SURVIVOR 41 (Episode 7)

WOOOOO! This episode had some cha.o.tic. energy. We knew this might be coming based on how the previous episode ended, but I really didn’t see it getting this crazy. What a doozy!

• Things kick off with some very rainy shots of Erika alone on Exile in the dark. (Kudos to her for sticking out what was probably a really uncomfortable 2 days and 2 nights.) She reunites with the rest of the group at the immunity challenge where she, along with Jeff’s help, explains the choice she was given. To no one’s surprise, we get that dramatic slow-mo shot of her smashing the hourglass and “changing the course of history.” This means Erika, Shan, Liana, Tiffany, Heather, and Xander are safe and don’t need to compete for immunity while Evvie, Sydney, Danny, Deshawn, Ricard, and Naseer are once again buff-less and must compete.

• The immunity challenge is a FEET CHALLENGE, and the cast proves to have some pretty serious foot dexterity. Evvie, Sydney, Ricard, and Deshawn all handle this challenge like absolute champs. It really was neck and neck, or shall I say… foot and foot. I imagine their merge feast from the day before really helped with their ability to not be too shaky during this challenge that requires a high level of focus and precision. After Evvie has a slip-up, Ricard pulls out the win by a hair, or rather, by a toe, before Sydney. (Sorry I’ll stop with the bad feet jokes)

• We return to camp, and as expected, the scramble begins. The majority voting block of Luvu plus Shan, Ricard, and Liana agrees to vote Evvie. With only 5 people being up for elimination, Evvie knows she’s on the chopping block and heads over to her allies, Xander and Tiffany for some teary-filled hugs. Without a second thought, Xander confidently offers to play his idol for his “big sister.” The three then agree they’ll gun for Deshawn because of his adept social game.

• The rest of the time at camp pre-tribal is a result of Shan’s slip-up from the previous episode when she revealed Liana’s advantage in front of Tiffany. Tiffany of course tells Xander and Evvie about the Knowledge is Power advantage and it spreads around the camp like a wildfire. (I really believe Shan accidentally sharing this info with Tiffany is going to be one of the most game-altering moments of this entire season, proving that in the game of Survivor, knowledge truly is power)

• Xander straight up tells Danny and Sydney that he’ll be playing his idol for Evvie. He also tells them about Liana’s advantage which seems stupid at first but then his strategy is clear - cause paranoia, create chaos before tribal, and make Liana seem untrustworthy to her new alliance. Danny immediately spills this information BACK to Liana which, as Xander hoped, causes chaos.

• We see Liana haphazardly attempt to fake concern with the Yase group over Evvie’s risk of elimination. She knows it’s crucial for them to feel comfortable in order for her to correctly play her advantage. But from the viewer standpoint, it’s waaay too obvious that her concern is disingenuous. It also seems like Xander’s moment of putting the idol in his pants right in front of her is over-dramatized and something that should have raised some red flags for Liana. Is Xander that good of an actor or is Liana’s intuition just clouded by her eagerness to get her arch nemesis out of the game?

• Next up: tribal. This is the first tribal council for everyone from Luvu. 38.9% of this episode’s airtime was dedicated to tribal council, which makes sense considering last episode had no tribal, but is a pretty high percentage regardless.

• Evvie and Xander continue to play up that Xander has an idol and will be playing it for Evvie. Deshawn calls Evvie out for spilling the beans about Xander’s idol and advantage on their trek together a few episodes ago, and Evvie stumbles to try to cover her tracks with Xander. We’ll have to see if this has any impact on Xander’s trust with Evvie moving forward.

• And then….. The moment we have all been waiting for………… Liana asks Xander if he has an idol. He responds “no, but you can have this fake.” BOOOOOOOOOM. MIC DROP. These are the Survivor moments we LIIIVEEE FORRRR PEOPLE.

• BAM. Tribal, rightfully so, goes live. (Heather and Erika mostly just sit there as everyone else scrambles and whispers around them.) Sydney is the name floating around most. Shan straight up tells Tiffany they’re voting Sydney which is confusing, and sparks another round of whispering and conspiring which lands the majority voting block on a plan of splitting votes between Evvie and Sydney.

• Evvie, still feeling unsafe, begs Xander and Tiffany to play the idol for her. Xander tells Tiffany not to, and she abides.

• Sydney makes the understandable, but risky decision to play her Shot in the Dark. Unfortunately for her, she is…

...And is voted out.

• Of course we can’t ignore that Sydney could have kept her vote instead of playing her Shot in the Dark, and could have voted Evvie to force a tie, which would have given her a very solid chance of staying in the game. But we can’t really blame her for not having a pulse on that. That tribal was true chaos.

• Pour some out for Sydney who, without reeeaaallly being a villain, provided some much needed villainous energy in her confessionals: “I feel like part of my worry comes from the fact that I’m so self obsessed” (at least she’s self aware, right?!)

THE LEAGUE: Our sympathies to Brendan, Jim, Kath, Matt R., and Rachael who all had Sydney as their Sole Survivor. Despite losing Syd this episode, Brendan and Matt R. maintain their top two positions (308 and 307 points, respectively). Maaaaybe them losing Sydney will finally give the rest of us the chance to play some catch up! Amy, Andrew, and Paul scored big this week with 66, 66, and 69 points respectively, while Casey and Jim brought in a mere 20 and 28 points respectively.

Your tribemasters,

Liv + Brian