before and all of the people on his tribe that had his back, I thought that he might lay low for a few days. I guess that he was just too restless and now he has turned his back on his alliance. A few of them like Andrea and Sarah were really upset with him, and it almost got him voted out. I am not sure what he was thinking trying to make such a big move at this point in the game when he was sitting in a good spot, and now his future is really in doubt. I think that he could have laid low for a few more votes and still tried something down the road. Unless he can work something out, I don’t know how much longer he can go.
There you go. What moments from this week or the merge do you think made an impact?
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Zeke really torpedoed his game. I don’t really understand what he thought he was going to accomplish by going after Andrea. Same mistake he made last season by going after Chris.
Seriously, what is Zeke thinking? Trying to make a massive power play like that rarely works, particularly in modern Survivor where those seen to be calling all the shots are quickly toppled.
Good leaders know that you don’t always need to be in charge to be effective. Look at Cirie.
That’s the big problem in going back to back seasons. A lot of the times the players didn’t had the chance the realize what they did wrong last time. Exactly what happened to Russel in HvV.
i’ve always wanted to see Cirie’s game play. She is the one to watch.