I'm Survivor Rich (S42: Episode 5)

Big shakeups! The idols are live!!, Currency is everything!! Daniel can swim? Let's jump right into Episode 5, “I'm Survivor Rich!”

• Following the Swati boot, Romeo makes one hell of an apology tour, owning up to keeping Rocksroy and brilliantly explaining how trust was lost in Swati. Rocksroy was the perfect person to keep out of the loop because obviously he forgives and moves on (we have yet to see him really play strategically).

• Over at Taku, the tight core four is starting to crack. Jonathan (completely understandably) is starting to get rubbed the wrong way by Lindsay (and mostly) Maryanne’s constant talking. This boils over into a minor scuffle as Jonathan is breaking firewood and Maryanne’s foot(?) Is under the wood he’s trying to break(??). Instead of having this moment blow up into something major, Jonathan just walks away.

• When we return back to Vati, we see Daniel trying to catch some fish, which as Hai points out is veryyyy “fishy” since he claims he must sit out of challenges because he can’t swim with his popped shoulder. When Mike asks if it was easy to swim, Daniel says he finds it “relaxing and meditative.” Fascinating.

Hai is all of us...

• Then we flash over to everyone’s fave tribe, Ika where it’s Day 10 and still no one has found the idol. The only conclusion I can make here is that production is getting frustrated and moves (notice how I didn’t say “hides”) the BEWARE ADVANTAGE right off the main trail in a tree at eye level. Drea is the first person to walk by this, so naturally she is in possession of the advantage. She did give us a nice title to this week’s episode in: “I have extra vote, my amulet, and my idol. Currency is everything in Survivor, I think I’m Survivor rich.”

• Now that all three BEWARE ADVANTAGES have been found, this is the first time that the idols can potentially get unlocked at the immunity challenge. Mike had made many confessionals stating his plan was to intentionally (so that no one on the other tribes knew he found the advantage) stay silent even if the other two phrases were said, thus keeping his a secret, and wait it out until merge once all idols have full power. But after hearing Maryanne do her “bunny” bit and Drea talking about her "potato skins", he caved and COMMITTED.

PS. If you're not following Mike yet on Twitter...10/10 recommend.

• I ultimately think this was a smart move for Mike. There’s no guarantee your tribe is safe from tribal and your vote is your power in the game. Also even though I respect the concept and think idols should be kept low-key, 90% of this cast knows about these idols. (Is like Rocksroy the only one on the outs at this point?)

• Was Omar trying to throw this challenge? We didn’t get any confessionals to confirm this…but my god, that was an awful showing!! If he wasn’t trying to throw, he’s lucky Jonathan was able to swoop in for that W.

• The Vati tribe ultimately loses (“sorry for you….”) and Ika sends Lydia to the Survivor summit with Rocksroy. (PS was this not the most bizarre “meeting of the minds” there ever was? No one talked strategy. Neither of them risked their vote. It was just kinda a waste of time).

• …Especially when all the action was back at Vati’s camp where Hai was working his middle-man position on the tribe.

• Heading into tribal, I truly have no idea if the tribe was leaning towards Daniel or Chanelle. Which to me seems ridiculous that Chanelle/Daniel/Mike didn’t have the smarts to team up (one more time) and try and blindside either Hai or Lydia who are both sitting way too comfortably and calling all the shots.

• For how chaotic and crazy Vati’s last tribal was, this one was surprisingly mellow. The answers to Jeff’s questions were more abstract. Daniel went off on this strange Muhammad Ali analogy (which he did say coming up with analogies on the fly is not his strong suit) and then buttered Mike’s biscuit about how great he is and how he and Mike will remain friends long after the game is over.

• Chanelle fired back claiming these compliments Daniel was paying Mike is simply Daniel playing the game and using his friendship as both a tool and a weapon.

• The vote is about to happen and I am not confident in how this is about to go down! Is Daniel playing his idol? Which side is Lydia/Hai playing with? Only thing we think we know is Mike WILL be voting for Daniel.

• Turns out that was wrong…but let’s break down the confusing votes. First off, Daniel does not play his Shot in the Dark, so we are seeing all 5 votes, and they come thru like this:

Chanellle

Daniel

Chanel

Daniel

Mike

What’s up with that lone Mike vote? This was kinda weird no? Well, had Daniel PLAYED his Shot in the Dark, thus losing his vote but ultimately became safe, all votes cast for Daniel would have been cancelled:

Daniel

Chanel

Daniel

Mike

• This would leave it a tie between Chanelle and Mike. Chanelle voted for Mike just in case this happened because I guess she thought she would be able to fight to stay in the game. While this is a clever move, I don’t see any scenario playing out where Chanelle would convince Hai/Lydia to take Mike out over Chanelle - unless they were that concerned about Mike’s idol and were looking to flush.

• Regardless, none of this happens and Daniel becomes the 6th person to leave Survivor drop-the-four-keep-the-two after the Chanelle/Daniel revote.

PS did anyone watch this live and see that incredible “Sometimes it’s the bonds that get us through the game” Consumer Cellular commercial?!?! COPS R US 4EVA!!!

So how’d we do in the league?!

In possibly the greatest shake-up in Vukelulu Fantasy League history, we have two massssiveee league firsts! For the first time ever, league member Brendan drops out of the top 10 (only earning 34 points this episode)! And llast season's last place finisher/SIA AWARD WINNER, Petra has pushed her way all the way up to #2 thanks to her tribe members, Drea (29 points) and Maryanne (19 points).

With Daniel's boot, Kathryn is the only tribe member to lose her sole. This week's top earners were Joe (66 points), Adam and Rachael (63 points) and Vicky (60 points). The league's bottom scorer was Mama Joyce (9 points) with now only one castaway left on her tribe.

Grab your torch. Goodnight Vukelulu,

Tribemasters Liv + Brian