(no subject)
Beware - Spoilers Below
I am really enjoying this season of Survivor. The contestants are interesting and for the most part likable. The challenges have been good and the tribal council votes have been great. Last night's ouster of Tyson was one of the best votes in a long time. Below are my thoughts on the individuals left:
Coach: Coach makes for good television, but I can't understand how he has stayed in the game so long. He's annoying and arrogant and has not done anything worthwhile in the challenges to back up his claim to be such a threat to win. I can only hope the other people are keeping him around because they know he will never win a challenge and assume no one will vote to give him the money.
Debbie: Besides last night's win in the immunity challenge has she done much of anything? It appears that she is content to ride Coach's coattails as long as she can. When she was telling Sierra how "disloyal" she was for voting coach(more thoughts on this later) I have to think she was just repeating what Coach told her. The previews give me hope that she will actually step up and think for a change. Hopefully, Sierra will laugh in her face and join JT, Stephen and Taj and take out her former tribe.
Erinn: I am very disappointed in Erinn for giving up her hatred of Coach and joining his alliance. It would have been more fun to see her join up with Brendan and Sierra to oust Tyson and Coach. Instead she is in danger of becoming another player content to let others do her thinking for her. I was encouraged by her claim that after the Sierra vote she planned to turn the game upside down. I'm just not sure I believe she would or could.
Taj: I have been disappointed in Taj since the merge. She had a chance to pull off a secret alliance that could have changed the game, but once the merge occurred, immediately backed out of it when she had the chance to change the game. Now she also seems content to so whatever Stephen and JT tell her to do.
JT: JT seems like a very nice guy who is truly upset when he has to vote against his alliance. I really believe he was torn about the vote last night and only went along with it to stay with his tribal alliance. His nice, trusting personality and his being a threat in physical challenges make him the next likely candidate for a blindside. I hope not as I really like to see the nice people when the game.
Stephen: I think Stephen is in control of the game right now and is a favorite to win it all. He has control of his alliance, the hidden immunity idol and the will to cast whatever vote makes winning the game easier for him. I think he also benefits from that fact that everyone else underestimates him. Odds are the other players think JT is the one running their alliance. This might keep Stephen alive for a couple of more votes. I think he has played the best game so far and deserves to be in the finals.
Sierra: Sierra has fought hard to overcome the first impression vote and has impressed me with how long she has lasted. Her only real mistake was believing in the alliance with Taj and Stephen. There was no reason for her to think they would turn on her at the first vote. She did her best after the Brendan vote to keep herself alive in the game and looks like she will now have some power next week when her former tribe has to grovel for her support to stay in the game. I would really like to see her in the final three. I love the underdog.
Gameplay thoughts:
With four women and three men left it seems like someone should think of an all woman alliance that would take out the men in three consecutive votes. I doubt it will happen as Debbie would never leave Coach's shadow. Sierra should immediately go to JT, Stephen and Taj and offer to join them to vote out the remaining three from her tribe. I think an unholy alliance with Coach is more likely. JT, Stephen and Taj need to work hard to get a solid ally from the other four now that Coach will be gunning for them. The most likely is Sierra. If not her, they need to make a run at Erinn.
Finally, the "loyalty" issue. I don't see how Coach can tell Sierra that voting for him as disloyal when he voted for another member of the tribe. It was his disloyalty that prompted the Coach vote in the first place. No one from that tribe has any place to question another on loyalty. Did I mention I really don't like Coach?