10 Thoughts on Survivor: Gabon
1. Just when you think you have all the answers, Survivor changes all the questions.
Having the benefit of editing, you could see the Tribe swap coming. Being out there 10 days, I figure that the Castaways know that a swap may be coming, but it’s always a shock when it happens.
2. Pulling rank.
It was an interesting exercise to have everyone rank the Tribes. We’ve seen something like this before, but it’s always come during the individual challenges, and it generally tells you SOMETHING. Here, WE really learned nothing about alliances and such, however G.C. probably got the kick in the butt that he needed to see that others thought so little of him to rank him sixth.
3. Pick’em take two.
I’m going to say it – Kenny picking Kelly was frakking BRILLIANT. And I’m not being sarcastic here. Ace tipped his hand when he told Kenny “not Kelly”, so that told the gamer that she wasn’t part of his alliance, and could possibly be swayed to the Fang cause. And if she proved to be a liability, then they could cut her loose without regrets. Of course, that assumes that you play your cards right.
Oh and this has to be said – Charlie’s man crush on Marcus has to be one of the biggest I have EVER seen on reality television. But I don’t watch MTV shows, so I don’t know if it is in fact the biggest man crush on reality television ever.
4. Sugar Shack.
Comfort makes it debut since Sugar found the Idol. So what’s it like? Well, it’s a heckuva lot nicer than camp. Fruit, a sheltered hammock and an isolated pond. Perfect place for a pinup model to tan for a couple of days before joining her new Tribe. Wait, are retro pinup models supposed to have a tan?
5. New Kota.
Kota was already pretty strong physically. Swapping Ace for Dan just cements that. Meanwhile, the Onion Alliance is pretty much intact, with Jacquie missing but Bob would probably stick with old Kota anyway. On the other hand, most of the Fang Alliance is here, with only leader Matty not there. Should Kota lose an Immunity Challenge, I would expect quite a bit of effort to swing Bob or Corrine over.
6. New Fang.
As expected, the GC/Crystal/Kenny alliance immediately moved to get Matty on their side, and then worked on bringing Kelly over. Five strong is good, but how long will Matty put up with those three?
7. Immunity Challenge
Anyone think that Kota was losing this? Didn’t think so. I’m not sure what kind of strategy Fang was going for, but it clearly didn’t work. Matty and Ace were really the only people that were a factor for Fang. Kota, on the other hand, had a great strategy. Marcus and some combination of Dan/Charlie/Corrine went for the ball, Bob and Susie stayed back, and Randy went to the cherry pick position in front of the goal. Easy win for Kota.
8. Onion partially peeled.
Jacquie got voted out as the old Fang + Kelly voted against her. It’s interesting because she was not allied with Ace at all and I don’t think she actually liked him, but this ends up hurting Marcus’ alliance so they’ll have to rework their strategy once they discover Jacquie’s gone.
9. Did they make the right call?
From a tribe standpoint, no. Kelly should’ve gone based on her pathetically poor performance. But from an alliance standpoint, it was the right call. Remember that Cirie was never good at challenges but she remained a valuable ally (and vote) in both of her seasons so she always managed to stick around.
10. So who goes next?
On Kota, it will probably be Randy. On Fang, it could be anyone, really. The old Fang + 1 alliance will need to pull off a blindside to get rid of Sugar or Ace, but I don’t think that they can pull it off and thus you’re probably looking at G.C. going due to the hidden idol in play. OR they could just do the safe thing and dump Kelly, given that they still have the numbers.
That’s all, see you next week!
Kevin Wong writes for Realty Dish, Prime Time Pulse and Inside Fights. With this recap out of the way, he can now look forward to his brother’s wedding this Saturday.
