Nightmare Fuel (S47: Episode 9)

The spotlight on Andy and Rachel's relationship in the season premiere always felt intentional. But who could have predicted Andy would make such a pivot after that first episode? Now, after a huge flashback and working through several setbacks, it seems like they are finally ready to start working together. I find their dynamic really interesting. Rachel seems to have the strategic game on lock, but it oddly feels like Andy is doing better socially!

I thought it was a really interesting twist to have players potentially lose their vote based on their challenge performance. However, I was a bit disappointed that this twist was tied to a challenge where they were split into pairs—it felt like it limited the drama of the twist a bit.

It was unfortunate that Sam and Andy’s bag ripped, especially since they had a commanding lead. The other pair at risk of losing their votes were Caroline and Rachel.

Even though Sue and Genevieve didn’t make it to the final round to play for immunity and ended up back at the Beka beach in purgatory (without a reward), Sue has been so wildly impressive to me in these challenges. She’s been crushing it!

Gabe won immunity, beating the otherwise undefeated Kyle, as well as Teeny and Sol. While those four were on reward, Andy, Caroline, Rachel, and Sam were duking it out in a card stacking challenge to win back their votes. I loved this! And the cave at this time of day? The lighting was so moody, and the shots were chef’s kiss.

The most interesting duo in purgatory was Genevieve and Sue, where Genevieve was planting the seeds to get the votes stacked against Sol.

Genevieve’s decision to target Sol was definitely a gutsy move, but it felt puzzling, especially from a strategic standpoint. Over the past few episodes, we’ve watched Genevieve evolve into an incredibly calculated and strategic player. Sol seemed to trust her and made it clear he was willing to work with her, so what was I missing? Why did she want to jump ship this early?

It’s always fun when players on the bottom stir up chaos, and Sam was no exception. Even though he broke his word and rushed to Sol after Rachel tipped him off about the vote, trying to flip things, it felt like the chaos came a bit too late to make a real impact.

HOW DID WE DO THIS WEEK?

A bunch of auction item advantages (and disadvantages) were in play this episode. Starting at the top, Aashi made a massive jump from 16-2 thanks to her Double Points advantage, earning her tribe a remarkable 134 points this week. Amy S. also was able to reap the benefits of a Double Points advantage causing her to vault from an imppressive 42-13 (+114 points)! And then Angela's disadvantage required her to give the points that she would have earned for her tribe this episode to someone else, and based on her email:

Elissa must have hit that venmo button real fast, as she was the recipient of Angela's 56 points. The final advantage in play this week was Laura using her Celebrity Shot Bonus and added Sue to her tribe for this episode only.

With Sol's boot, Bri, Elissa, and Paul all lost their Sole Survivor this week. And sadly Emily F. joins Carolyn as the only league members down to a tribe of one. 😬😬

Almost caught up!!!! Again, sorry for these delays!

-Tribemasters Liv + Brian