SURVIVOR 41 (Episode 9)

A dramatic double-elimination! Two individual immunity winners! ...And only 9 days left of this shortened season! HOW is this all going to be wrapped up so quickly?? Let's dive into this week's mess:

• So it seems as though Shan and DeShawn are able to kiss and make up after last night's tribal...but this doesn't last too long. Shan throws out the potential of voting out Erika or Heather and DeShawn ain't having it! And I get it. If we're following original tribal lines, Luvu is still in the power position. Shan is looking to cut these numbers down, DeShawn wants to keep his options open. To me, it seems that this is an alliance that should have never formed in the first place because I don't think this game can continue with both players feeling "heard."

• Got not much to say other than... Heather, a bad liar:

• Ricard is deaf in one ear! What a cool revelation! It makes me want to go back and rewatch all of his past interactions with players, watch his facial expressions, see how he positions himself in the camp (he keeps most interactions with players on his left side!!)

• The immunity challenge: Survivor drop-the-four-keep-the-one switches things up on us once again and takes the classic stand-on-a-perch-and-hold-onto-the-bar challenge and ups the ante by splitting the cast in half with TWO immunities on the line and some beef stew for the "team" with the player who stays up the longest! I'm in, because it means people are eating!!

• The tribe was divided into team yellow (Erika, Heather, Naseer, Ricard, Shantel) and team blue (Danny, DeShawn, Evvie, Liana, Xander).

• Liana is maaaaaad bitter, and apparently HATES looking at Xander's face:

"I hate his… look at his face. I hate his face. I could die." —Liana, still mad at Xander, 17 days in...

• This is why a player like Sandra is one of the greatest of all time. She was able to house all her hatred towards certain players but patiently wait for the right moment. Liana is wearing her hatred right on her sleeve and it's become this single-minded obsession that's blinding her from the rest of the game. (Xander could be a number for her!!)

• Erika surprises everyone (including herself) and pulls off a win and completely forgets she's also playing for beef stew for her tribe by stepping down. After thirty minutes of standing (P.S this same challenge went on for FIVE HOURS in David vs Goliath....aka a season where players were FED), Xander defeats DeShawn and wins the team blue immunity necklace + stew.

• Everyone's circulation looked completely cut off during this challenge. And Naseer had it real bad - he couldn't feel anything on his right side. Can we bring in the medics to make sure this man is ok!?

• The next couple of sequences at the two camps was exhilarating - it seemed like there were obvious votes (Heather for Yellow, Evvie for Blue) but nothing in Survivor is ever easy or straight-forward! The votes kept flipping!! Evvie and Xander patched things up and were gunning for Liana, bringing DeShawn in!! Ricard wants to see Heather stay and would prefer to flush the idol out from Naseer!! Danny wants to maybe work with Xander? Naseer is not playing his idol for "mama" Heather!

• TIFFANY DID NOT GET HER WELL-DESERVED INTRO FROM JEFF! WHY WAS SHE ALREADY SITTING ON HER BENCH!? SO AS A FAN OF THE SHOW, I WILL GIVE IT TO HER MYSELF: "We'll now bring in the members of our jury: Tiffany, voted out at last tribal council." But as predicted, Tiffany is already a star juror:

• Ricard really did some heavy lifting pre-council and had the EDIT this episode. He miraculously got Shan on board to play her extra vote advantage to produce a 3-3 Heather/Naseer tie which went to a re-vote, where Naseer became the second member of the jury, blindsided with an idol in his pocket!

• I got the sense that DeShawn was seriously considering going with Evvie/Xander heading into tribal by voting out Liana, but I think just the sight of Naseer, a fellow ex-Luvu member shook him to his core. One of his minions was now gone. Switching the vote up by voting with Evvie/Xander might be too big a risk, at least he knows Liana trusts him and has been loyal to him these past few votes. Of course, none of this was said. This is all **my** read on the situation. Jeff even points out, all five of these contestants are playing so well that all of their answers are spoken in code, only giving flashy analogies that are so vague and mean nothing, yet are great soundbites for editors. And just like that, another one bites the dust:

• Also, still no "monster".....

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT VUKELULU:

Xander once again extends his lead as the biggest point-earner this season. He and other individual immunity winner, Erika were this week's top earners with 28 points each. And although he was voted out and didn't get the +10 points for surviving the week post-merge, Naseer also earned big points for being blindsided with an idol in his pocket!

Losing both Evvie and Naseer is surly going to shake up this top 10 for next week...half of our top leaders have either players (or in some cases, both) on their tribes! But until then, here is what our current standings look like:

1st	CHRISTIE (470 points)	Evvie(x), Heather, Liana, Naseer(x), Xander
2nd	BRENDAN (457 points)	Danny, DeShawn, Erika, Xander
3rd	MATT R. (441 points)	Heather, Liana, Shantel, Xander
4th	AMANDA (423 points)	DeShawn, Evvie(x), Ricard, Xander
5th	AMY (422 points)	DeShawn, Evvie(x), Liana, Naseer(x)
6th	RACHAEL (415 points)	Evvie(x), Naseer(x), Xander
7th	PAUL (394 points)	Erika, Evvie(x), Ricard, Xander
8th	ANDREW (390 points)	Liana, Shantel, Xander
9th TIE	MAGGIE S. (388 points)	Danny, Erika, Ricard, Shantel
9th TIE	ANGELA (388 points)	Liana, Shantel, Xander

11. HANNA (380 points)

12. BRIAN (367 points)

13. MEL (362 points)

14. PETER L. (351 points)

15. VICKY (345 points)

16T. BRI / KATH (338 points)

18T. GRACIE / LIV (332 points)

20. PETER B. (329 points)

21. JOYCE (316 points)

22. MAGGIE L. (315 points)

23. ROBERT (314 points)

24. DAWN (309 points)

25. MATT S. (306 points)

26. ALLIE (296 points)

27. CHRISTINA (290 points)

28. JIM (288 points)

29. ADAM (282 points)

30. ROBBIE (273 points)

31. LORI (272 points)

32. TORI (225 points)

33. JILL (223 points)

34. PETRA (198 points)

35. CASEY (189 points)

Full points sheet:

WEDNESDAY!!! SO SOON!! + HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! WE'RE SO THANKFUL FOR ALL A Y'ALL!

-Liv + Brian