Say #What? Survivor‘s post-Halloween episode tonight was fittingly part trick and part treat, ending on what may just be the most shocking and intense blindside yet this season. Jeff Probst promised the game-play was going to ramp up as this season progressed, and he has uncharacteristically not over-hyped things thus far.
We’re going to get into everything that went down tonight, and analyze the shocking end of the episode that surely will create ripple effects through the rest of the season. Here’s your second-to-last spoiler warning, so stop reading if you have yet to watch Episode 7 of Survivor.
CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON FOR MORE, AND THIS IS YOUR LAST *SPOILER* WARNING!
So holy hell, just like that, the spit-fire, free-spirit, absolute bad-ass Michaela Bradshaw is out of the game, and right before the merge. It was not only an epic blindside of a power player, but it was one of the more confrontational exits that I can even remember. We’ll talk more about Michaela’s exit, but how did we get to that point? The episode began, and ended, with promises of “revenge” from scorned contestants licking their wounds, with Taylor reeling from Figgy‘s ousting last week, and Hannah promising to exact revenge next week on those responsible for taking out her ally, Michaela.
Yes, poor Taylor. He was not anticipating his girlfriend Figgy leaving the game. Upon returning to camp, Adam seemed super-motivated to smooth things over with Taylor, and he tried manning up and taking full responsibility for the demise of #FigTails. It was he, after all, that cast the deciding vote to get rid of her. Interestingly, in the era of the temporary “voting bloc,” Jessica and Ken were shown later in the episode as not having much loyalty whatsoever towards Adam, who basically saved their lives in the game last week…or at the very least, you can argue that Jessica and Ken at least seemed to want to keep their options open and not glue themselves to Adam. Taylor’s aloofness may have worked to his advantage tonight, because Jessica started to see him as perhaps a more straight-forward potential ally, as opposed to the more intellectual, strategic-minded Adam moving forward.
The #RewardChallenge tonight yielded two pretty decent feasts for the two winning tribes, but this was when there were a few more “Michaela Moments” that looking back, seem now to have been a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come. Michaela has been blunt and no nonsense, and she didn’t hold back in telling Probst that she was not surprised Figgy was voted out. We know her to be awesome in physical challenges, and after she once again performed well, she compared herself to Steve Jobs and Michael Jordan in a confessional interview. She did show some awareness, when she also admitted that she was starting to get worried about how good she was doing at challenges, knowing that this would put a target on her back.
We didn’t get too many other tribe dynamics at play tonight, but another interesting alliance might have been formed when David and Zeke bonded. David – love his game or hate his game – is playing an aggressive, confident game, and deciding to tell Zeke about his Idol may be a great game move…or another boneheaded one. Time will tell. The only other development that bubbled up on their tribe was a bad case of gas from all the boys following their feast, making Michelle quite grossed out, and rightfully so. At the other tribe, Hannah was on to Bret‘s bogus story about how he claimed he was a funeral director. Hannah had a hunch he might be a cop (he is).
By the time Michaela‘s tribe lost the #ImmunityChallenge, it seemed pretty cut-and-dry: One of the two Gen-Xers – Bret or Sunday – were going to go home. Michaela, Hannah, Jay and Will had the majority, but as it was pointed out at #TribalCouncil, each of the last two weeks ended with the majority of each tribe voting out one of its own. We the viewer know Michaela to be a strong-minded player, but we see her tribe mates witness her intellect when she maps out the rest of the game with rocks and seashells, working out every scenario to get them to the end of the game. This may or may not have factored into his decision, but Jay suddenly had the epiphany to vote out Michaela, whom he saw as too strong a player to allow to make the merge. Not only did Jay pull in Will, and had sitting ducks Bret and Sunday vote for Michaela, he decided to keep Hannah in the dark about it. It was a major move, a big move, and it culminated in Michaela verbally confronting Jay after the votes were read. Jay – give the man credit – looked directly into Michaela’s eyes and admitted he was the one that betrayed her. It led not just to the usual “blindside” hashtag, but to one that is a level above that: #What. That about said it all.
Episode Take-Away: If there was any question before, there is no longer: These people are here to play.
Strategic Move of the Week: Well of course, Jay‘s decision to take out Michaela. I’m not sure this was a good move…but as I mentioned, it was a big one. On one hand, Michaela was a very strong player…but keeping her in the game would have made her a bigger target, which would have been great for Jay and Will to hide behind. But it was a tricky situation, because Michaela was so strong-willed and independent, that she would not have hesitated to turn on her alliance if she thought it would further her game. Yes she planned to stick with them at this point, but she could have changed her mind at any point. Even still, Jay and Will might have been better off sticking with Michaela…once again, only time will tell.
Voted out this week: Michaela
Vote: 4 – Michaela (Will, Jay, Bret, Sunday) – 2 – Bret (Michaela, Hannah)
Next Week’s Episode: It’s the merge! If you don’t already, be sure to check out my Episode Preview article next Wednesday, as I will give a complete break-down of the tribe dynamics heading into the merge, and try to predict who might be in the best (and worst) spots. The merge ep is almost always one of the best, most important episodes of the season, so you will not want to miss it!
TELL US – ARE YOU SAD TO SEE MICHAELA GO? DO YOU THINK JAY AND WILL MADE THE CORRECT DECISION? AND WHO WILL YOU BE ROOTING FOR HEADING INTO THE MERGE?
Photo Credit: CBS/Monty Brinton/Robert Voets
