“Survivor: David vs. Goliath” (CBS)
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Last Week: Elizabeth thought the bed was too rough to bear, Dan was targeted by a Brochacha pair, and Lyrsa left with her outerwear…
39 Days, 20 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Let’s take a look at the tribes as they currently stand…
The Vuku Tribe (wearing orange)
Alec, 24 – Bartender
Carl, 41 – Truck Driver
Davie, 30 – Social Media Manager
Elizabeth, 31 – Kitchen Staff
Kara, 30 – Realtor
The Jabeni Tribe (wearing purple)
Angelina, 28 – Financial Consultant
Mike, 47 – Filmmaker
Nick, 27 – Public Defender
The Tiva Tribe (wearing green)
Alison, 28 – Physician
Christian, 32 – Robotics Scientist
Dan, 27 – S.W.A.T. Officer
Gabby, 25 – Technical Writer
John, 38 – Pro Wrestler
The Tiva Invasion
The Brochachos and Brochachas are enjoying a leisurely morning when they’re interrupted by boats filled with Jabenians and Vukuians. Sure enough, the merge is upon us.
Some fun tidbits that come out during the feast…
- Carl still wants to target Elizabeth, but more than that, he wants a beer. I get that. He also spills the beans that Alec was responsible for sending Natalia home.
- A very suspicious sign seems to have an advantage, but nobody picks it up. Gabby thinks about it, though.
- Elizabeth comes up with the tribe name “Kalokalo” which means “Stars” in Fijian. Do we know that for sure? Is it possible Elizabeth’s mother’s name is “Olakolak”?
Reunited and It Feels So Good
The Mason/Dixon alliance finally picks things up where they left off, with Nick telling Christian that Dan has an idol. Well, he’s half right.
Meanwhile, Dan and Kara get to hugging. Dan decides to toss his plan to keep that second idol a secret almost immediately. She is his kryptonite. Later that night, Elizabeth sees them canoodling and somehow suspects that they like each other. Well, she’s half right.
Elizabeth starts making moves to draw attention to this showmance. As you’d imagine, this does not sit well with Dan.
All Alec’s Alliances
So, it looks like we’re going to start off with a standard David vs. Goliath battle with Angelina wanting to send Christian packing. But, things quickly shoot off into a different direction with Alec reaching out to Christian to start a partnership. His thinking behind this is that nobody will see it coming. I’d like to dub this duo “Smart Alec.”
From there, Alison, Mike, Nick, and Gabby come aboard.
Later on, Alec tells us that the merge is the real party and everything beforehand is just the pre-party. I like to think of it as like the NHL season, where twice as many teams get eliminated during the playoffs, than during the regular season.
Immunity Challenge Time: The players will stand on a pedestal and swing a rope around a frame that is balancing an idol. If the idol falls or the rope stops, the player is eliminated. The last person standing wins immunity.
Result: Alison bested Elizabeth to take the necklace.
Post-Tribal Politicking
It looks like the Goliaths are fully in power with the Davids just hanging back to see which of them will go home. There is some debate between Angelina (who wants to get rid of Christian because he’s a threat) and Dan (who wants to get rid of Elizabeth because she’s blowing up his showmance.)
During the discussion, Angelina uses military terminology to fire up the troops. This does not sit well with Dan. He also doesn’t love the fact that she’s targeting his Brochacho.
Alec isn’t feeling Angelina’s plan either, because Christian is a key part of his secret “Strike Force” alliance. The other Goliaths agree that the Christian vote is too fancy, too early, and decide to go after Elizabeth.
Angelina is not a fan of this new plan.
Soooooo…Angelina tells Elizabeth what’s up, claiming that she attempted to target a different person. It doesn’t seem like she’s trying to work with Elizabeth, but maybe she’s trying to win favor with a future juror?
Anywho, Gabby encourages Elizabeth to tell the Goliaths that Angelina outed them at Tribal in an attempt to get them to flip. Wait, Elizabeth needed Gabby to tell her that?
Tribal Time
Christian wins my heart once again by correcting Alison when she says “exponent” when she should have said “factorial.” (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know the correct way to use either one of those terms.)
After that, Elizabeth promptly throws Angelina under the bus, telling everyone that she had revealed the Goliaths’ plan.
Then things get messy.
Dan thinks Angelina needs to tell them what’s up. Alison accuses Angelina of doing jury management. Everybody starts whispering. Gabby cries.
It’s a whole thing.
Voting Time: Elizabeth votes for Angelina, Angelina votes for Elizabeth, and the rest of the votes are secret.
JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to plan an idol and…nobody does. Alright, we’ve got one vote for Angelina, six votes for Elizabeth, and the eighth person eliminated from “Survivor: David vs. Goliath” and the first member of the jury is…Elizabeth.
Verdict: I’ve gotta be honest, I never suspected Alec would be the driving force behind post-merge strategy. Look at him go.
That being said, this episode didn’t have nearly enough Davie for my tastes.
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Power Rankings Results: Bradley Kleihege had Elizabeth in spot nine, I had her in spot seven. So, the current score is Team Bradley 74, Team Gordon 81.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
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