That's Not How I Play Survivor/Double the Fun, Double the Demise (S50: Episodes 7/8)

I find whenever I don’t watch the episodes live, I fall behind on these blog posts/scoring. I'm sorry! I hope everyone understands!

These past few episodes had a bunch of new twists within the Survivor cinematic universe. While it was fun to have Dee back, I really had zero expectations for her to make a real deep run in this game. She was so dominant on her first run, she was an "On Fire with Jeff Probst" podcast guest host... her threat level was just way too high. I really think the only reason she was able to make it as far as she did was because she was mostly on winning tribes. And if this episode told us anything, it didn’t matter how many tight allies she had becuase even her closest number ones were willing to throw her under the bus (I’m looking at you, flip-flop Flippen).

This following week's twist was probs my favorite of the twists that we’ve seen so far, and I think that’s only because the players were more or less in charge of their own fate. The extent of that fate was unknown to them at the time, but there was clearly strategy in linking up with people who either complemented their strengths/weaknesses or were a compatible duo that works well together, even down to Cirie wanting to sit out, knowing she would be the weakest (physical/challenge) link. I do wish that the challenge itself required the duo to actually work together vs. a classic Survivor obstacle course, but I guess we can’t get too picky (...even though I, the fan, allegedly voted for this).

And while I do love a Cirie moment, and it was absolutely masterful to watch her come back to camp and totally flip the vote (aaaaand watch people literally just come to her as if she’s a mentor and not an actual player still left in the game) her “exile” "experience" didn’t feel as risky as all of the other players’. Like, if she didn’t succeed in finding the coconut, the only punishment was that she would stay (safe) on Exile, unable to vote at tribal? Felt a bit like a plant to make sure Cirie was safe (?) IDK! Either way, the Rick/Christian fake idol played out in a really fun way, and as much as I’m a fan of classic old-school Survivor villainy, the Coach/Chrissy boot was rather satisfying.

Let's Catch Up On Points...

So we had a mild episode 7 (points-wise) and a pretty wild episode 8! The biggest thing to note is that, with her individual immunity win (with Joe), Tiffany moves into the front of the pack with the most earned points so far this season with 116, followed closely by Stephanie and Christian (with 111).

The vote-outs of Dee, Coach, and Chrissy have now officially brought everyone in the league down at least one tribe member. But congratulations to Amanda S., Anthony E., Nonna Nina, and Rebecca, who made it all the way to Episode 8 before losing their first tribe member!

Emma L. was the only league member to lose their Sole Survivor in Episode 7 with Dee’s boot. And while no one had Chrissy as their sole, Adam, AJ, Allie B., and Tribemaster Brian all lost their Sole Survivor when Coach was eliminated.

And Mama Joyce joins Gabe at the bottom of the pack, officially, with a tribe of zero... sorry for you.

-Tribemaster Brian