1. This episode was a celebration of all things Chelsea. While I have admitted that she is my favorite player this season (duh), she has been largely been overshadowed by Kim who has been given credit for literally every strategical decision this season. Tonight was the first time we saw why Chelsea might get a few votes from a jury. While Kim has been edited to be the sole player this season, tonight an extra effort was given to drive the point home that Chelsea is likeable. Almost too much.
2. I told you a few weeks ago that there was something cooking between Jay and Chelsea that we weren’t seeing and I believe that is also why she was struggling to vote him off. That being said, I guess her loyalty to him didn’t matter because in the end she made the right move for her own game and that is respectable.
3. I am big on winner quotes and their relation to edits and while Kim has been given one in almost every episode this season, Chelsea’s “… but I love money” line tonight was even more fuel in her most pivotal episode to date.
4. I am completely confused by Troyzan. While his edit has gone down the toilet in recent episodes (specifically his need to always refer to the island as his which he repeats so often that it simply cannot be the case), things changed for me tonight. Despite his idiotic move to oust Michael last week, Troyzan has been the only player to sniff out Kim’s game this season. Her game is also very covert and secretive so Troyzan gets major respect for figuring out that she is the one in charge and even casting a vote against her. Even if that is the only one that is cast against her all season, he should take great pride in the fact that his Survivor knowledge came through for him, even if he doesn’t have the votes to do anything about it.
5. While it was a big episode for Chelsea, this was the first time we saw Kim display any signs of an Achilles heel. While she was given credit for the idea to split the votes against Troyzan and Jay, I still feel like this was the first episode where she wasn’t made to look like the winner and for that reason alone, this was a good episode. I thought her path would be unchallenged but she clearly is now facing a Troyzan tornado. Nothing she can’t handle though. She has plenty of protection in the other girls to shield her from any smoke that he blows.
6. Speaking of the split vote, when she was outlining who was going to vote for who, why did she assume that Leif would be so willing to vote for Troy?
7. To get back to Troyzan, while I liked what he did in this episode with his back against the wall, telling Jay that he had the hidden idol was ludicrous. Puppydog Jay ran immediately to Kim who immediately changed things around to switch the majority of the split votes to Jay instead of Troyzan. If anything, Troyzan did Kim a favor by telling Jay because it didn’t matter to her which one of the men went home. This way she got to take out an idol while also eliminating strongest player in the game
8. The way Chelsea manipulated Leif in the immunity challenge is what Survivors winners are made of. I am not sure if we should attribute it more to Chelsea’s brilliance or Leif’s sheer stupidity to let go but since this was Chelsea’s week, let’s give her the credit.
9. Many have been debating Kim vs. Troyzan all season and their distrustful conversation right before tribal council is one of my favorite scenes ever.
10. Tarzan voted for Jay meaning he certainly knows more about the game than he is letting on. His commentary at tribal council was also poignant as he had no problems admitting what all of us already know. “The girls are a lot smarter than the boys.” With that being said, his ‘the game is afoot’ is annoying and not a cool catchphrase.
With that, I am off to Reality Rally in Temecula, CA this weekend. As a result, there won’t be a column next week.
Before I go, I will be hosting a new episode of The Murtz Show tonight with the Dragonslayer himself and last season’s runner-up Coach Wade. If you’d like to join us and ask Coach your questions, please join us HERE at 9:30 PM PST tonight. We’ll also be discussing tonight’s episode. There might also be some surprise guests!
