KELE - NIGHT 6
And then there were 2. Jeremiah is gone and only Alex and Sophi remain. This is rarified air on Survivor. Only a handful of times has a tribe of 2 existed. As Sophi says, “hopefully this is the start to an underdog story” and there’s a lot of truth in that. I think the remaining two are dangerous in this game, just like Kenzie was after her dismantled YANU tribe in 46. I can see Alex and/or Sophi making a deep run and having a great story to tell.
KELE - DAY 7
“The ocean took my shoe” - Sophi
The ghost of the shoe bandit gets one last laugh and the dark cloud over KELE has one final storm rain down on this decimated tribe. I have to believe Jake smiled watching that scene.
DROP YOUR BUFFS - DAY 7
First, give it up for Alex and Sophi 👏👏👏👏👏. I love how they welcomed the change, welcomed the uncertainty of the tribe swap to come, and happily buried their old KELE buffs. My favorite part was how happy they were AND the fear of that same uncertainty from everyone else. This is when the success of the game doesn’t serve you.
New HINA - Sophi (new beginning), Matt, Jason, Rizo, Nate, Jawan, and Savannah
Sophi finds new life. Matt and Jason (old HINA) are outnumbered. Rizo, Nate, Jawan, and Savannah (ULI) have the majority despite ULI being no more. Rizo has no vote until the tribe loses and he finds the idol, or not.
New KELE - Alex (still at KELE 😢), Sage, Shannon, Steven, MC, Sophie, Kristina
Alex still on KELE and headed back home where there’s nothing. Sage and Shannon (ULI) are outnumbered by old HINA’s Steven, MC, Sophie, and Kristina. MC has no vote until the tribe loses and she finds the idol, or not.
Final point, the “Survivor Fake Out” played on the theme of uncertainty in the game of Survivor. Little cheesy and has me wondering if there could’ve been some advantage to play for in a 2v2v2 format, but I also like the fake out because we are sooooooo done with old KELE.
NEW HINA, NEW KELE - DAY 7
Vibes update. The new HINA is riding high and feeling good. The new KELE is feeling the ripple effects of the losing at KELE. The most interesting takeaway from this scene at both tribes is Savannah’s point of view on Sophi. Savannah tells us that when she sees Sophi and hugs her, she feels a connection with her. Savannah sees in Sophi someone that she would be friends with in real life. They are both short, attractive, and well put together, and those factors make Savannah trust Sophi and see somebody that she wants to work with. It makes you think, does someone like a Jawan or Nate, aka the opposite of Sophi, ever actually have a chance to connect with a Savannah? or is it just never going to happen. This thought goes back to the reality that in Survivor, some people are never going to win simply because of the group of people they are playing with.
New KELE - DAY 8
THANK YOU STEVEN!!!!!!! Thank you for calling out the elephant guru in the room!!! Shannon’s whole schtick is vacuuming up space, energy, and in my opinion, very controlling. I love that Steven and MC are not taking the deep breaths in with her because they are seeing through it and saying to themselves, Shannon and Sage are in the minority at new KELE, they don’t have the numbers, and I would rather roll with the wackadoodle who collects blackheads than having a spiritual boss on the tribe. Shannon needs to go!
New HINA - DAY 8
Let’s go live to the new HINA tribe where Savannah is reporting on how the old HINA is adjusting to a new reality. Just after a few questions, it’s become increasingly clear that Jason is old HINA strong and all it takes to uncover information about Matt’s finance background is a follow up question about what he did prior to working for an airline. There’s growing suspicion in Savannah’s mind because where there’s smoke, there is fire. Back to you in the studio! lol
New KELE - DAY 8
At KELE, Shannon is asking questions and taking interest in Kristina and she’s connecting with her. Next, we learn about Kristina’s mother, her addiction to pills and alcohol, and Kristina’s why - for mom. In addition, Shannon is playing the god, Jesus, and spiritual angle.
Sage isn’t buying it and sees it as performative. So do I. Sage’s skepticism and seeing through Shannon’s approach combined with her own approach being a “slow burn” is registering with me. I feel like when you have a Shannon on your tribe, there’s a lot of “space” that she takes up, and her strong personality and spiritual “presence” can make someone like Sage have a more difficult time to connect with people. Shannon feels to me like a Coach character arc, just less amusing.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - DAY 8
REWARD - Fruit
Sophie misses the boat and the edit’s shift in music was a perfect way to put her perspective on blast. Sophie needs to go to Tribal Council and get a healthy dose of reality in this game.
