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.
This week will be a little different. I am going to go back and pick out 5 big moments that I got correct from this season.
1. Give Me Five from Episode 2:
It was evident after the first episode that David had some great lasting potential with the possibility of a huge impact down the road based on the fact that we got a very heavy David edit. It appears that this remains to be the case this week as David finds the hidden immunity idol at the Gen X camp. Now, the question is, will he be paranoid and use it too early or will he calm down and play it smart? Both he and Ken now know about it, so I can see that twosome making a splash if they can continue to work together.
I was definitely right about David. Not only did he make it to the last episode, but he was a huge threat to win had he made it to the final tribal council. His personal growth throughout the game was also one of the biggest storylines of the season.
2. Give Me Five from Episode 4:
Adam. He has quietly been coming on as a real contender to go far in this game. Not only did he find a hidden idol which will most likely make some sort of impact, but we also got that highly emotional scene of him crying and telling the sad story of his mother. It is definitely a heartbreaking story, but we were shown that for a reason. What sort of Adam storyline are we starting to see? He is making his case to be hanging around awhile.
This is a no-brainer pick since Adam went on to win the whole thing. I just couldn’t help but see that moment when he was talking about his mom and thinking that there is no way he doesn’t make it to the end.
3. Give Me Five from Episode 6:
The separation of the Figgy and Taylor power couple. Finally, it happened! Adam made the move that we all (personal opinion only here) wanted to see. This was a big move at an important part of the game. They broke up the power couple shortly before they got a chance to get back with their alliance mates. The immediate impact here is that Taylor is going to be out for blood. He and Adam are clearly not going to work together, at least not anytime soon and his days are numbered if Takali goes to tribal council again before a swap/merge happens. For Adam, this may help him make it further. He and Zeke were both on the bottom of the original Millennial tribe, and they are now both in a pretty good position moving forward.
I had to pick this moment because Adam himself has since said that this is one of his biggest moves. It put Taylor (and his old allies) on the outs come the merge, and allowed Adam to work his way into the majority which he rode all the way to the end.
4. Give Me Five from Episode 7:
The Michaela vote out. This was a huge move by Jay and Will. Was it the right move? We will have to see how far both of these guys make it, but on the surface, it seems like they jumped the gun on this one. They had a super loyal ally who had no connections on the other side and someone that can help them win rewards and immunities. This is going to have a huge impact since we saw that the merge is coming up. The Millennials seem to be no more, and without Michaela, Jay’s group isn’t big enough to make any waves. It could have been Jay, Will, Taylor, Michelle, Michaela, and Hannah as a strong six going in, but not only did they lose Michaela in the vote, but it would appear that they also lost Hannah in the process. How will things shake up in the merge episode? I am excited to find out!
Clearly losing Michaela that early hurt the Millennials going forward. They had the numbers, but would eventually be even with the Gen X crew. Jay and Will ended up being on the bottom after the merge and were never fully able to regain control of the game.
5. Give Me Five from Episode 10:
David’s heart to heart conversation with Ken. There were a lot of moments that happened in the two hours of Survivor this week, but I feel like I have to mention this. This scene just seems to go with the theme of the season. David is once again in the spotlight as he and Ken share a sweet moment. This appeared to be a conversation that had nothing to do with gameplay, just a couple of guys hanging out having a serious talk. But I cannot help but think that this is another step in the favorable edit of David Wright. The second part of this is that it also made Ken look really good. Showing Ken sticking by his buddy the whole double episode really showed his loyalty.
The David/Ken alliance, friendship, or whatever you want to call it was a major factor over this entire season. Even at the end when Ken voted David out, it was still a big part of how it went down. It was the most fleshed out partnership of the season.
Now for the one that I believe that I missed the mark on the most. Give Me Five from Episode 5:
The tribe switch. This is an obvious one that indirectly affected a few of my other Give Me Five moments. The immediate impacts were: new bonds being formed, one tribe having an extra person (but basically no camp), and some excellent scenes of Michaela saving the day by making the fire. This was a really good moment for her I thought. That is not the kind of moment that you see from someone that is voted off in the next few days. Maybe I am just reading too much into it, but I think that we will see her around for a while longer. The tribe swap also mixed up the tribes pretty good too as far as strong men being evenly spread out amongst the tribes, so that should make for some good challenges too. How long will they stay in this format before we see them swapped again or merge?
I was clearly way off in my assessment of Michaela. I thought that she was getting a good edit and was thrown off by that whole fire making scene. A few nice people even commented how this was very much like the Alecia vote off from last season – a moment of triumph before being booted shortly after.
There you go. Congrats to Adam on a well-deserved win. This was a fantastic season of Survivor and I want to thank everyone who took the time to read and/or comment on my article this season. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on Game Changers in the Spring.
Written by
I agree, she was also telling Bret and Sunday that Michelle was a huge threat and that they needed to target her immediately at the merge even though that was Jay’s ally. I think it was the smarted choice for him.
I still remember that discussion. I was with you on it