Show No Mercy (S43: Episode 4)

In so far the tamest, and most regular episode this season, I'm left with two major thoughts: that reward challenge and all that pre-tribal paranoia.

It was nice to watch Vesi step it up and finally dominate challenges. There's a new fire to them, where in contrast you see the Coco tribe getting a bit more complacent with their "we're happy to take second place in challenges strategy." But let's talk about that Reward. A bunch of raw fish AND the ability to steal anything from one of the losing tribes. Don't get me wrong, I love (especially in this "new era" 26-day Survivor) when Jeff decides it's a good idea to finally feed the contestants, but didn't this seem like a HUUUGE advantage compared to everything else they've been able to win? And then it gets weirder when on the spot Jeff seems to change the rules and say "Yes! You can always change the reward you win for anything that has been won previously!" What??? That hasn't been a thing!! My feeling towards this has been perfectly summarized by past Survivor contestants, Rob Cesternino and Stephen Fishbach in this 1 minute clip:

LINDSAY!! WHY?!?! Was it just me or did it seem like she totally blew her whole game? There are 6 people on your tribe, you're in the middle, Geo was the obvious vote you've all been talking about since day one, the only other name you're hearing is Cassidy ...why are you seemingly putting your name in the mix? Well, according to Lindsay in a post-show interview, editing isn't always as it seems...

"I never got paranoid until Geo, and I had a conversation on the beach maybe 3 hours before we’re going to Tribal Council, and Geo said, 'Lindsay, I hate to do this to you, but your name’s being thrown out there and it’s going to be you going home tonight.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. What?’ Because I knew that Ryan and Geo, they had wanted Cassidy to go home since the beginning. So I knew that Cassidy was always going to be the vote. And I said, ‘Geo, why? Why me?’ And he said, ‘Well, Ryan says that you’re a threat in the game.’ And again, like, that was a huge red flag for me, especially because out of all the people in the game, Ryan was talking strategy the least. (But) I knew that Ryan was talking to people. It just wasn’t me. So that was definitely a red flag. And so that’s where kind of my paranoia started to set in."

So for a player (Ryan) who wasn't talking so much strategy, then who was the culprit in this craziness? Lindsay gives that credit to Karla:

"Karla didn’t vote me out because I was paranoid. Karla voted me out for two reasons. Number one, she saw me as a huge threat. She was worried that once the merge hit that I would go on individual immunity runs and she saw the social game that I was playing out there."

"There was a conversation that Geo and I had on the beach where Geo threw out James name I–and it was such a joke. Geo knew I was coming for him. I knew he was going for Cassidy. And yet here we are having this conversation like, ‘James is the vote tonight? You’re going to vote James? I’m going to vote James.’ And it was a joke. I mean, it was such a ridiculous conversation. However, the important part of that conversation was Geo said, ‘Well, I need to go talk to Karla and solidify that.’ And I said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I got Karla. Karla and I are working together. Don’t waste your time. I’m about to go talk to Karla anyway. I’ll just tell her the votes James.’

And that set off a red flag to Geo. And so Geo and Karla are having this conversation. Karla’s starting to freak out because she’s like, ‘Things are getting messy.’ Karla was having a really hard time keeping her lies in place. And so in order for Karla to save her game, she needed to get rid of me. And that’s what she did. It was a very smart move on Karla’s part. My tribe deserves credit for it. The part that I hate is that everybody thinks that it was because I was paranoid, and that’s not it."

All this is to say, Karla is RUNNING that Coco tribe. Hopefully she's able to keep her lies untangled and that Hidden Immunity Idol a secret!

What happened this week in the league:

Amelia's Double Points Advantage

With the exception of Amelia (54 points), who took advantage of her Double Points Advantage, it was a relatively low-point-scoring week (Leigh was the second highest scoring sans an advantage with 35 points). Because of these overall low points, there wasn't a ton of movement this week.

The biggest story this week is that with the elimination of Lindsay, eight tribes lost their Sole Survivor pick (Amy, Cousin Lori, Erin, Freddie, Laura, Nina, Sam, and Survivor Pete). Christie's tribe is also down to one (plus her merge bonus), making her this week's biggest loser with a measly 6 points earned.

What's going to happen next? -Tribemasters Liv + Brian