“Dirty Deeds”
This week on Survivor, the castaways were in shock following the previous tribal council. The Nuku tribe was in shock from losing Malcolm at tribal council after their plan went completely awry. The Tavua tribe was in shock from Mana remaining whole and Malcolm being voted off (They were not aware that the two tribes as a whole went to tribal council).
[NickG]
At the Nuku camp, Sandra and Michaela were unhappy with J.T – who they felt cost the tribe Malcolm by tipping off Mana about their strategy. J.T. admitted that he did that hoping that Mana would try to get rid of Sandra. Also at the Nuku camp, Michaela drew the ire of J.T. and Aubry who felt like they were babysitting her.
Tavua continued to dominate challenges and once again avoided tribal council. They have consistently won both reward challenges and immunity challenges, which is especially impressive considering they started from scratch following the switch from two to three tribes.
Over in the Mana tribe, things took an interesting turn following the reward challenge. Debbie, already unhappy with what she described as a “dictatorship” with Brad, let brad have a piece of her mind following Mana’s loss in the reward challenge.
Ultimately, Nuku was sent to tribal council. After the votes were tied, the final vote was cast for J.T. – who not only did not play his hidden immunity idol he found that day, but didn’t even bring it to tribal council. For those keeping track, that’s two terrible moves in two weeks.
That begs the question: Could the idol be back at camp?
Let’s break things down:
Strongest Survivor
Mana: Brad
Since the game began, Brad has established himself as in charge and running things. He’s been doing just that for Mana for the last few weeks.
He has also been and continues to be, a threat in physical challenges as well. Brad came through last week to take second place in the reward challenge and did it again this week in the immunity challenge.
Nuku: Sandra
Let’s not mince words. Sandra is playing each member of Nuku like a drum. Anyone who was unsure is now very sure of why Sandra won the only two other times she was on Survivor. For whatever reason, Sandra always seems to be able to deflect the attention away from her when it should be squarely on her.
This week, after J.T. was unhappy with Michaela’s request for seven drips of coffee and a spoonful of sugar, Sandra took it upon herself to eat the rest of the sugar. She also deceived J.T. into thinking it was Michaela who finished the sugar. A week after wanting to get rid of Sandra, J.T. wanted to get rid of Michaela, once again deflecting attention away from Sandra.
Tavua: Ozzy
Yes, it’s probably getting repetitive, but with Tavua consistently winning immunity challenges and remaining the top tribe, Ozzy is once again the Strongest Survivor from Tavua. He has dominated challenge after challenge and played a huge part in Tavua’s success.
Soon To Be Snuffed
Mana: Debbie
Outside of Survivor, I don’t doubt for a second that Debbie is a very nice person. In Survivor, however, she is gone quite a bit off the deep end. Debbie grew to be more and more unpredictable and unstable after Mana lost the reward challenge. She exploded on Brad and blamed Hali for losing the reward challenge when Hali, in fact, did quite well. She was even extra obnoxious, patting herself on the back every chance she could during the immunity challenge.
It’s not ridiculous for Debbie to be unhappy with Brad ordering people around rather than asking them to do things, but she is in the process of digging her own grave out of this game.
Nuku: Michaela
Last season on Survivor, Michaela established herself as a threat and a strong player in the game. Given that doing that is what ultimately got her voted out, she changed things up this season. However, members of the Nuku tribe have begun to grow a little tired of Michaela’s antics at camp. Although her alliance with Sandra could very well keep her in this game, Michaela needs to watch herself going forward.
Tavua: Troyzan
Similar to Ozzy being the Strongest Survivor, Troyzan remains at the bottom of the Tavua tribe. However, he does still have an immunity idol. It’s repetitive, but the Tavua tribe has done such a good job staying whole that things have by and large stayed the same.
Next week, things get really interesting. After several weeks with three tribes, the castaways could be hearing three very familiar words from Jeff Probst…
Survivor: Game Changers airs Wednesday nights at 8 et/ 7 ct on CBS