The Blood Moon (S50: Episode 6)

I think the concept (linking it back to the ancient people/lore) and name of a "Blood Moon twist" is great. I also like the idea of a huge merge given how large this cast was. But why was this handled in low-key the worst way possible?

One of my biggest disappointments over the past several seasons is how small tribal councils have gotten. At this point, it feels like something Jeff Probst and I will just fundamentally disagree on. Even when the same tribe keeps losing and an already small 6-person tribe gets whittled down to 3, there’s a swap before we ever get the real drama of 3 down to 2… or even down to a tribe of 1. By shuffling tribes so frequently (and always keeping three tribes), it leaves way too much up to luck and strips out a lot of the actual strategy behind voting people off. Sure, it might give an underdog a shot to get back in it, but is that really worth it? Because of this, we ended up last week with three players (who were all pretty well positioned socially) getting eliminated in one episode in a way that was honestly uninteresting.

And I do think the Blood Moon massacre twist was necessary. There are still way too many castaways left for a 26-day season (yawn… give us 39). But wouldn’t it have been way more interesting to do a full 17-person tribal council and either have Jeff surprise everyone after the first vote with an immediate second elimination, no talking, just vote, and then BAM! A third vote, no talking again?!!? Orrrrrr tell them upfront that three players are going home, and it’ll be the three people with the most votes? That would introduce a completely new layer of strategy, where alliances have to figure out how to stack votes across multiple targets.

Of the three, I’m probably least surprised (and least heartbroken) about Kamilla. She’s great and was playing a really solid game, but she was a clear threat, and I didn’t have much faith she’d go super far in Season 50 given how recently (and how dominantly) she played in 48. As a day one, though, I was crushed to see Colby go. It’s hard for an old dog to learn new tricks, but I really saw more of a spark in him this time compared to All Stars and Heroes vs Villains. It genuinely felt like he was there for the adventure, and this was one of the most social games we’ve seen from him. An old-school legend like that deserves a jury spot.

Genevieve is easily the most crushing. She was so well positioned. She found not one but TWO idols and couldn’t even use them because of how production structured things this season (byyyyeeee Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol). Then she gets swapped into literally the one configuration that puts her in danger. Where also the TWO PEOPLE with her Boomerang Idols are safe on Exile (0% chance of her getting one by her tribal). I get that luck is always part of Survivor, but this felt like too much meddling to produce an outcome that really shouldn’t have happened.

Merge Bonuses Are Live!

...and boy did some tribes need 'em!

Stephanie had the biggest one-week point total to date with 40 points, thanks to her immunity and reward wins for her group of five, followed by Dee (31 points) and Christian (25 points), who also won individual immunities. Another interesting point category was the naming of the episode. Since “The Blood Moon” was really more of a theme, a whopping five castaways earned points for saying the title (Aubry, Emily, Jonathan, Kamilla, and Tiffany).

The vote-outs of Colby, Genevieve, and Kamilla are for sure going to shake up next week’s points quite a bit. No one had Colby as their Sole Survivor; however, Bri, Elissa, and Phillippe lost Kamilla as their sole. Our biggest Sole Survivor purge so far occurred, with Angela, Coach Juju, Gabe, Josh, Mme. Brendoni, and Tribemaster Liv all losing their sole, Genevieve.

But the most devastating part is that we have our league’s first casualty, as our Canadian fave, Gabe, is down to a tribe of zero… sorry for you. (He was also this week's lowest-scorer only bringing in 8 points).

Rebecca overtook Anthony M. for the top spot this week, with Nonna Nina coming in HOT jumping up 15 spots!

See ya next week!

-Tribemaster Brian