Survivor 42, Episode 8 - You Better Be Wearing a Seatbelt
KULA KULA (Night 14)
The wrong side of the numbers consists of Tori, Chanelle, Romeo, and Maryanne. Chanelle wasn’t in on the vote by Hai. Romeo was betrayed by Drea. Maryanne feels left out by Lindsay and her former TAKU, tears come and elementary school comes rushing back.
KULA KULA (Day 15)
Mike is making his case for winning by building relationships. He’s having conversations and learning about Islam from Omar. Mike embraces people and their story.
REWARD CHALLENGE
The sit out bench is armed with another hidden Beware Advantage just as in 41. Maryanne draws the gray rock to sit out but before she can feel left out like in elementary school again, Drea steps up and asks to trade places.
REWARD - PB & J and Potato Chips
BLUE - Jonathan, Chanelle, Mike, Rocksroy, Tori,
ORANGE - Lindsay, Hai, Omar, Romeo, Maryanne
Climb a platform, dive inwater, maneuver buoys through an obstacle course and shoot the buoys into a basket. Omar gets hot and knocks down 4 buoys making that Emu start to smile on his shirt.
Then, the Incredible Hulk strikes again. Jonathan gets out of the water and decides to take over buoy shooting duties. In, in, in, in, and challenge over! Guy is unbelievable. He’s just better than everyone at everything. Swimming, fishing, shooting, providing, you name it and he is better. He’s even in the alliance with the numbers (Mike, Hai, Lindsay, Drea, Omar, Jonathan).
Omar is putting his DNA on everyone in the game. He’s in the numbers alliance with Jonathan, Lindsay, Mike, Hai, and Drea but also keeping his options open with those not in the numbers. He’s maintaining relationships with Maryanne, Romeo, Tori, and Chanelle. Omar is doing all the things necessary to position himself best in this game with EVERYONE in the game. He may not be threatening physically but behind the scenes socially he is poised for a pilgrimage to the final 3.
DREA’S ADVANTAGE
The real story to come out of the Reward Challenge isn’t Jonathan and his Herculean performance 7.0. It’s Drea. As they say, the rich get richer. She volunteers to switch places with Maryanne after she relives childhood playground nightmares of getting left out or picked last when she draws the gray rock and isn’t able to participate or receive the reward.
Surprised that nobody else thinks to switch. I know that Drea said she doesn’t like PB & J (and I can relate, sandwich sucks!) but it still shocks me that nobody thinks about the switch as an opportunity. Or maybe after 2 + weeks on the island with literally no food, you hear that food is a reward and you can’t comprehned that level of an advanced strategy gamble.
See how Drea’s switch pays off.
THE KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ADVANTAGE IS BACK!!!
Do you have an advantage?
Do you have an idol?
The person that Drea asks has to answer and if the answer is yes then Drea can take it from that person. Aka Mike and Maryanne both have idols and Drea knows it. Therefore, like Omar, Drea has options. But, it says Beware for a reason. The clue brought Drea to advantage, BUT it was submerged in red paint. Genius! I really loved this twist on it. The paint made her heart rate soar higher than Ozzy on 4/20 and then scrambling to get the red off her hands. She was able to do it relatively easy but I think this type of “Beware” will be back again in the future but with the advantage and the red paint being further from the water well.
But the drama didn’t stop there. Drea gets caught “Red Handed” by Tori. She plays it off pathetically saying she was painting the merge flag but there isn’t any paint to be found. Then, Tori notices something in her pants and the game changes again for Drea and especially Tori. Drea may have found the Knowledge is Power Advantage but Tori is armed with her own knowledge that if played correctly can create power and knock out the queen of advantages, Drea.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Jeff is ready to start negotiating again. Like in 41, Jeff is ready to make a deal by giving enough rice for everyone in exchange for people sitting out of the challenge. Lindsay and Drea are out immediately. Maryanne reluctantly throws up a hand to sit out. Maryanne is emotional and plays the I’m willing to do this even though I may be voted out. Water works. Drama. Maryanne. Then, Omar steps up and sits out. That’s 4 and Jeff is satisfied.
Chanelle, Tori, Rocks, Hai, Romeo, Jonathan, and Mike are competing for…Hai is out. See before I could even finish my thought he was out. Add Rocks and Mike to that. Down to 4.
Romeo’s out. 3 left. Chanelle, Tori, and Hulk.
Not only are they balancing a ball between two wood sticks, but they are also standing on a balance beam.
Jonathan shows he’s human battling through a wobble. Chanelle can’t handle it. She’s out.
