This is where the game starts to get good.
Starting this week, every single person voted out will become the latest member of the Jury. We all know the drill by now. So what does this mean?
EVERY MOVE COUNTS.
Now that the game is individual (love the new merge color—orange is perfect for the Islands of Fire theme–and I love Alinta, the new name) and the Jury phase has begun, each player needs to carefully evaluate what they’re doing and how to nail those seven Jury votes if and when they get to the Final Two.
Historically, there are a few qualities of a good post-merge player that tends to get people to the Final Two that some of these castaways might want to try as they enter this advanced, intense phase of the game:
1) Don’t be afraid to betray an alliance, but don’t go overboard, either. Amazon’s Rob C. became the master of this tactic. He cut alliances at whim, maybe went overboard a little, and yet still managed to gain the respect of the Jury where they all would have voted for him to win. It’s a tough game to play, because it’s easy to get caught. Only the truly gifted players can pull this off successfully.
2) Don’t go overboard with winning individual Immunity. The reason being is that while this may get you to the end, you most likely will not win because Immunity streaks start to slowly rip away from your strategic game, and the Jury may not respect that. Colby would be a prime example. He won a lot of Immunities, but made a huge strategic blunder in the end. Plus, beyond all that, the first time you lose, you’ll be voted out for being a threat. So, I’d recommend focusing on the strategic game a little more.
There are obviously a lot of different techniques that work with different people in different situations. These I just mentioned are merely two that make sense.
It seems pretty obvious to me that the women are going to stick together. Ami is playing an excellent strategic game in that she is holding that alliance together like glue. At this point in time, if I had to choose which person would win the million dollars, I would pick one of these three people:
1) Ami
2) Scout
3) Leann
I already mentioned my reasons for Ami. Scout has shocked me with how well she has done. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I could have sworn she would have been one of the first ones gone. Now I can see her pulling an African Kim J. and making it all the way to the Final Two. As far as Leann goes, she’s under the radar, which is a great position to be in at this point. She can make the Final Four/Three easily at this point in the game.
So, those are the three people I can see winning. In immediate trouble, obviously, are the three guys, Chad, Sarge, and Chris. It’s obvious that one of these three will be eliminated from the game this week.
Other than that, I really don’t have too much to say. I apologize for the shortness of the column, but time is short for me this week, and at this early phase of the merger, no new alliances will form. Previews have all tried to point the finger in Eliza’s direction, but I’m not buying it for a second. If anything, that only means Eliza is 100% safe this week.
My official prediction for this week will be that CHAD will go home, because I think Sarge can win Immunity again. If not, he’ll be eliminated. But for this week, I’ll put my money on Chad’s departure because of the sympathy factor.
BOOT: Chad
SOLE SURVIVOR: Ami
“See” you next week!
