One of the things I love the most about Survivor is that they manage to keep things interesting, even after so many seasons. A lot of so-called “purists” don’t like the twists and would rather just throw the people out there and see what happens with the initial arrangement.
I, however, love the twists because it helps to breathe fresh life into the game and shakes things up. This week’s switch of the tribes was no exception.
The switch always forces players into desperate situations. On the new Yaxha, there is a case in point with Gary, Brian, and Amy being outgunned by the four old Nakum members. Gary was once the leader, and now he is in the minority, on a pecking order.
And, by the way, who else is extremely thrilled to see him and Danni on the same tribe? The relationship between the two of them is so interesting because she knows his secret, and has told everybody, and he knows it, but so far, he has been able to feign ignorance. I’m curious to see how long he is able to hold that up, and I am especially curious to see how far Danni is willing to push it. Because, certainly, she has quite the trump card that she has begun to play. However, she needs to be careful because if she pushes TOO hard, then it may backfire on her. If she does it just right, though, I think she can expose him and make the others see it. And then, as Amy proclaimed, he is “dead.” Let the games begin!
Meanwhile, over on the new Nakum, we had a tiebreaker scenario. Four people from each original tribe. Potential tiebreaker situations are always interesting because you know that one person is usually going to defect (unless of course you’re talking about Palau, which pretty much broke every record book out there), and in this case, it was Judd.
As each week goes by, I am gaining a strong dislike for Judd, getting stronger as we go along. Up until now, my reasons have been purely because of his arrogant attitude. However, at this point, I have a more strategic reason: he is also a bonehead.
I don’t know what he was thinking, but whatever decision he made at Tribal Council, he accomplished the following things:
1) He made two brand new enemies of Margaret and Cindy when he betrayed his original tribe and voted against Brooke
2) He officially made himself last on the Yaxha members’ pecking order.
Did he honestly think he would get in? Stephenie now holds all the cards, and I say that because while I am giving Jamie MVP for the week, he is also definitely not the mastermind. Lydia has managed to skate by every week, and that is quite an accomplishment, but that still does not make her the ringleader. Rafe has been a huge disappointment for me, because I had him pegged as the next Rob Cesternino, but up to this point, he has shown very little skill, whether it is in the game or in challenges. So, in Stephenie’s case, the switch really did nothing to her except elevate her power. She had it before as Gary’s sidekick on Yaxha, but now she is the Queen of Nakum. The future of vote-offs in Nakum will now hinge on what Stephenie wants, unless of course the others realize that.
One thing that will be interesting to watch for this week, and one thing to pay very close attention to, is how Judd responds to the firing squad of Margaret and Cindy. Margaret, in particular, looked extremely irritated at Tribal Council, and the previews showed Judd taking crap from her around the campfire. The thing I will be watching for is to see whether Judd is crafty enough to make up a logical excuse for his actions. My guess, based on observations of his playing so far, is that he will not. He seems to have a bit of a temper, and so my guess is that he will lash out against Margaret’s accusations. He may say that Brooke was the weakest member of the tribe, and if he does, allow your BS detectors to go off. If he really had been interested in voting off the weakest link, he would have gone for Lydia with his original tribe and avoided the sticky situation of a betrayal.
So, why DID Judd make such a seemingly irrational and bad strategic decision? My guess is that
he simply got greedy and excited about the idea of playing the game. It has been a long time since he has had to vote someone off, and he seems like the type of person who gets eager to play the game, but does not really think his decisions through, and if he does, it’s with a mind lacking of strategic capabilities. Not to say he’s stupid, but rather to see he does not have a tactical mind.
There is no doubt he thought that he was doing himself a world of good by joining this new alliance with Stephenie and Jamie, but what he failed to realize is that he merely gave them the edge they were looking for over the others. If he succeeded in anything, it was merely only to move himself to a later position on the original Yaxha pecking order.
I will be severely disappointed if he manages to win this game. Do I think he can? Absolutely not, however, stranger things have happened, and he may skate by just like he did this week.
Stephenie described at Tribal Council that she may have a “black cloud” floating over her head, which causes her pitiful Survivor challenge statistics. I like the analogy, and am going to apply that black cloud to some of the other players in the game.
~ Judd has it now that he has made this bad move, and he will now be forced to answer for it.
~ Margaret has it because of her anger at Judd, and if she mouths off too much, she may be the next one to go.
~ Lydia has it because she has been consistently labeled as the weakest link, and even though she has survived thus far, it is a label she will be forced to carry throughout her stay in Guatemala.
~ Gary, Brian, and Amy have it as they are now outgunned by the original Nakum members on their new Yaxha tribe.
There is no question that all of these players have obstacles they need to overcome. However, I believe the greatest players of all are the ones who can overcome any adversity that faces them and still play an outstanding game. Maybe that is why I love Kathy so much, because she was able to go from being the witch with a b in Marquesas who was most likely to be first voted off to being one of the most-loved and strategic players in Survivor history. It will be interesting to see how these players overcome their obstacles. I have no idea, but I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.
I am not going to bother making a boot pick this week because there are so many different things that could happen, I am not even going to risk embarrassing myself. I am simply going to sit back, relax, enjoy the aftermath of Judd’s decision, see what happens, and come back to you next week with my analysis!
“See” you next week!