Tori vs. Jonathan
Jonathan is fumbling…ooooh….ooops. Hulk is only Bruce Banner this challenge.
Tori wins immunity again! Safe again with rice in hand. HUGE WIN FOR TORI!!! Not only does she have immunity but she also has the knowledge and suspicion of Drea. I’m hoping her immunity will allow her to sway the suspicion, drama and vote toward Drea. Ultimately, Tori winning immunity again proves Jonathan is human and allows others to raise their threat levels while keeping hers at worst the same. Also, I think Tori doesn’t have to blow up Drea’s game at this Tribal, but it may be worth it to her game because if nothing else it can elevate Drea’s threat level plus Tori has a chance with Chanelle, Romeo, and Maryanne being on the “outs” of the major alliance following the Lydia vote. Then, all she needs is one vote to possibly oust Drea and flip the game upside down for those “in the numbers”.
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE (Day 16)
The majority is targeting Chanelle with Romeo and Maryanne waiting in the wings. Mike is pissed because Chanelle put the vote on Mike at the last Tribal. He wants revenge! Now, Chanelle is being told it’s Romeo and she’s keeping calm but Romeo can’t say the same for himself. He thought Drea was on his side and she’s not. Paranoia enters Romeo stage left. His paranoia is dominating his thoughts and Tori is trying to help keep him in the loop. Romeo goes to Rocks and Omar to share what Tori and Rocks said. Chaos has begun!
Hai is not about that chaos. He puts the wheels in motion to change the vote from Chanelle to Romeo citing his paranoia. But, Mike is not about that vote. He wants Chanelle out come hell or high water. She betrayed him and loyalty is everything to Mike in this game. Chanelle or Romeo?
Chanelle played it cool around camp despite her name being on the chopping block and Romeo didn’t. Lesson learned here, panicking and showing everyone your panic, doesn’t help. Included in this is Tori. She isn’t panicking about the suspicion she had when Drea lied to her. Sure, winning immunity helps you keep your mouth shut, but is it a better move to sit on this info until she needs to use it or to let it fly at Tribal to stir the pot and stoke the fire under Drea and bring this sneakiness to everyone’s attention? Burning one advantage can’t be the worst outcome for Tori and everyone else can it?
TRIBAL COUNCIL
In the group vs not in the group. The majority alliance of Mike, Jonathan, Hai, Lindsay, Omar, and Rocks are protecting their position for now as the group "“in the driver’s position” and it feels like the group left out of the car - Tori (immunity), Romeo, Chanelle, and Maryanne were not willing to make a play at trying to stir things up and flip the vote.
VOTES
Chanelle 6
Romeo 3
Hai 1
No advantages played. No Idols flushed. No Shots in the Dark. Just a pretty straightforward vote for the player who was on the outs of the numbers and mistrusted strongly enough from within the numbers (Mike) to meet her maker in the game with a very straightforward and boring Tribal. Chanelle played it cool at camp and at Tribal. That lowered her threat level but actually didn’t. She didn’t bring much to the season anyway and ultimately nobody will miss Chanelle. She becomes the 1st member of jury.
In her exit interview she admits to playing the game “too lax”. My guess is that some people who play Survivor get to a point where they feel helpless or unable to influence the game or shift the numbers in their favor at all. It was pretty clear that Chanelle was in that category and so she made the jury and gets to decide who won, but I think it’s more an indication of her game being checkmated, or at least checkmated in her own mind.
RANKINGS
NO CHANCE
Plain and simple, they won’t win.
12. Lydia
11. Chanelle (1st on Jury)
10. Rocksroy
9. Maryanne
NEEDS A MIRACLE BUT IT’S POSSIBLE
8. Tori (My preseason pick to win) - Maybe she just keeps winning Immunity, but I like her having the dirt on Drea.
7. Jonathan - In the majority alliance but the meat shield never lasts forever.
SLEEPERS
6. Lindsay - has a solid alliance, a meat shield, and the amulet advantage. Don’t know anything about her.
5. Romeo - Paranoia almost got him eliminated. Shot in the Dark may be in his future if he can’t get it together.
CONTENDERS
4. Drea - Gets even more Survivor RICH. Has Amulet, EXTRA VOTE, Immunity Idol, and Knowledge is Power Advantage. But she got caught red handed.
3. Mike - People like him. He swayed the vote back to Chanelle. He’ll be around a while.
FAVORITES
2. Hai - Losing Lydia didn’t affect him. Has power to make moves within majority alliance.
1. Omar - super likeable and a non threat. Made move to oust Lydia without a vote. Relationships with everyone.
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