This challenge came down to balance and trust. For the balance portion, MC gave her tribe the lead over the balance beam carrying the 10 small cubes and Matt fell behind by falling off the beam multiple times. The KELE tribe was able to balance the large cubes over the two balance beams and start stacking the blocks with a lead over HINA. To finish, the trust portion comes with both KELE and HINA making lightning quick strategy choices, sacrificing their bodies, and trusting it will end with a W. The difference in the challenge was MC. Her physical strength putting Shannon on her shoulders to stack a majority of the cube and he ability to balance on Alex’s back and finish stacking the cubes to win the challenge earns her MVP honors. KELE gets their first win as a tribe, fruit, flint, and Alex off the losing schnide and keeping Sophi’s streak of going to every Tribal alive.
New HINA - DAY 8
HINA is going to Tribal Council but not before R-I-Z-G-O-D has to find his clue, get his idol, and restore his vote. The interesting piece of this is how the old ULI - Savannah, Nate, and Jawan - are the ones to dig up the water well clue, hand it to Rizo and send him out into the water to find the idol. I guess when you don’t have to find clues yourself nor worry about people messing with your idol and vote, you really might be, in fact, a G-O-D.
The structure of the Beware Advantage and the results of the tribe swap also are working for the RIZGOD here. He’s in the majority and it’s the first vote. Therefore, everyone wants him to have his vote and make this “easy”. Feels like we are still very much in the first phase of the game.
On the other side of the numbers and the ULI idol retrieval, it’s up to Matt and Jason to figure out what their move is going to be. They are in the minority and kind of at the mercy of ULI. Matt’s move is to throw Sophi’s name out there. In contrast, Jason is playing the hermit crab and using his Shot in the Dark. It’s an interesting choice for Jason because he isn’t making himself available. Old HINA is exactly that Jason, Old HINA. Time to adapt and move on.
The choice is lining up for either Matt or Jason. Matt made his pitch to Jawan to join up with Sophi and Jason and strike at Matt. On the other hand, Jason’s pitch was self preservation via playing his Shot in the Dark and kind of turning his back on the idea of working with the former ULI. I don’t think it’s ever too early in the game to make a move, but it takes the right players (think Tony) and I don’t think Jawan is that guy for Matt’s plans to come true.
Come on Matt and Jason, you better fight for it at Tribal or you’re dead.
PREDICTION: Matt’s aggression and target of Nate tips the scale and gets him voted out.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - NIGHT 8
Sophi’s lost puppy who needed to be adopted approach worked. Nate tells Jeff how ULI was looking for a new pet. Sucks for Matt and Jason.
Savannah drops a strategic bomb about how Matt was willing to work with her and Jason wanted to stay HINA strong. Jason’s back is against the wall and he knows it. Rizo doubles down on Savannah’s sentiment by dumping on the idea of holding onto pre-existing relationships with an old tribe. Now, obviously that’s easy for Rizo to say as he sits in the majority alliance from his old tribe.
Jawan can’t answer a question from Jeff about what might be the basis of how he’ll vote tonight. After a bumpy start, Jawan jumps on the bandwagon of Savannah and Rizo. I don’t buy Jawan as a threat in this game AT ALL.
VOTES
MATT - 4
JASON - 2
NATE - 1
There’s no surprise that Matt got voted out. He deserved to. He should have went home long ago. He’s not cut out to play Survivor. How he even got cast, baffles me. He fit the mold of an old school Survivor player. He even quoted Sandra’s strategy to further cement that suspicion. His whole game was having nothing but success at HINA and then the swap made him actually have to play, and he failed. Being the guy who can make fire or open coconuts or catch a fish doesn’t do anything in this game anymore. I think Savannah exposed him with just asking a few questions to dig into his background and when the new HINA lost, Matt made his pitch for a larger move to take out Nate aka cut the head off the snake, as he saw it, instead of pitching to cut the dead weight of Jason. I think early success and an old school mentality metaphorically pulled Matt’s pants down and spanked him as Jeff snuffed his torch. He had no chance of winning and really brought nothing to the table this season.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Matt vote is how Sophi, despite zero success in the game, was able to bond with the new HINA and find her fresh start that she so desperately needed. The rewards and fire will come for Sophi, but for now, she has everything she needs in her social game to have the real success to win the whole damn thing.
